Music and Exercise

Written by Shankar Mahadevan Academy on 08 January 2014

Music has always been associated with exercising. Most of us listen to our favorite music while jogging in the park or while working out in the gym, but we never think of it as more than just an accompaniment to our exercise routine. But recent scientific research has thrown light on the fact that using the ‘right’ music while exercising can do you a whole lot of good: from increasing your endurance level and the amount of output, to creating a feeling of positivity and calming any anxious feelings.
Read on to find out more about the many benefits of music when used during exercise, and how to learn to select the right music to get the most out of your exercise routine.

How does music help while exercising?

Extensive scientific research on music and its benefits on athletes and exercisers have been conducted by various sport and exercise scientists. Most of their research was based on trying to find out the various benefits that can be got from listening to music while exercising, and identifying the ‘right’ music needed to intensify those benefits. Here are a few of their most important findings.
• Music increases your endurance level 
Studies conducted by Dr Costas Karageorghis, reader in sport psychology, in Brunel University’s School of Sport and Education reported that carefully selected music can significantly increase a person’s physical endurance. The study based on a 20-year program of work into the motivational qualities of music in sport and exercise found that participants, who exercised on a treadmill while listening to a selection of motivational rock or pop music, including tracks by Queen, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Madonna, increased their endurance levels by 15%. Dr Karageorghis explains why: “The synchronous application of music resulted in much higher endurance while the motivational qualities of the music impacted significantly on the interpretation of fatigue symptoms right up to the point of voluntary exhaustion”.

• Music creates a positive experience
Dr Costas Karageorghis also reported that music helped turn cardiovascular exercise into a far more positive experience. The participants felt more positive since they derived greater pleasure from the task even when they were working out at a very high intensity. This finding about the effects of music on mood and emotions opens up endless possibilities since it can be used to improve compliance to exercise, especially for cardiac patients and those suffering from obesity, and ultimately help people achieve their long-term health and fitness goals. “Music has the immense power to foster positivity in a person,” agrees Shankar Mahadevan, renowned singer, musician and Indian Film music composer. “It is up to each one of us to use this positivity to enrich the different areas of our life.” 

• Music calms anxious feelings
Using music during exercise can alter negative emotional and physiological feelings and foster an optimal mindset. Bishop, Karageorghis, and Loizou in their research paper published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology titled “A grounded theory of young tennis players’ use of music to manipulate emotional state”, showed that most athletes use loud, upbeat music to “psych up,” but softer songs to help them “psych down”. A good example of this theory being put to practice is how two-time Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes used soulful ballads by Alicia Keys (e.g., “Fallin’” and “Killing Me Softly”) in her pre-event routine at the Athens Games of 2004.

• Music can increase your level of output
Selecting the right kind of music can also help in causing a marked increase in the level of output. This is especially seen in repetitive exercises and activities such as rowing, cycling, cross-country skiing, and running. When athletes synchronized their exercise to music, the musical tempo was seen to prolong performance through regulation of movement. In a recent study by Bacon, Myers, and Karageorghis, titled, “Effect of movement-music synchrony and tempo on exercise oxygen consumption”, the participants who cycled in time to synchronized music were found to require 7% less oxygen to do the same work as compared to those cycling with background (asynchronous) music. The same concept is used by celebrated Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, who selected the rhythmical pop song “Scatman”, as the tempo perfectly matched his target stride rate (an extremely important consideration for any distance runner whose aim is to establish a steady and efficient pace).

How to select the right music? 

While selecting music athletes, sportspersons and exercisers mostly choose music based on their personal liking and intuition, rather than on a scientific basis. But paying attention to the selection of the right music for your exercise pattern can go a long way in achieving your desired result.
Here are a few recommendations from the experts of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences on how to go about selecting the right music for your exercise pattern.
• The music should be appropriately selected keeping in mind of the socio-cultural background and age group of exercisers.
• The rhythm should match the motor patterns of the exercise.
• The music selected should have the desired effect on the mind. For example, loud, fast, percussive music with accentuated bass frequencies motivates the individual to exercise more.
• For repetitive aerobic and anaerobic exercise tasks the music should also have pleasing melodic and harmonic structures apart from the prominent rhythmic qualities and percussion effects.
• An effective tempo within the bandwidth of 125-140 beats per minute is advised for most healthy exercisers who are engaged in a repetitive, aerobic-type activity. (Note: Music with a slower bandwidth is to be used for warm-up and cool-down exercises).
• The music can be used with lyrics that have affirmations of movement (e.g., “run to the beat”) or generic motivating statements (e.g., “the only way is up”).
• Music should be used in exercise only in circumstances where safety is not compromised (e.g., exercisers should not use music when running or cycling on roads). 
Karageorghis, Terry, & Lane, in their work published in 1997, state three additional considerations when selecting music for exercise. They concluded that: a) a variety in the music increased the athletes' interest in the activity; b) the volume of the music should be suitable and not be obscured by the noise of the exercise environment; and c) if the music is synchronized with the exercise, the tempo must agree with the preferred work rate. 

Make music a part of your everyday life:

Music and its enriching properties can add value to the different parts of our daily life. Be sure to make music a part of your life in whatever you do. Start your day with the purifying power of chanting slokas, exercise to the beat of music, listen to music as you drive to work, join a choir or singing group, try out the latest Bollywood dance, and unwind at the end of the day by listening to the great classics.

Indian music enthusiasts can check out the online music classes (Classical/Devotional/Bollywood) conducted by The Shankar Mahadevan Academy at www.shankarmahadevanacademy.com. The Academy is devoted to the teaching of Indian Classical music. Make music a part of your life with their live online classes conducted by expert teachers and self-learning tools like the Om book.

Did you know that music, when used in exercise, can help increase your level of output, helping you to achieve your long-term fitness goals?

References:
http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/music-sport-and-exercise-update-research-and-application
http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/music-sport-and-exercise-theory-and-practice
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/4364/1/Terry-Karageorghis.pdf
http://joggertunes.com/2011/05/music-in-sport-and-exercise-an-update-on-research-and-application/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001093753.htm
http://www.bases.org.uk/Music-in-Exercise
http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol10Iss2/Music.htm
http://pom.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/09/0305735611422507.abstract?rss=1