Does the music we exercise to really matter? According to an article in the NY times and a study published last year, it really does matter. Participants rode a stationary bicycle at a pace they felt was comfortable enough to maintain for thirty minutes for three separate rides. On each ride the same six songs were played but on each ride the tempo of the songs changed, either slower or faster than the original tempo without the riders knowing it. As you can imagine when the tempo slowed so did their pedaling, mileage, heart rate and even their level of enjoyment for the song. When the tempo speed increased; their speed, mileage and heart rate increased. Surprisingly their level of enjoyment for the music, the same music, increased.   Unfortunately the tempo of the music didn’t change the comfort level of the exercise. But it did seem to motivate participants to push harder and go faster. The article in the NY Times states that multiple experiments have found that your body responds to the beat of the music, which results in you moving faster or pushing yourself harder. Our bodies want to synchronize to the music we listen to. We naturally want to tap our feet or sway to the beat when we hear music. Take advantage of this phenomenon and let it help you increase the tempo of your workout.  So next time you plan for a run, load up your playlist with some up tempo Justin Bieber and leave the Jack Johnson behind. Our bodies are made to move to the music. So let’s move.
NY Times article referenced is titled: Phys Ed: Does Music Make You Exercise Harder? By Gretchen Reynolds.