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Music affects the quality of your workout
Last reviewed: 25.02.2021
Probably every person visiting the gym would like to make their workout as effective as possible. However, some people are "produced" at 90-100%, while others are only 20%. How to improve performance?
A group of international experts from Italy and Croatia shared information that rhythmic music improves the efficiency of sports, increases endurance and improves performance.
It's safe to say that most people prefer to listen to music while exercising. Some researchers have previously suggested that this habit can act as a distraction, blocking the body's signals of fatigue, and thereby increasing the effect of exercise. But one cannot ignore the fact that different people listen to different music and perceive it differently. Both cultural features and individual preferences play a role here. There are many different kinds of music, with different rhythms, melodies, arrangements and lyrics. Therefore, it cannot be said that any music tracks act the same for everyone.
Until now, there was a lack of understanding among researchers of how exactly one or another music can influence the quality of training. For example, it remained a mystery which rhythm is optimal for the effective performance of certain exercises.
In their new project, specialists representing the Split, Milan and Verona universities had to clarify these issues. The study involved women practicing treadmill walking and strength exercises such as leg presses. The participants practiced first in silence, and then - with sounding melodies at different rates.
In the course of the study, all sorts of indicators were recorded, the feedback from the women themselves about the training sessions was taken into account. As a result, it was found that sounding music at a high tempo increased the heart rate and reduced the subjective perception of the difficulty of the exercise the most - compared to those moments when you had to train in silence. The "musical" effects were more noticeable in athletes who exercised on a treadmill - that is, trained for endurance.
The specialists expressed the hope that the results of their work will be useful for people seeking to raise their own level of physical capabilities - and, most likely, it will be a fairly large number of people. Despite the fact that the project involved a relatively small group of volunteers, the results were quite clear. However, scientists do not exclude further larger-scale experiments to continue studying the influence of music on other aspects of our lives.
The results of the research can be found on the pages of the publication Frontiers in Psychology - www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00074/full