Does music make you train harder?

September 1st, 2010

Michelle going overhead and  showing us a solid push jerk. Is she being helped by the song going in the background?

Does music make you go faster during workouts and go harder? Unfortunately, science suggests that music’s impacts decline dramatically when you exercise at an intense level. A much-cited 2004 study of runners found that during hard runs at about 90 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake, a punishing pace, music was of no benefit, physiologically. The runners didn’t up their paces, no matter how fast the music’s tempo. Their heart rates stubbornly stayed the same, already quite high, whether they listened to music or not. That result, according to a 2009 review of research by Costas Karageorghis and David-Lee Priest, researchers who have extensively studied music and exercise, is likely due to the ineluctable realities of hard work. During moderate exercise, they write, music can “narrow attention,” diverting “the mind from sensations of fatigue.” But when you increase the speed and intensity of a workout, “perceptions of fatigue override the impact of music, because attentional processes are dominated by physiological feedback.” The noise of the body drowns all other considerations…Finish the rest of this article Does music make you exercise harder?

New photos up in the gallery. Check em out.

Speaking of music, please post to comments your 3 all time favorite songs to train with. I want to compile a sweet playlist.

WoD

Rest day or make up one from earlier in the week

16 Responses to “Does music make you train harder?”

  1. Ron S. says:

    ACDC – Who Made Who Album or Back in Black
    Van Halen – 5150 Album

  2. Hammer says:

    JMF- Is the gym clossed Monday for Labor Day?

    Bad Religion- Suffer
    Black Flag- Nervous Breakdown
    Pennywise Every Single Day

  3. Charles says:

    DMX – Ruff Ryders Anthem
    M.O.P. – Ante Up
    Shyne – That’s Gangsta

  4. Ron A. says:

    Looking great Michelle!
    Music: I’m happy with anything that has a fast tempo and makes me want to move!

  5. Chris says:

    Anymore room left for fgb?

  6. Stefan says:

    You cant go wrong with these songs…

    David Guetta – Memories

    Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness

    Kanye West – Good Life

  7. Justin V says:

    Anything from Metallica’s Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets

    Social Distortion albums White Light, White Heat, White Trash or Sex Love and Rock N Roll

  8. stacey says:

    Looking strong Michelle.

  9. Olga says:

    I’m gonna go with Against Me!, Less than Jake, and maybe a little Dropkick Murphys

  10. Josh "Bigs" says:

    - Welcome to the Jungle

    - Right now Van Halen

    - Rocky 4 work out tune.

  11. Philip says:

    Songs:

    1. Phoenix – Lisztomania
    2. Killers – When you were young
    3. The Strokes – Last Nite

    also maybe we can project this on the walls when we are doing a 6K row next time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8xHjC27YvM&feature=related

  12. walsh says:

    some thug ass gangsta shit

  13. Allan says:

    ACDC Back in Black Album
    Eminem Till I Collapse
    Anything by Pantera

  14. Amy says:

    Anything Guns n Roses or Whitesnake. :-)
    ACDC or Eminem