M.E FEATURE
By Werner Beukes, Deputy Editor
SOUND
ADVICE
TAKE YOUR TRAINING
INTENSITY UP A NOTCH
WITH THE RIGHT TYPE AND
QUALITY OF MUSIC
W
hen used in
the correct
manner music
can be a drug,
figuratively speaking; a
performance-enhancing
stimulus. It is no secret
that when listening
to music, people run
farther, swim faster,
lift heavier and bike
longer than usual – in
many cases without
realising it. In a 2012
review of research, Costas
Karageorghis of Brunel
University of London,
one of the world’s leading
experts on the psychology
of exercise music, wrote that
one could think of music as
“a type of legal performance-
enhancing drug”.
Bodybuilders who know this
frequently enter beast mode by
putting on their headphones
OTHER
MOST COMMON
MODES OF
EXERCISE WHILE
LISTENING TO
MUSIC:
Online survey
FREE WEIGHTS
27.2%
TREADMILL &
CYCLE CYCLING
26%
68
Muscle Evolution
9.8%
ELLIPTICAL
TRAINER
17.4%
MACHINE
WEIGHTS
19.6%
to crank out more reps under
heavy loads. Muscle Evolution
investigated the relationship
between music and training and
how to benefit from your favourite
tunes in the gym.
An article published on the
Scientific American website
dated 20 March 2013 states:
“Many people depend on bumpin’
beats and stirring lyrics to keep
themselves motivated when
exercising.” While this is an ideal
method to ‘tune out’ the world
and focus on your training,
the right type of music during
exercise may do more than merely
give your routine a motivating
soundtrack.
Research on the interplay of
music and exercise dates back
as far as 1911, when American
investigator Leonard Ayres found
that cyclists pedaled faster while
a band was playing than when it
was not.
“ONE COULD THINK OF MUSIC
AS ‘A TYPE OF LEGAL PERFORMANCE-
ENHANCING DRUG’. “
PERFORMANCE ENHANCER
B
iokinetics professor Ina
Shaw says that music can
definitely have an effect on
how a person uses energy
while working out because
they train to the rhythm of the
music. Bodybuilders who make
use of headphones can also
push themselves harder because
music can elevate your mood and
reduces tension and fatigue.
Says Shaw: “One individual may
favour quiet or relaxed music and
another favours hardcore, loud