Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

Hmmmm …. it seems I might be shortchanging myself with my slavish reliance on podcasts while working out. Podcasts may indeed have some advantages over music, but a British sports psychologist has found that carefully selected music can increase a person’s physical endurance by as much as 15 percent!

In a study to be published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Dr. Costas Karageorghis, of the School of Sport and Education at Brunel University in London, concluded that music can increase endurance and make the experience of cardiovascular exercise far more positive. “Music is like is a legal drug for athletes,” he says.

The results stem from a 20-year examination of the motivational qualities of music in sport and exercise. In this latest segment, 30 participants exercised on a treadmill while listening to a selection of “motivational music” that included songs by Queen, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna. They were instructed to keep in strict time with the music’s beat.

The runners not only ran farther and for a longer period, they also enjoyed it more. The psychologist found that music can help people feel more positive even when working out at a very high intensity, close to physical exhaustion. And moderate exercisers reported that the addition of music reduced their perception of hard work.

“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,” he explains.

The research was put to the test this past weekend at a race in London. Karageorghis selected and coordinated the music for 17 live music stations to accompany more than 12,000 participants in the Run to the Beat half-marathon.

Not just any music will do. Karageorghis says the best songs for moderate to intense exercise tend to have between 120 and 140 beats per minute. Recent examples include “I Like the Way You Move” by Bodyrockers and “Mercy” by Duffy, while “older “exercisers might prefer “The Heat is On” by Glenn Frey, “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen or “Dancing Queen” by Abba (sadly, I know more of the latter than the former). The doctor advises against “grungy or punky tracks, or slow rock tracks.” Not a problem, Doc.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 7:28 am and is filed under General Fitness, News, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.