The US Women’s Soccer Team advanced to the World Cup finals after beating England on July 2. They will face the Netherlands on Sunday and are heavily favored. Even so, it should be a tough game, as the Netherlands team has a great defense.
No matter who wins, and no matter what country you support—even if your country didn’t have a team in the World Cup—this is a great opportunity to play some empowering songs about women and victory in your classes. The Giro Rosa is happening in Italy (the women’s Giro d’Italia) from July 5 through July 14—another great event to celebrate women’s sports and cycling in particular.
ICA has several profiles to help you out, or you can use one of our empowering playlists below to create your own. The profile called The Grimpeur (The Climber) highlights US cyclist Mara Abbott and her amazing climbing skills at the Giro Rosa.
This post will take you to our International Women’s Day Theme Ride Thursday tribute playlist (over 230 songs). This Three Divas profile with three challenging climbs comes with powerful quotes to add to your ride, and the Powerful Women profile is a sustained Zone 3 effort that is both physically and mentally challenging. Feel free to switch out any of the songs in those three profiles with the hundreds of options we’ve provided in our other playlists below.
I have so many songs to help you support the women of Team USA (or whoever your favorite team is). In addition to the playlists above, at the end of this post you will find three more Spotify playlists. One is called “Women’s Empowerment” and is similar to the International Women’s Day playlist but a little more targeted (86 songs). I listened to this playlist on shuffle while on a mountain bike ride yesterday and it kept me fired up the whole time!
The second one is called “No Limits” and has songs about pushing it to the limit (31 songs). The third one is called “Victory/Winning/Champion” (89 songs). Those two playlists can be used for any inspirational profile focused on any sport or challenging endeavor.
While searching for information on Google about the World Cup, I found this Spotify playlist by the Women’s Soccer United Official Playlist.
If you have video capabilities in your studio, this is a MUST SEE video by Nike—you may need to have a tissue handy! Think about inserting “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett into your playlist later in the class. It’s a great short, hard interval at 102 rpm for 2:49.
Here are a few more songs to add to your celebration and some suggestions on how to use them in your classes.
Superwomen by the White Tygers, 2:57, 97 bpm
Perfect for some high-cadence drills, or a sustained hard-charging interval. You know, just like soccer!
Da Da Ding, Gener8ion feat. Gizzle, 2:46, 116 bpm
Nike Anthem. The beat would make it a very slow climb, which you can certainly do, but to me the energy feels better for something faster. So I suggest a few short high-cadence surges on the chorus. Not to 116 rpm, but wherever your riders can challenge themselves safely with good technique above 100, but no higher (or not much higher depending on their skills) than 110 rpm. In between the chorus, find a cadence in the 80s or 90s. If you have video capabilities, this one is another powerful video to show to your class.
Women of the World, Amy MacDonald, 3:38, 129 bpm
A fabulous climb with standing surges on the chorus. (This is from the Women’s Soccer Official Spotify Playlist above.)
Dare (La La La), Shakira, 3:05, 128 bpm
Originally used for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil; still perfect for right now! Sit back and climb at 64 rpm.
What songs would you add to celebrate the women? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to my Spotify playlists below.