The effect of music on exercise performance has been investigated for a long time showing that listening itself and the type of music you listen to can have an impact on your workout and training regime.
Listening to music compared to not listening to music during intensive training reduces your rate of percieved exertion and increases lactic acid clearance from the body (Yamashita S 2006, Szmedra 1998). Listening to preferred (vs non preferred music) increases not only the length of time you can exercise for but also reduces the rate of perceived exertion during the same workout (Nakamura et al 2010).
In other words when you listen to favourite music you FEEL less tired compared to when performing the same workload while listening to random tunes.
What about the athletes?
Synchronous music equally translates to elite athletes. A study published in 2012 in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport showed that elite triathletes run longer, with better economy, less oxygen consumption and better overall mood responses when listening to their favourite music (Terry et al 2012). A more relaxed state and presence of a regular beat are one of the main reasons sighted by the research as possible reasons for the music’s effect.
But what about competitive athletes who can not use music during their competition or intense exercise? Can they benefit from their motivating playlist?
Research published January 2012 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research demonstrated that listening to motivating soundtrack during the the first 15 minutes of recovery not only reduced their rate of perceived exertion (RPE), but also reduced their blood lactate levels when compared to not using music during unstructured recovery after intense exercise (Eliakim l 2012). Interestingly, when listening to music during recovery the athletes tended to be more active (they took more steps). This may have contributed to the lower blood lactate concentration by increasing blood circulation and oxygen supply to the muscles. So it’s worth putting those earbuds back in between heats when competition heats up.
Music to our ears!
Take time to load up and update your playlists regularly with your favourite tunes and keep them fresh for the best results during training or recovery.
Dmitri Tkatchev and team.