An excellent idea Speachami!! Those dance tracks they play in gyms really put me off going to a gym -Yes I might get more pysically fit but what's being done to my brain? I would have a wonderfully toned body but a head full of garbage. No, thank you.

As for what music to play - a general guideline I have heard (From a physical trainer on the radio - not the most reliable source so I would check it out) is that the Beats per minute of the music should roughly equate to the raised heartbeat of a person while excercising - between about 120 - 140 bpm I think was recommended. A lot of classical music would fit into this range.

Incidentally, ABC classics has put out a CD for exactly this purpose, called 'cardio classics' which has a warmup section, a more intense workout session and a wind-down session. I'll post the details of what pieces they include later, when I have the chance.

I love the idea of classical music at the gym - If I found a gym that did it I think it might just persuade me to get out and exercise!

 

Here are the details of the CD I mentioned:

Stretch - 5 Minutes
Jarre - Building the barn

Walk - 28 Minutes - BPM range 90-140
Respighi - Italiana. Purcell - Symphony from the fairy Queen. Bizet - Serenade. Rodrigo - Canario
Monteverdi - Chiome d'oro. Vivaldi - Gloria (Excerpt). Purcell - Prelude from the fairy Queen. Mendelssohn - Overture to a Midsummer Night's dream (Excerpt). Handel - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Rodrigo - Fanfare. Mozart - Overture to the marriage of Figaro.

Stretch - 5 Mins
Albononi - Adagio from the Oboe Concerto in D Minor.

Run - 28 Mins (BPM range 140 - 160)
Gluck - Dance of the furies. Rimsky-Korsakov - The flight of the bumblebee. Vine - Microsymphony (Excerpt). Grieg - Preludium from the Holberg Suite. Orff - O Furtunata. Vivaldi - Presto from 'Summer'. Rossini - Overture to the thieving magpie (Excerpt). Rameau - Bruit de guerre from Dardanus. Mozart - Des Irae from the Requiem. Glinka - Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla (Excerpt). Verdi - Des Irea from from Requiem. (Excerpt). Rossini - William Tell Overture (Excerpt).

Stretch
Morricone - Gabriel's oboe from The Mission.

There are a lot of excerpts and single movements, which I would normally deplore. However I think that there may be a case for this kind of surgery for this particular purpose. It least it shows that there is a large variety of classical music suited to all kinds of excercise from gentle all the way through to frenetic.

 

Stretch - 5 Minutes
Jarre - Building the barn

From the soundtrack to The Witness? Good one!

 

I'm thinking it would need to have a fairly regular beat too, so if you go into the romantic era up to the present day, there may be many dramatic pauses and so forth that break the rhythm. So you may want to look to classic era, say 1820, and prior first.

There are exceptions - though it sounds a little ominous, here's a good one from early 20th century that almost rocks!

I don't know. Would the girls like it? Not sure what the BPM is.

 

Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens is fun.
For power how about Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Or his Nutcracker suite.
For slow dancing try Faure's Pavane, or some Strauss Waltz

 

Vivaldi and Handel. Don't listen to anything else.

 

If not a distinct beat, then a pulse is needed. Alla Marcia from Sibelius' Karelia Suite, or the Oriental Festival March from Carl Nielsen's Aladdin Suite.
And if you want to give someone a heart attack, Glinka's Russlan & Ludmilla Overture...
cheers,
Graeme