March 02, 2015
File Art/for PhillyVoice
A new study shows that slow music can be just as motivational for runners as music with a fast tempo.
A new study has found that you don't need a playlist of fast songs like the “Rocky” theme on repeat to be a faster runner.
While other studies have shown that music, specifically fast music, can improve athletic performance, the sudy in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows that a song’s tempo may not matter as much as whether the listener finds it motivational, Runner's World reports.
Fifteen male runners were asked to run three 5Ks over a span of several weeks. They ran one while listening to slow motivational tunes with 80-100 beats per minute (like Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”), one while listening to fast songs with 140–160 beats per minute (like Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us”) and one with no music at all.
Compared to when they ran in silence, runners ran faster with music, specifically in the first 800 meters of the 5K. The difference in their finish times when the music was fast compared to when it was slow, however, was not statistically significant.
Here’s the breakdown: They averaged 27:33 when running headphone-less; 26:00 when listening to slow motivational music; and 26:06 when listening to fast stuff.
Participants chose their own playlists, which gave researchers reason to conclude that motivation is more about a song's meaning than its tempo.
“People seem to feel music as a sum of its parts regardless of tempo,” lead author Marcelo Bigliassi wrote in an email to Runner's World.
Until the weather warms up to make outdoor running more bearable, check out how music can help even the hardest treadmill workout.
