Best Christian Workout Songs 2023

biblical body image body image christian living identity Mar 08, 2024

Here’s the reason I’m writing this list of the best Christian workout songs: A few years ago when the song Gangnam Style topped the charts, my eldest son was in kindergarten at a local elementary school. His gym teacher found this particular tune to be an asset to the implementation of the physical education curriculum. And by the end of fall semester, my son had not only learned to do a funky gallop dance, but had also memorized all the intelligible words to the chart-topping hit. (Yippee.)

Yes. I do mean all of them. This detail I discovered by accident one day while walking down the long narrow hallway to his classroom. Displayed on the cold, beige, concrete walls were drawings done by all of the children in his grade. I examined each sheet of paper until I found the one with his printed signature.

Imagine my excitement when I discovered that my five-year-old had drawn a picture inspired by his new favorite song: Gangnam Style. His picture showed a man calling out from a caption bubble, “Hey, Sexy Lady.” Everything was spelled correctly.

Proud mom moment. (Especially for a pastor’s wife. We homeschool now.)

Yeah, not exactly.

Then… to explain to a kindergartener that “sexy” isn’t a word that’s nice to use. I told him it was the “s” word and we shouldn’t say it. He said he’d heard of that. But, then his questions continued:

Son: “What does sexy mean, Mom?”

Me: “Well, um… Hmmm. It kind of means someone is really pretty.”

Him: “Why is it bad to call someone really pretty?”

Me: “Good point. Well. (Stammer. Hem. Haw. Stammer some more. Light bulb goes on. I got it.) It means they are so pretty you want to marry them.”

Him: “Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t want to say that. That would be weird.”

Sigh.

There are two reasons I want you to have a list of some of the best Christian workout songs.

The first is so you don’t have to engage your children in awkward conversations as I did above. You’re welcome.

The second is a little more involved. If you struggle with body image, I want to encourage you to spend less time working out to songs with a central message focused on how to be sexier. Listening to Christian workout songs helps turn your thoughts away from yourself and towards something bigger.

Yes, I know you are looking down at Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass on your playlist and wondering if I’ve heard it. I have. I get that it gives women the liberty to not be skinny and you like that. I have no problem with the few lines that promote real, un-photoshopped beauty. But here’s the thing: please don’t fool yourself into believing this is a great “body image” song. Though catchy, this hit just takes “sexy” and redefines what it looks like. It fails to redefine its importance. The message we clearly hear is that a woman’s worth is related to her ability to shake “it” for a man.

Friends your value is not tied to that. At all.

For many years I believed the lie that to be sexy actually meant to be worthy of love. The music I listened to reinforced this idea. And it kept me trapped. With Christian workout songs, I don’t have that problem.

If your size, shape, amount of “bass” (or lack thereof) dominates your thoughts, I challenge you to try something this year. Try working out to music that takes your mind off of your booty and puts it on things above. Try Christian workout songs.

So as not to give you a general suggestion without a specific way to implement it, here is a list of some of the best (newer) Christian workout songs. Because I am a fitness instructor, I’ve also included some suggested moves you could do to the listed songs based on their tempo. (Links are to iTunes.)