{"id":32147,"date":"2014-09-19T07:15:03","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T11:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=32147"},"modified":"2022-01-20T09:40:06","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T14:40:06","slug":"running-tips-workout-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/running-tips-workout-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Press Pause on Your Running Music?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Should
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you feel a magical burst of energy every time your favorite song comes on your running playlist? While Kanye\u2019s jams may have superpowers (just us?), research indicates that music can directly influence our performance in more ways than one. It has been shown to elevate mood<\/a>, distract from fatigue<\/a> and increase endurance<\/a>. But if you can\u2019t force yourself to break a sweat without some tunes to help, should you rethink your headphones habit<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cI see on social media, \u2018I couldn\u2019t finish my workout because my iPhone died,\u2019 and I\u2019m thinking, \u2018You can<\/i>!\u2019\u201d says Jonathan Cane, exercise physiologist and coach at City Coach<\/a>\u00a0and JackRabbit Sports<\/a>. And let\u2019s admit it: Our muscles definitely still function without a running playlist pumping into our ears.<\/p>\n

The great music debate is far from black and white, though. Since 78 percent of runners<\/a> report that they enjoy listening to something for motivation, it\u2019s clear that tuning in has become an essential part of many runners\u2019 routines. But some experts also think blasting beats might prevent you from focusing on your pace, or tempt you to push past pain when you shouldn\u2019t. How does music change the way we run? Here\u2019s the scoop on what happens when you pump the volume and when you\u2019re better off hitting the track without your tracks.<\/p>\n

Fast Beats, Fast Feet<\/b><\/h3>\n

A runner\u2019s behavior and psychological state can both be influenced by music. Costas Karageorghis, a professor at Brunel University in London and a leading expert on the psychology of workout music, has even gone so far as to call music \u201ca legal performance-enhancing drug<\/a>\u201d in a 2012 review of studies in the Journal of Sports Sciences.<\/p>\n

Why is music so manipulative? For one, you\u2019ll want to move to the beat. A study of cyclists<\/a> conducted in 2012 revealed that athletes who timed their cycling to the music were able to use seven percent less oxygen to expend the same amount of power as athletes who didn\u2019t synchronize with the music. The conclusion: Your body is more efficient when exercising in time with a tune. New apps like TempoRun<\/a> and RockMyRun<\/a> now make it especially easy to sync your tunes to your stride.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/b> Hate Running? 25 Ways to Learn to Love It<\/a><\/p>\n

Plus, research shows<\/a> that music can reduce your perception of your body\u2019s limits. For low to moderate exertion, tunes can effectively distract your brain from focusing on your rapid heart rate, sweating body or other physiological cues of fatigue. For higher exertion activities (think: marathons<\/a> or endurance runs), music won\u2019t be as effective at distracting you from an aching body \u2014 but it can fortify your mental toughness and motivate you to keep going<\/a> despite creeping exhaustion.<\/p>\n

When Silence Can Be Golden<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"Should
Photo: Pond5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s also a dark side to the distraction music provides. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to totally disassociate your fatigue, because you want to understand how different fatigue levels feel,\u201d says Jason Fitzgerald, running coach and founder of StrengthRunning.com<\/a>. Coach Cane agrees. One of his clients reported having a great training run but then suddenly feeling too fatigued to keep up her pace. She didn\u2019t realize what went wrong, but Cane knew the problem. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t listening to what her body was telling her since she was listening to music,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more complex your workout, the more you need to focus on it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019re tuning out your movements and breathing, you might not realize you are pacing yourself too fast, feeling\u00a0dehydrated<\/a>, or ignoring excruciating pain that could lead to injury. Plus,\u00a0studies suggest<\/a>\u00a0that disassociating from running could even cause you to\u00a0go out too hard<\/a>\u00a0at the start of a race and hit the dreaded \u201cwall\u201d later on.<\/p>\n

Both Fitzgerald and Crane believe that runners training to achieve new personal records during races should leave the music at home when doing more structured workouts.\u00a0 For intervals on a track, completing a hill workout, or pacing themselves on a long run, runners need to devote their mental energy to their performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more complex your workout, the more you need to focus on it,\u201d says Fitzgerald, explaining that it will be harder to pace yourself during both long runs and sprint workouts if you\u2019ve got the music blasting. Though he\u2019ll sometimes listen to music or cue up a podcast<\/a> for easier runs, he never wears an iPod on the track if he knows he won\u2019t be listening to music during the race. (According to a 2007 ruling by the USA Track and Field, runners vying for a prize at a race aren\u2019t eligible if they use music.)<\/p>\n

March to Your Own Beat<\/b><\/h3>\n

Even if you aren\u2019t competing for the podium, there can be advantages to unplugging on race day. Coach Cane says he\u2019s seen instances where runners nearly collide or failed to clear a path for emergency vehicles because they were blasting tunes too loud to hear noises around them.<\/p>\n

Plus, why would you ignore all the screaming fans lined up from start to finish? As Fitzgerald sees it, \u201cIf you don\u2019t have music, the next best thing is a really loud, cheering crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, if music helps you find the motivation to lace up your sneakers and get out there for a few miles, both Cane and Fitzgerald say they are all for it. But don\u2019t be afraid to hit the pavement tune-less once in a while \u2014 you may find that the beat of your feet, the scenery or a conversation with a running buddy is just as stimulating.\u00a0Whether you\u2019re rocking out with tunes or leaving the iPod at home, give yourself props for sweating it out<\/a> on the pavement instead of sitting it out on your couch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can’t bear the thought of running without music? Learn how your body reacts to tunes and whether you might be better off leaving your iPod at home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6],"tags":[289,127,108,341,357],"class_list":["post-32147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-exercise","tag-music","tag-running","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}