How To Use Spotify, Your Music & DJ Mixes To Run With Higher Cadence

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What if your playlist could actually make you a better runner?

In this episode, you’ll learn three easy ways to improve your cadence using the power of music. Whether it’s Spotify playlists, DJ mixes, or a metronome app, these practical tips will help you stay in rhythm, run more efficiently, and prevent injury—all without overhauling your entire training plan. And the best part? You don’t need any fancy tech—just a good beat and a little know-how.

Run to the Rhythm: Use Spotify to Match Your Cadence

Spotify makes it easy to find playlists that match your desired steps per minute (SPM). Just search “180 BPM” (or your cadence of choice), and it’ll curate tracks based on your listening history. It’s not perfect, but it’s a fun, low-effort way to start syncing your stride to a beat.

Why Metronomes Work (Even If You Hate Them)

Metronomes—via your watch or headphones—can help you lock in an exact cadence. It’s pure function over fun, and not everyone loves the repetitive beeping or vibration. Still, it’s a powerful mental and physical sync tool for training your stride.

Dial It In: Use DJ Mixes + VLC for Exact BPM Control

For the most accurate cadence training, download DJ mixes in your favorite genre and fine-tune the playback speed with VLC. It’s a bit more techy, but you get precision and flow. Drum and bass or hip-hop work best—just double the BPM on slower tracks.

Watch above or listen below on your next run or workout to learn more.

in this episode you’re going to get
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three specific tips on how to increase
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your run Cadence and I’ll be touching on
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specifically one how to use Spotify free
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and premium to run with music that is
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close to the Cadence that you would like
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two how to use custom music to run at an
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exact Cadence that you want and number
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three how to use a metronome when
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running to train your mind and your body
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to all be in sync while you run let’s
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get into
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it number two run with a metronome easy
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run and sync with a metronome set to a
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specific BPM beat per minute this could
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be on your watch or in your headphones
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remember BPM is just the same as steps
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per minute my garment 4Runner and most
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run specific SmartWatches made in the
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last four to 5 years will probably have
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something like this I personally hate it
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I can’t stand it I tried the vibration
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audible alert and both at the same time
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and it was just weird after about a
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minute or two there are better solutions
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that I’ll touch on in here in the
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steps number four run with Spotify
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playlist easy to
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run with a Spotify playlist based on
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your taste that analyzes music around a
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specific BPM this is super easy just
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open up Spotify free or premium and type
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your BPM of choice into the search like
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literally 180 BPM Spotify will
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automatically create a playlist based on
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your music listening style so your whole
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history this playlist include music that
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you have listened to or would listen to
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and now you can run to songs that are
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around that BPM note it is not perfect
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take it all with an Absolut abute grain
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of pink Himalayan rock salt some songs
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are not at the bpms due to many factors
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like the AI Miss analyzing it or the
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song changing bpms naturally throughout
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sometimes a song will be 182 bpms when
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I’m trying to get 180 but you can delete
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those tracks if you don’t like it it’s
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not working future Darren here I know
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you want to be able to increase your run
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Cadence ASAP so to make it easier for
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you to go out and just do it I created a
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free six-month download trending plan
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specifically that allows you to increase
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your run Cadence 1 % better each week
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and slowly adapt your biomechanics why
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so slow because if you change your run
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form too fast you can injure yourself
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and the change won’t last be smart and
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use the QR code on the screen somewhere
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around here link below in the video or
2:15
Link in the podcast show notes to get
2:17
your copy of it right now and a bonus
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you’ll automatically sign up for our 1%
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better newsletter which isn’t like other
2:24
running newsletters because we don’t do
2:26
quick motivational hacks instead every
2:28
week is you’ll get tools and tactics to
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transform you through small step-by-step
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daily habit improvements all to help you
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train race and live exponentially better
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in your running life let’s get back into
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it number eight get a DJ mix of songs
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moderate this is the most granular
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specific and my current favorite you can
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pick the exact music you want and get
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the exact steps per minute while
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enjoying what’s actually in your head
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and your body naturally goes to the flow
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this is the advanced version of the
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metronome get a DJ Mix that is mostly
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the same bpms of songs you like can
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tolerate and then match it precisely to
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the BPM you want drum and bass and
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Hip-Hop are best for this as the nature
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of the genre is around 170 to
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190 bpms you just need to do mental math
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and multiply two for hip hop if it’s 85
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to 90 BPM so just 85 is 170 90 is 180
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the challenge is that this will require
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you to download an MP3 of the of the DJ
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Mak and the VLC Player app on your
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smartphone so there’s an app called VLC
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then every time you open the app set the
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BPM to your choice with the actual
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percentage so it goes you can speed
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something up with a ratio of 1.0 to 2.0
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3.0 times if you want to listen to a
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podcast or something but you need to
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just speed it up just like
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1.02
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1.04 which I am visually showing you on
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this video podcast if you’re listening
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highly recommend go watch it or check
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out the website or show not I’ll have a
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video on this so you need to work out
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through trial and error what the actual
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BPM is that you’re going for so I know
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certain mixes I need to get them to 1.04
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to be 180 to 182 BPM if you want to
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learn more about this topic we went into
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further detail you should go and check
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that out right here