Nothing like some action tunes to get that blood pumping.
Okay, I want you to be super honest with me: have you ever put on “Eye of the Tiger” while working out? No judgement, I’ve done it too. It’s motivating, right? Working out with a good soundtrack feels much more motivating than doing your sets in complete silence. That’s a pretty commonly accepted notion, but as it turns out, there’s actually a scientific basis to it as well.
A study published in Frontiers in Psychology researched the mysterious connection between up-tempo music and better exercise. While they couldn’t quite pin down a definitive explanation, a positive correlation was noted.
19 volunteers were made to perform various exercises while listening to pop songs at various tempos. What they found was that while listening to music at the highest tempo, participants experienced the highest heart rate, yet at the same time, felt notably lower effects from exhaustion. In layman’s terms, the exercise felt easier, yet actually yielded greater benefits.
So if you’re not the type to listen to music while you work out, you ought to consider starting. It doesn’t have to be “Eye of the Tiger” if you’re not into that. I get pretty good results with video game background music, personally.
