Listening to music helps your sporting performance

It’s not food, a supplement, an exercise or a training regime, but research shows that listening to music helps your sporting performance. Whether you’re into metal, rock, hip-hop or country, the music you have in your gym playlist can help you bust out that sought after PB. We all know that music has the ability to strongly impact your mood, arousal, and emotions and this can impact your physical performance. Listening to music can delay fatigue and improve your work capacity. This can then increase your endurance, power, and productivity and strength.

Think of music as a type of legal performance enhancing drug

1. It’s distracting – Listening to music streaming through your headphones redirects your mind from the discomfort you experience when training. This might be particularly useful for those endurance athletes that are pushing hard for long periods of time.
2. The tempo of the music you listen to influences the rate at which you workout – Studies have shown that you will unconsciously synchronize your movements to the tempo of the music you are listening to. If you are wanting to increase the intensity or pace of your training, choosing music with a faster tempo may help you achieve that.
3. Music evokes emotions – As listeners we are able to relate to and take on the emotions of the music performer. Music that invokes feelings of anger, power, or excitement you can influence your emotions and that can help your performance.
4. It can increase your heart rate – Music impacts that part of the brain which stimulates arousal and increases heart rate. This can help prepare your body for optimal performance, before and during training.

We reached out to some of our ambassadors and asked them what they currently have on their gym playlist.

Todd Grosvenor is a fan of Till I Collapse (Eminem), Billy (6ix9ine) and In The Beginning (ONEFOUR). At the other end of the spectrum ambassador Courtney Dover loves some uplifting retro tunes with Take Me On (A-Ha), Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac) and Staying Alive (Bee Gees). Raissa is a fan of Parkway Drive but also likes Saviour (Any Given Day) and Nurture (Thornhill). Runner and triathlete Brianne Mayne has Con Calma (Daddy Yankee) and Go for Broke (Machine Gun Kelly) on her playlist.

Now we want to hear from you. What are your three favourite songs on your gym, running or riding playlist? Let us know and we will add them the the VPA^® Spotify playlist.