No matter if it’s on the treadmill or doing an at-home HIIT session, music can provide invaluable assistance during workouts. Listening to an appropriate playlist before, during, and after can even have performance-boosting benefits!
Create the ideal workout playlist easily by focusing on two factors: tempo and type of exercise. Songs with infectious beats make for ideal accompaniment during cardio or high-intensity workouts. Download Your Workout Jams Music on Mp3Juice.
Boosts Motivation
All athletes know the power of music to put themselves in the zone during a marathon run, tough workout or spin class. Most people have an established playlist of upbeat tunes they listen to before hitting the gym for good reason: studies show it makes exercise more enjoyable while making pushing yourself easier when listening to high-energy beats that encourage movement.
Fitness apps like Aaptiv are capitalizing on the trend of using music as an instructor, enabling users to select their preferred tracks and create playlists that sync up with their movements and tempo. This feature can be especially helpful for beginners who may not know which workout soundtracks or tracks would best support their exercise goals.
Music can also increase motivation and help prepare you for exercise by increasing heart rate and adrenaline (adrenaline) levels, according to studies. One such research project found that when participants listened to self-selected music they could control during a walk rather than facility-selected music they could not alter during workout, they reported enjoying their experience 28% more, walking faster and farther with greater ease than ever before.
Karageorghis recommends selecting music for workouts from “your pool of predilections,” meaning genres you already like outside of the gym. He cautions against choosing songs with lyrics that might distract from your pain, and strives for tempos which coincide with heart rate zones.
Select songs with high tempos to help maintain a steady pace during your workout, especially important for runners as this can lower injury risks associated with knee issues and prevent injuries altogether.
When selecting workout soundtracks, it can be helpful to find ones selected by professional trainers or fitness experts. BODi trainers curate on-demand classes based on genre and beats per minute ranges so you’re always prepared for an intense workout experience. To find one of these playlists for yourself, head over to your workout schedule and look for Music Genre filter – or head straight here.
Preps You for the Workout
Working out to music can certainly keep you motivated, but in order to maximize the efficiency of your workout session it’s essential that you choose music that adjusts with your pace.
Some apps include features to detect your workout’s tempo. PaceDJ is one such example that does this, analyzing your music library for songs with specific BPM counts to create playlists tailored specifically to match your workout pace and thus ensure you always have songs to keep motivation high during workouts.
When choosing workout tunes, it’s wise to also keep emotional responses in mind. A song’s lyrics can have an enormous impact on how you feel during a workout session and even alter its performance; songs with powerful words may give you just the extra push needed for pushing through tough classes or reaching new personal records on your bike.
When feeling lethargic or bored during workouts, switching up your workout soundtrack is an instant way to add some excitement. But be wary about changing it too often–only make changes if certain that they will help maintain or increase performance; otherwise it may end up wearing you down faster! Avoid listening to songs that don’t match up with your pace because playing inappropriate tunes could actually cause fatigue; find one that best works for you instead.
Music can help elevate your arousal level before beginning any workout. Simply by pressing play on a playlist of songs you love before training, your heart rate and adrenaline (epinephrine) levels increase, helping prepare both mentally and physically for whatever lies ahead of you.
Music can help your recovery from a hard workout, with studies revealing that listening to relaxing music reduces cortisol (a hormone associated with stress) levels within five minutes – helping you unwind and recuperate. Many runners and cyclists use audiobooks or podcasts after long runs or cycling sessions as a way of winding down.
Peloton Members who find motivation from music playlists before classes can use this knowledge as a key driver to show up to the gym on time. You can quickly identify this information either by filtering by “Music Genre” on BODi Class Schedule, or browsing on-demand classes.
Adapts to Your Pace
Music can help keep you motivated during a workout by shifting your perception of how hard you’re working. From upbeat pop tunes from favorite artists, to songs off TikTok compilations, the right tune can keep you pushing past limitations while remaining positive and motivating.
Research indicates that people may perceive themselves to be working harder when listening to high-energy music, because its rhythms elicit an emotional response similar to epinephrine and adrenaline hormones that produce the “rebound effect.” This aid allows us to push through when things get challenging in workouts and keeps momentum high enough.
Apart from its ergogenic benefits, music’s motivational power lies in its ability to distract the mind and release emotion – making it an invaluable aid for those who struggle to focus during workouts or those who find exercising difficult due to physical restrictions or limitations.
While no single playlist fits every exerciser perfectly, some of the most popular fitness apps have found ways to harness music’s transformative potential during exercise. Spotify’s running feature provides an automatic playlist that matches your pace and speed by searching its library for songs with beats per minute (BPM) rates that correspond to your pace; then as you run, the app detects your steps using smartphone accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect their tempo.
BODi trainers customize each class workout playlist based on music genre and beats per minute range – and you can find their playlist when watching BODi on-demand workouts for the first time, since it exists independently from audio/video feed of instructor.
BODi offers many runners workout playlists, but its BODYJAM app enables users to create custom music tracks specifically designed to complement a workout. Bodi’s BODYJAM also boasts over 100 workouts to fit different exercise types – providing users with full customization control during any exercise session.
Reduces Perceived Exertion
Music can help keep your mind off muscle strain and fatigue during workouts, keeping your focus on positive goals. Plus, rhythmic beats in music can create an energizing beat that motivates your body to keep up and push through tough parts of a workout session.
SoulCycle, Orangetheory and CrossFit all utilize music with high intensity levels to motivate their students and keep them moving through each class session. Thanks to fitness apps like Aaptiv that facilitate instructor DJ roles more seamlessly than ever, creating the ideal playlists is becoming increasingly simple for each workout session.
Music can do more than lift spirits – it can also boost motivation and heighten emotional impact of workouts. According to research, listening to music you like while at the gym increases feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction with the experience compared to gyms or classes which play music you don’t enjoy which could serve as a major deterrent from sticking with a regular exercise regime.
At the same time, music’s mood-lifting effects extend well beyond your time spent working out – studies have demonstrated its positive influence in terms of recovery after strenuous workouts as well as how much effort is exerted during them. Studies also suggest music can reduce perceived exertion while exercising.
When choosing music to listen to during a workout, take into account its tempo and what psychologists refer to as rhythm response; that is, how much the song excites your instinct to move to its beat, even though your efforts at suppressing this are futile. Upbeat songs tend to increase this instinct the most.
Consider whether the songs in your playlist contain lyrics with positive affirmations that can boost confidence and motivation, such as Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive which serves as a constant reminder of strength and determination during workouts like HIIT or weight training.
