Listen to music while you train to enhance your performance, and enjoyment. Music has many documented benefits including creating a positive mood, helping work past fatigue, and creating a tempo at which to train. A recent study by Brunel University’s School of Sport and Education concluded that listening to music during cardio workouts can boost exercise endurance by 15 percent. Add music to your program to boost enjoyment and results.
Equipment
The first step to adding music to your exercise program is to select the equipment you’re going to play it on. This is easy if you have a home gym where you can set up a stereo to play your favorite tunes. Most people, however, train at a public gym, so selecting a personal music player is important. Start by selecting a music player. With the surge of cheap, small MP3 players on the market, going with a CD player is a bad choice. Pick a music player that will be unobtrusive, and not get in your way. For example, Apple makes the iPod Shuffle, which is small, holds a lot of music and won’t interrupt your workout. After you’ve selected a music player select a set of headphones or earbuds. In general, earbuds are superior to headphones because of their small size and light weight. Also, many headphones will act like a pair of earmuffs during your workout leaving your ears hot and sweaty. Lastly, you will need a case for your player. Choose either a belt clip or arm band to keep your player safe and out of the way.
Activity
The next consideration for combining exercise and music is the type of exercise you are doing. The more intense the activity, the harder it will be to incorporate a personal music player. Good exercise to incorporate music into includes weight lifting, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, walking, jogging and yoga. Activities that are slightly more difficulty to incorporate a personal music player into include tennis, sprinting and other activities that require rapid movement. Activities that you will not be able to incorporate a personal music player into include team sports like football, extreme sports like pole vault, many forms of gymnastics, martial arts and any other contact sport or sport that requires rapid movement in multiple directions. There are also environmental concerns. For example, most music players are not designed for aquatic environments. Know the limitations of your equipment.
The Right Music
Now that you’ve chosen the appropriate equipment for your activity, choose music to listen to. Len Kravitz, Ph.D., from the University of New Mexico reports that one study showed that “listening to sedative music decreased strength significantly when compared to stimulative music and silence.” So when choosing music go with a genre that is more upbeat, and not relaxing. Music should not be a distraction from your activity or exercise. Pick music that you enjoy and that can be played as background music. Next, consider the pace of you exercise. WorkoutMusic.com, a company that specializes in creating playlists for exercise, recommends choosing music based off of BPM, or beats-per-minute. For example, if you're running at a faster pace pick music that has a higher BPM. Find music that matches the intensity of your exercise to help maintain an efficient tempo.
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