3 Ways Hearing Songs You’ve Chosen Can Enhance Your Workouts

Music has the power to reduce the pain of exercise. But why do some songs positively impact an individual’s exercise experience more than others, leading to the best performances?

As an aside, I’ve been visiting fitness facilities several times a week for decades, and I’ve learned to control the music I listen to while training, whether I’m doing cardio or not. We know that when we do, we feel more motivated, more satisfied, and create a more positive emotional state. weightlifting.

If you look around fitness facilities with music playing in the background, you’ll notice that most people prefer using earphones. Earphones block facility-selected music and allow gym-goers to control the sounds they hear during their workouts.

But so far, there’s been no evidence as to why gym-goers tend to block out facility-selected music by wearing earbuds, and seem to prefer being able to choose what to listen to during a workout. There have been very few studies based on

Self-selected music vs. facility-selected music

A new study from Indiana University on the impact of music on gym-goers’ workout experience shows the effect of self-selected tunes (controlled independently by each listener and tuned “on the fly” during a workout). and the effects of facility-selected playlists. Gym users could not change during an exercise session. These findings (Williams et al., 2023) recently International Journal of Sports Management and Marketing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the motivational properties of self-selected music (SSM) compared to facility-selected music (FSM) affect the emotional state of gym users during exercise sessions, It was to explore how individuals rate their overall satisfaction with their post-exercise exercise experience. finish training.

For this real-world study, lead author Antonio Williams and colleagues recruited 183 study participants to study at their own pace while listening to the SSM or FSM in a real fitness facility (not an exercise lab). I was trained.

3 ways your music of choice enhances your exercise experience

1. motivation: Listening to self-selected music during training is more motivating than facility-selected music.
2. Emotion: Self-chosen songs with strong motivation positively affect the emotional state of gym-goers.
3. satisfaction: The degree of musical enjoyment that gym users experience during self-paced exercise directly correlates with their overall satisfaction rating for that workout session.

The main takeaways from this study are: Voluntarily selected music is more motivating than facility-selected music. Williams et al. When gym users gain autonomy and control over the music they listen to while training, he finds that the overall exercise experience improves in at least the three key ways listed above.

In particular, listening to music with strong motivational properties significantly increased the positive emotional state of gym goers during workouts. On a continual basis, the greater the joy and excitement a gym-goer experiences while listening to their music of choice, the greater their overall satisfaction with a particular exercise experience.

How does beats per minute (BPM) affect self-paced workouts?

A recent study by Williams et al. (2023) demonstrates that allowing gym-goers to choose the songs they listen to during a workout increases motivation, improves mood, and increases the satisfaction of exercise sessions. I’m here. But what kind of music you choose improves your performance? Does the tempo of the song matter when you choose your own motivational songs for the gym?

Norwegian researchers recently conducted a study on the effects of listening to faster or slower music just before performing a very strenuous 30-second rowing challenge. Researchers found that listening to fast-tempo electronic dance music (EDM) improved performance over such short bursts of high-intensity anaerobic exercise compared to listening to slow-tempo music. These findings (Pusey et al., 2023) was published in a peer-reviewed journal music and science.

Interestingly, compared to listening to no music before rowing, both fast and slow music reduced rower fatigue and produced a positive stress response in the nervous system. There was an ergogenic effect to cause. However, music with a fast BPM produces a higher state of arousal and reduces perceived exertion during an anaerobic exercise task.

“Whether the music was fast or slow, there was a better preparation effect for the performers compared to no music,” senior author Aaron Raxdal said in the paper. news release. Furthermore, “People who have listened to fast music before, [anaerobic] It was also exercise that I put the most effort into when rowing. ”

My practical experience supports these findings. As an aside, I’ve learned through trial and error that if your exercise session for the day includes high-intensity interval training (HIIT), choosing a fast-tempo song for yourself works best.

However, during moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in the aerobic zone below the anaerobic threshold, the rhythm and beats of your chosen music are more important than the emotional value of a particular song. Not important. For example, Duran Duran’s “ordinary world” triggers sensory-motor synchronization and can feel like rocket fuel during a moderate-intensity aerobic session.

For more evidence-based tips for creating playlists that optimize your emotional state while exercising, check out 8 Ways to Maximize Your Musical Motivation and Your Favorite Songs Thrill Moments. How to trigger

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