Listening to music while exercising is something lots of us enjoy doing and now there’s a scientific reason to que up your playlist - it’s been proven to boost your workout performance. A new study from the University of Verona in Italy finds high-tempo music – tunes that equal about 170 beats per minute – give us the most cardiovascular benefits and reduces perceived effort. That means the exercise seems like less effort, but it’s actually more beneficial for enhancing physical fitness.
The research finds that playing faster music can also boost mood before exercise, ease perceptions of pain and fatigue during a workout, and inspire performance and endurance more than slower tempos. The study shows the effects are greater for endurance exercises, like brisk walking, running, biking, and swimming, than for high-intensity exercises like weightlifting and jump roping.
Researchers even go as far as saying, “music can be thought of as a type of legal performance-enhancing drug.” But what tunes should we be playing to get the biggest workout boost? You can check the beats-per-minute or BPM of your favorite songs online, like at Spotify, or use some of these up tempo songs:
- Eminem's"Lose Yourself" is 171 BPM
- Jay Z's"Empire State of Mind" is 173 BPM
- Beyonce's"Naughty Girl" is 199 BPM
- Taylor Swift's"Untouchable" is 200 BPM
- AndMoby's"Thousand" is only listed at 137 BPM, but it holds a Guinness World Record for climbing to a whopping 1,015 BPM
Source:CNN