Top 20 workout songs

10. "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory

One YouTube commentator nails it: "Modern dance songs are bland by comparison." You tell 'em! He has a point though. The funky drummerish beat, the plinky cowbell, the manic scream of its singer (was she really singing though? This is 1990, just a year after the Milli Vanilli scandal broke). This song says one thing: EVERYBODY DANCE NOW. And it says it well.

9."Maniac" by Michael Sembello

Not a lot of us can truly relate to Flashdance—welding in a steel mill by day, go-going at a seedy bar by night, etc.—but this tense, synth-drenched soundtrack tune could inspire even the staunchest couch potato to don a leotard and sweat it out. Who doesn't yearn to "[dance] into the danger zone / Where the dancer becomes the dance"?

8. "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

The consummately macho thrust of this early-'80s anthem is no accident: Survivor custom-wrote the tune for Rocky III, at the behest of Sly Stallone himself. Boxing's the subject, but you'll feel the same adrenaline rush on the treadmill, guaranteed.

7. "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J

Featuring one of the most legendary opening lines in hip-hop—"Don't call it a comeback!"—LL Cool J's battle-rap anthem features a Marley Marl beat powerful enough to make you want to punch through a wall. For best results, don the same robe that LL has on in the music video.

6. "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa

Tell us you don't remember dancing to this as a kid, and we won't believe you. Admit you didn't know what a "fly mother" was, and we will. Either way, it's physically impossible to listen to this song and stay still—we recommend Salt-N-Pepa's gymtastic dance routine (see video above) as your calorie-burning mode of self-expression for this one.