MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE

Are you someone who can’t go to the gym without your headphones or find it more difficult
to tune in and workout without having music blasting in your ear? Well, there is a reason for
this. Before I go into the studies, I will say that this changes for me, if I am on my own in the
gym or running, music is a go-to for me. But, if I am with friends or training in a large group,
I feel there is no need (but that study is for another day). There is good research showing the
effects of music during exercise and its positive effect on performance. A study by the
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2009 studies the effects of synchronous music
during a treadmill workout. They tracked people’s rate of perceived exhaustion alongside
levels of fatigue. It was found that ‘’motivational synchronous music can elicit an ergogenic
(enhance physical performance) effect and enhance in-task affect during an exhaustive
endurance task.

Having covered long distance/endurance the positive effect music has, what about shorter
activities and more explosive ones? Again, the Journal of Sports Science conducted a study in
2006 and found that synchronous music had a considerably positive effect on 400m sprints.
This study looked at motivational music, oudeterous music (music absent of motivating or
demotivating qualities) and no music. Groups of men ran under the three conditions of
motivating music, oudeterous music and no music to compare times. It came to fruition that
music results in better performance than no music. It appears synchronous music can be
applied to anaerobic endurance performance with a positive effect, especially among non-
elite sportsperson.

A lot of studies have shown the effects on endurance as I stated above, but there are just as
much studies on strength. A study in 2015 by the department of biomedical and
neuromuscular sciences in the University of Bologna looked at the bench press and found that
there was a great increase in strength endurance but no effects in maximal strength. What
does this mean? Let’s say you have a one rep max (1RM) of 100kg and this is your maximal
strength. And you take 60% of your 1RM (60kg for example) which is tested by how many
repetitions you can get before failure. Well, they found that people got more reps with music,
but there was no significant difference in people’s 1RM with music. This is interesting as
music seems to have a lot more impact on our aerobic system than our anaerobic system,
especially in the gym.

At the base of it all, it does come down to preference. Do you like music or not? Do you like
to train with music or not? These studies don’t mean you need music to get better results; it is just a simple example of how music can affect our performance. The theories behind music
all attempt to capture attention, enhance mood, generate emotions and all together, can reduce fatigue.