Run farther, Bike longer, Lift harder and Swim faster - without even realizing it

DAY 55

• 30 minute dog walk
• 30 minute / 3 mile run
• 1 hour in the gym...mostly weights

A recent article by Carl foster, Ph.D and John Pocari, Ph.D. on http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/805/ indicated that if you take a look back as far as those beefy rowers on the Roman Galleys, there is a dude banging away on his drum driving the basic rhythm of the rowing. Some of this is simple coordination — getting the rowers to row together. The other part is that people will naturally follow a tempo; scientifically it’s just something about the way our brains work. So, the connection between music and exercise clearly did NOT begin in the 1980's with the well known Jane Fonda and her myriad of dance aerobic videos (now that's a blast from the past).

 

I play drums and various other forms of percussion. I started playing drums (self taught by listening to ZZ Top and MTV) and over time moved to guitar. Even my guitar playing is somewhat percussive. I love a good beat but for the most part I've always worked out in silence (meaning that I do not plug into the TV). Until recently I didn't own an ipod but my lovely wife gave me an Ipod shuffle for my 43rd birthday and now I run and workout with tempo. I have definitely noticed an uptick in my workouts. I run faster and I work out harder when I lift. I can feel the intensity increase when I have my music on. This morning I ran 3 miles with my ipod & I wasn't paying attention to how tight my thighs felt. The adrenaline was kicking in and I killed the uphill run on Patterson Ave.

 

You and I do not need a wellness guru or a scientist to tell us that music makes exercise more enjoyable. So what is it? What is the connection between music and the effect on our physical performance when we work out? Costas Karageorghis, Ph.D., from London’s Brunel University School of Sport and Education has come up with 3 primary things about music that could possibly influence performance:

 

1) the tendency to move in time with synchronous sounds (e.g., tapping your toe in time with music or the beat of a drum);

2) the tendency of music to increase arousal (e.g., the desire to move rather than to sit). He also states that "music is like is a legal drug for athletes"

3) the tendency for music to distract the exerciser from discomfort that might be related to exercise.

 

So, while it may not be rocket science that music can put nuclear energy into your workouts, there is some science behind it. In fact ,as early as the 1920s, scientists were researching the connection and in 1935 scientists observed that music could actually change the heart rate, affect blood pressure, change the metabolic rate, reduce physical and mental stress & reduce fatigue. What's really crazy is that in 2007 USA Track & Field, the national governing body for distance racing, actually banned athletes from using portable music players in order to prevent runners from having a competitive edge during the Marine Corp Marathon (there was also a safety concern - which is why when I run with my ipod I run on the sidewalk so I don't have to worry about traffic).

 

There you have it, when listening to music, people run farther, bike longer, lift harder and swim faster than usual—often without even realizing it. So if you want to work out hard and see better performance then you should grab some headphones. They even make ipods that are waterproof so that you can swim with them. We've certainly come a long way from the days of Jane Fonda.

 

 

 

Here's my list (understand that I like high intensity, metal, hardcore and punk when I work out).

 

• Cesspool - BlenderHead
• Battery - Metallica
• Masters of Puppets - Metallica
• Super Beast - Rob Zombie
• Big Problems -Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C)
• White Noise - C.O.C
• Take a Stand - Youth of Today
• Agnostic Front and Bad Brains
• Vote C.O.C
• Grip - Sub-Merge

And if you're not familiar with any of these, Youtube them. Here's Super Beast by Rob Zombie - I love running to this song.

 

Thought for day: Love your ears and don't turn it up to loud.