It’s a rarity to find someone who doesn’t listen to music when working out, whether they are lifting weights in the gym, going for a long run, or enjoying an aerobic workout class. Since we’re in the business of facilitating the musical inspiration to your exercise regimen, we’ll show you how to get the most out of your AfterShokz bone conducting sport headphones. We’ve touched on how music can help work performance previously. Now, let’s focus on the effects music can have on exercise.
Per a UK study published by BBC News, “listening to the right songs before and during training boosts performance by up to 20%.” Music influences performance and has been shown to improve recovery, but you have to be wondering, what are the “right songs” for your workout? We have some advice.
Tempo Is Everything
Research suggests that the tempo of music being listened to directly correlates to the type of workout you’re doing. Slower beat-per-minute (BPM) songs are best played during warm-up and recoveries, whereas faster, more upbeat songs are best for rigorous parts of your workout. To get a feel for your tempo and the suggested BPM, refer to the following breakdown offered up by the New York Times:
“For a stroll walker going at a pace of around 3 miles an hour, a remixed track has a count of 115 to 118 B.P.M.; for a power walker going 4.5 m.p.h., the count is 137 to 139 B.P.M., while the B.P.M. for a runner elevates to 147 to 160.”
Photo: Men’s Fitness
Mental Distraction
Loud, upbeat songs provide a secondary side effect: distraction. Music is a way to divert your attention from the physical activity you’re enduring. In doing so, you are able to tune out fatigue and increase endurance. With the right music, there’s no cutting your workout short. In a recent Life Hacker article, “Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University in 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.’” So, now that we’re familiar with the effects, let’s get to creating the ultimate playlist for your workout.
Creating the Perfect Playlist
Making a workout mix with the right songs in the optimal order can help streamline your training. Starting off with slower songs during your warm-up will help get you in the right state of mind to begin an solid workout. The BPM and intensity of the songs should graduallyincrease as the difficulty of your workout rises. Thus, the highest BPM songs should be placed during the most challenging part of your workout.
It helps to visualize your playlist structure like a bell curve, with relaxed songs at the far left, increasing to fast songs at the top, and back down to slow songs at the far right of the curve.
Ultimately, choosing the right songs for your playlist is based solely on individual preference and the style of music that suits you best. Personally, we like to keep tracks like “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers (150 BPM) and “Fire It Up” by Modest Mouse (180 BPM) streaming through our Bluetooth headphones during a run. Being conscious of things like tempo and BPM will aide in the process of putting your playlist together. iTunes even has a BPM category that you can use to sort playlists from lowest to highest BPM. To obtain the BPM for your iTunes playlists, we recommend the MixMeister BPM Analyzer. From there, it’s all up to your respective taste and style.
What songs can always be heard in your Bluetooth headphones during a workout? We’d love to hear what gets you pumped! Let us know by leaving a comment below or reaching out on Facebook and Twitter with your top workout jams!
