What Effect Does Music Have on Your Workout?
on July 13, 2009 3:30 PM |
So what effect does music have on your workout? Quite a bit, science says.
– In 2002, the U.S. Sports Academy found that subjects listening to two techno songs on headphones ran 5 percent to 9 percent faster than when not listening to music.
– Researchers at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania found that music inspired a better workout on stationary bikes than white noise.
– It even makes you a better conversationlist. An Ohio State University study found in 2004 that listening to music while exercising increased verbal skills afterward.
That’s why runners freaked when the USA Track & Field’s announcement announced a few years ago that it would ban iPods and other music-listening devices in its races. They were banned not because music gave some runners an unfair advantage, but because officials decided that blocking out surrounding sounds was unsafe for runners.
That said, what’s the best song to work out to? An article in the New York Times asked that last year. Basically, songs with tempos of 120 to 140 beats per minute are the ideal. That’s roughly the heartbeat of a casual exerciser who’s been on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It,” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella” fall in this range.
Anyway, this is all a long introduction to something I just saw on Brainiac, the blog of the Boston Globe’s Christopher Shea. It’s Yamaha’s BodiBeat, a device that monitors your heart rate and synchronizes your music to match your rate. So its starts out, presumably, with slower songs and picks up the pace as you work up a sweat. I suppose it could also serve as something of a hazard alert – if your headphones start pumping out Slayer’s“Necrophobic” (248 BPM), you may want to take a break.
ARTICLE – HOW DOES MUSIC AFFECT YOUR WORKOUT INTENSITY?
WRITTEN BY AMINO Z ON WEDNESDAY 06 OCTOBER, 2010.
SUMMARY
We all know that beginning any type of exercise routine is hard enough. Just getting your mind and body mentally prepared for the gruelling activities of exercise can take quite a bit of motivation. Some of us find it almost impossible unless we have someone to push us or have a training partner. In addition, a number studies have been conducted trying to ascertain whether or not music can be responsible for making us work out harder.
THE ARTICLE
Some individuals claim that they appreciate the quiet time they get when exercising, just by listening to their own breathing and concentrating on their workout. Others need some type of motivation such as music to make the workout more fun and easier to handle. When you work out to your favourite music, whether it be upbeat or slow tempo, you create your own cinematic atmosphere that can motivate you to work harder and longer.
A study conducted by British researchers last year on healthy college students had them ride stationary bicycles while listening to six of the most popular songs throughout the college population. Each individual song had a different tempo than the others. Each volunteer was told to ride a bicycle for 30 minutes while wearing headphones and they were able to set the volume at their own preference. During the session, their heart rate, enjoyment of the music, output power and pedal rhythm were all being monitored.
The riders were unaware that the tempo of the various songs was going to fluctuate throughout the test. The tempos varied from slow to mid range to highly upbeat. The findings showed that the riders responded to the various tempo changes. When the tempo began to slow down, so did the pedaling rhythm of the volunteers, conversely when the tempo increased their output power and pedal rate also increased.
Just increasing the tempo of the song as little as ten percent showed that individuals actually increased their miles covered. They showed an increase in power and their pedal cadence. Additionally their heart rates increased and they all reported enjoying the music more than when it was at a slower rate. However, they did not find the workout to be any easier. They said that the music motivated them to push themselves even harder.
Scientists and researchers are still not sure exactly what the impact of music is on the body when exercising, but they are certain that there is a an effect. Some say that the music allows people to focus their attention more intently on the task at hand, rather than allowing their attention to stray in other directions.
Interestingly, the effects of music seem to decline when you exercise at a more intense level. Another study conducted in 2004 of runners revealed that when running at a hard pace music had absolutely no effect psychologically. The runners did not increase their pace even though the music tempo was increased. In addition their heart rates stayed exactly where they were, which was already at a high rate because of the intensity that they were exercising. What this led the researchers to conclude is that when during moderate exercise, music can help to focus your attention away from the fact you are getting tired or working hard. However when you increase the intensity of exercise, the feelings of fatigue will eventually override the music.
It seems that the effect of music on the intensity of your workout has a lot to do with the psychological impact it has in your mind. Most people say that they appreciate having the music in the background because it makes their workout fun and increases their motivation. By selecting songs that have an up-tempo, you will find yourself trying to keep pace with that tempo and thus increase your repetitions or speed. On the other hand if you select songs that have a slower temple they may rob you of motivation and you may find yourself not working out at a pace that you should. Perhaps the slow tempo music should be used for warm up and cool down periods.
Ultimately what we find is that our bodies react to music when exercising just as any other time. Our minds and bodies naturally want to synchronise with the music. So while scientists may not fully understand how music can motivate us, it is easy to see that the addition of music in your workout, especially songs that are up-tempo, can motivate you to push your workout to the next level.
