Listening to Music Can Improve Your Workout

Music has magical properties, says some psychologists. It affects your mood, imparts a sense of chill and thrill with its tempo while on the other hand calms an irritated mind through its softness. It is a well known fact that music helps you unwind and relax by reducing the stress levels but recently scientists in the United States have found that listening to music can help you exercise for longer period of time without fatigue and boredom. During the study, 50 young adults were asked to workout with and without playing their favorite music. It was found that people were able to undergo longer duration for exercise with music on than without any music. Also the heart rate and intensity of workout increased significantly with music.

According to the scholars, people who do heavy and intense workout should listen to music during their exercise sessions for better results.

What is high intensity workout?

High intensity workouts are the most preferred method of doing exercise these days. These workouts are great for weight loss and keeping your body in pristine shape. The reason why they are so popular today is because they take comparatively lesser time. People can gain the benefits of doing 1 hour of brisk walking or jogging by doing just 15 minutes of the high intensity workout. This includes butt kicks, jump squats, alternate side lunges, forearm plank, jumping lunges and sprints.

The Research

Previous studies about the high intensity workouts revealed that people who are novice, or just started exercising find HIIT (high intensity interval training) too tough for themselves and they easily give up either because they get bored or loose interest later on. However, recently the Psychology of sports and exercise journal published a study. The study was conducted by scholars from the British Columbia University. They took 24 volunteers for the study which included both males and females. According the the scholars these volunteers had seldom done any workouts. They were called to the University exercise research lab where a preliminary examination of the heart beat and other health parameters were checked. The volunteers were then asked to exercise while listening to their favorite music. The exercise included stationary bicycles, treadmill etc. After 10 minutes of exercise they were asked to continue the same exercise without listening to any music.

During the study it was found that people were able to do these workouts with greater efficacy and intensity while they were able to listen to their favorite music. They also did not feel any boredom during their exercise sessions. Contrary to this, the volunteers felt less motivated and energized without listening to the music and also they found their exercise to be less engaging and the experience was not so good.

Benefits Of Listen To Music During The Workout

• Music reduces distraction:

There are many distractions during your workout schedule. Whether it is the gym noise, people talking about different things, your mind shifting to your office issues or something that you may have misplaced last night. There are so many distractions. Music helps you stay focused on what you do in the gym. According to WebMD, you should match your workout intensity and heart beats to the tempo of your music. The faster, the better. When you hear loud and fast music, your brain becomes too occupied decoding the beats and tunes that it forgets about anything else.

• Music Motivates You

Yes music is a great motivator. When you are about to give up that last rep of push up or crunches, music can actually motivate you to finish it in style. You can last longer and workout harder with a fast and loud music as it motivates you, says David-Lee Priest, PhD, a psychologist and researcher at University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. He however warns that the music should not be too fast as it will do nothing good for your motivation.

• Music helps you maintain the pace

Have you ever heard someone say that his feet start dancing while listening to so and so song. Yes, a good beat can dramatically keep you moving and maintain the pace. Music stimulates the motor area of the brain so you can easily control your motion and maintain a fast pace without feeling tired.