When you go running, cycling or simply going to the gym, there are some songs that seem to give us greater energy. And it is not just a subjective sensation, but science has been studying music for years as a tool that improves physical performancealthough without specific data. Now science has detailed exactly how much it can improve in numbers and, above all, where it will end up affecting.
An experiment. This is something that researcher Andrew Danso has developed with the help of 29 physically active adults who performed high-intensity cycling sessions at 80% of their maximum power. But the important thing here is that the participants pedaled in two scenarios: in complete silence and listening to the music they had previously chosen with a tempo of between 120 and 140 beats per minute.
The results. After being in these two situations, the research indicated that with music the cyclists lasted an average of six minutes longer than those who were completely silent, which represents an increase in resistance of 20%.
Although it does not stop there, since, despite pedaling for longer, the heart rate and lactate levels (which determine how demanding the exercise was) at the end were identical to those who had been silent. This means that the feeling of effort was much less because they lasted longer with the same intensity, making the exercise sessions of much higher quality.
Because? Here the question is quite clear: How is it possible to perform 20% more without the body paying for it with a higher heart rate? For science, one of the answers lies in cognitive dissociation, since music acts as a barrier that diverts attention from the signals of pain, muscle burning and fatigue that the body sends to the brain. Studies here indicate that this distraction reduces perception of effort by about 12%.
But it doesn’t stop there, since by adjusting the rhythm of the exercise, such as pedaling, to the tempo of the music, the movement becomes more efficient, causing less energy to be spent to do the same work because the rhythm acts as a metronome that optimizes the cadence.
The importance of the song. A crucial detail of the Finnish study is that the music was chosen by the athletes themselves, since it is not enough to put a generic ‘training music’ playlist on Spotify, but for the effect to be maximum there must be an emotional connection with the song.
In addition, very calm music is not useful, but it must have a tempo in the range of 120-140 BPM so that it is a motivating rhythm and easy to synchronize with sports activity. And it is not something new, because already In the past there were studies that pointed to this improvement in performance, although now it goes a little further.
Images | freepik
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