Sweat Set

24JulAug Sweat Set main

We know it because we feel it: Music has a powerful influence upon movement. In fact, there are direct connections among neurons related to hearing and to movement.

As Jessica Grahn, a cognitive neuroscientist at Western University’s Brain and Mind Institute in Ontario, Canada, pointed out to Scientific American, the neural connection that prompts you to jump when you’re startled by a loud sound is also at work when we clap, tap our feet, or otherwise move our bodies in time to music.

That response also can help us go a little longer or a little harder in our workouts. That’s probably why so many of us love to exercise to music, and why so many of us continually seek the perfect playlist and keep it fresh. Kayla Brianna is one new artist whose latest single is bringing some “fitspiration” to workouts.

She’s no stranger to basketball, as she’s the daughter of NBA legend Kenny Smith, and a familiar face from the TBS reality series “The Smiths.”

Here are more artists and songs that are getting plenty of play in the gym:

POP

HIP-HOP

ROCK