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Music To Our Ears: The Effects of Music on Exercise
Health | February 17, 2014
Some of us simply cannot exercise without listening to music. Many of us fine-tune our playlists on Spotify or iTunes in hopes of creating the perfect mix for our workouts. Even athletes, from MMA fighters to NBA stars, insist on listening to music to get them amped for competition or to calm their nerves. Recent scientific studies now suggest that music does, in fact, benefit us when exercising or competing.
Often when listening to music while working out, we find ourselves subconsciously moving at the approximate beat of the song we’re currently listening to. Faster songs help us train faster while slower songs can gently wind us down. According to a series of studies done at Brunel University in London, music can help establish the pace of our workouts and allow us to push past it. Dr. Karageorghis, who heads the studies, suggests the most effective song tempos for exercise are around 120-140 bpm (beats per minute), especially for high intensity training. Interestingly enough, Haile Gebrselassie, a world record-setting marathon runner from Ethiopia, effectively matched his stride rate to the tempo of the famous song ‘Scatman’ to help run at a faster and more consistent speed.
The Brunel study demonstrated that music helps create what psychologists call ‘disassociation’ when working out as well. Our focus is drawn toward the music rather than the exertion required for our workouts. This redirecting of our attention serves as a distraction from the fatigue and exhaustion allowing us to continue to exercise past our normal thresholds. Unfortunately, musical disassociation was most effective with mild to moderate exercise not with high intensity workouts. However, the studies showed that music did, in fact, make high intensity workouts more pleasurable and, therefore, easier to deal with.
The Brunel studies also effectively demonstrated that music heightens and enhances positive moods such as happiness while helping to suppress negative ones such as anxiety during exercise. This is great to know, especially when we’re feeling unmotivated and anxious and need a boost to get going and workout.
What are you currently listening to while working out? Do you prefer faster songs or slower ones? Post a comment with your favorite songs from your current playlist.
Private Member |
I always work out to upbeat music unless I work out to a favorite TV show.
Private Member |
P.O.D – Boom
– Awesome workout song!
Private Member |
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=758251107527555&set=vb.530406173645384&type=2&theater
Hey Zuzanna
I thought maybe you’d thought this video was interesting. There are a lot of body weight exercises. Some you’ve probably seen before and maybe some new kind of cool exercises to look at, hope you like it.
Linn =)
Private Member |
Z, I’ve always wanted to comment on this but never found the right spot! First off, I have to tell you that the little intro/outro music vid on your ZWOWs on YT seriously pumps me up and gets me ready to work hard! I’ve also wondered why you don’t add music to your ZGYM workouts (w/o’s)… even if it’s just for parts of the w/o. I’m a dedicated Warrior, but I must say that I really miss music in my w/os. Maybe it’s just too complex from an editing perspective, or it’s a licensing issue, or distracts from your instruction, or all of those combined?
For those of you looking for more music options, I have a few suggestions! Grooveshark let’s you make playlists for free (like Napster, for those of you that remember that awesomeness 😉 I have all kinds of playlists there. Plus you can check out other people’s playlists too. Songza is also a great option! To find the w/o stations, don’t use the concierge. Go to Browse All -> Activities ->scroll down to Workout. They have 4 stations: Cardio, Weight Training, Cool Down & Yoga! Plus you can sort of customize them like you can on Pandora. It’s pretty sweet- enjoy!
Private Member |
Meant to say 4 CATEGORIES of Songza stations above… lots of stations in each category to choose from!
Private Member |
Thanks! I didn’t know Songza existed until now. Definitely going to give it a try tomorrow on my run.
Private Member |
I love music. I used to have to listen to music to workout, but for the past few months I was challenging myself to keep the music off. I wanted to focus more on what Zuzka was saying. Sometimes I would turn it on sometimes, just to see if it made a difference. When I am working out with music I can keep and steady beat and I think I have more fun with it. When I am working out without music I just don’t feel comfortable and I do THINK way to much into the exercise, so I will be getting more frustrated. but a lot of that has changed I do not get as frustrated with myself with or without music. I do like to listen to old dance music like scatman!! I love that song. I like to listen to rock music sometimes but lately I don’t listen to it when I am working out because I notice so much negativity in some rock, but someone like metallica is something I would exercise too. Grateful Dead helps me stay in a happy mood and slower but more upbeat like something to dance, or hoop too. I did listen to a grateful dead album the other day and it was literally keeping up with the rate of the workout, when I would be jump roping it would be jamming out to a guitar solo, when I had to cool down it switched to a slower song. it was so neat!! I also like to listen to electronic music or house music, or reggae. I realllly love music lol
Private Member |
Great conversation, I like seeing everybody’s thoughts on this since music and fitness are my two greatest passions. 🙂
Here’s my 5AM playlist for accompanying Zuzka’s Power Cardio DVDs. I don’t think the BPMs are that important to me — I just want a nice driving mix of hip hop and indie rock to keep me company that early in the morning!
Eminem – The Monster
Flo Rida – Good Feeling
Macklemore – Can’t Hold Us
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
The Naked and Famous – Young Blood
Eminem – Lose Yourself (an all-time fitness fave … makes me want to go climb Mt. Whitney :))
For half-marathon training in the past, I really enjoyed Sigur Ros because their music has so many peaks and valleys with amazing crescendos. But sometimes it gets *too* quiet.
Thanks Zuzka for your awesome site and YouTube channel, and for all the passion and enthusiasm you pour into it. By end of the year I hope to complete the ZWOW # 100 – what a crazy goal you set for all of us, you are insane! 🙂
Private Member |
I’m a music freak and almost never worked out w/o music until 2 years ago. Since then it is exactly the opposite – rarely listen to music when I work out. I find it disturbing. If I do listen to music, I work best on rock/metal ballads – once I had a hard time finishing a race (running), none of my other techniques worked so I put on music and finished strong with a sequence of Nothing Else Matters, The Tears Of The Dragon and the likes 🙂