For many people, headphones are an essential part of their sportswear, with a similar importance to shoes or any other clothing. It may be thought that this factor depends on the habit, on the customs of each one, but the reality is that there is already research that shows, with scientific criteria, that music not only motivates , but also helps A direct way to improve sports results.
Choosing a list of songs especially suitable for physical work has notable benefits in performance. It seems hard to believe, but in this text we will present the results of a study carried out at the University of British Columbia that corroborate it.
Music and sport, much more than motivation
The importance of the role of music in sport is undeniable; however, it is normal to think that serves to motivate athletes and help them focus on key moments. It is not a negligible capacity, of course, but from TiendaCulturista we want to make it clear that music is much more important than that .
First of all, you have to identify what it is that allows songs to have such a direct influence on the human body. We are no longer talking about the mind, a place where it undoubtedly exerts a tremendously beneficial influence at all levels, but about how it modifies the body’s behavior . What, in reference to the state of mind, we call motivation and concentration, is called drag or induction in physical terms.
The phenomenon of drag can be defined as the natural desire of the bodies to match biological rhythms with the tempos and melodies of the music that is being listened to. Among these biological rhythms are functions as essential to sports performance as heart rate, blood pressure or pulmonary ventilation.
If these factors can be modified, it means that You can design a kind of musical strategy specifically devised to improve physical abilities and, ultimately, sports results. It is only necessary to discover more specifically what are the characteristics that the chosen songs must have to achieve a notable improvement.
The physical influence of music
For Matthew Stork , a researcher at the University of British Columbia, the key is in what he calls the “dissociative capacity” of music. According to this concept, songs serve as an element that attracts the body’s attention, diverting it from negative sources such as pain or exhaustion. And it is that, on many occasions, we begin to feel fatigue much earlier than we should because of fixing all our thoughts on it.
Beyond this phenomenon, Matthew Stork set out to find, in more detail , the physical modifications that music achieved in the human body during intense physical exercise. To do this, he gathered 24 subjects and divided them into three working groups. All would undergo the same training: some with music, some with talk radio, and some without any auditory stimulation.
It was no surprise that the people who trained with music stated have felt much more comfortable than the rest, but it was the result of the measurements made during the exercise. The heart rates of this work group had been higher than those of the other two, showing that the influence of music has a real reflection on a physical level.
In case this Besides, a Canadian university carried out research that pointed to another benefit of music, much more unexpected: training while listening to music makes the body more easily recover a heart rate after the exercise rest .
Choose the songs well
Music can make the difference between getting stuck in your workouts or start the path towards the improvement of your personal brands. Together with its motivational power, it makes it a factor with exceptional utility.
Once its influence has been scientifically proven , the task of each athlete is to design a playlist with the perfect songs. Tasks for physical activity . The decision is purely subjective, although there are some tips that can help. The main one has to do with the musical tempo, which should be around 130 beats per minute . To calculate it you just have to keep the rhythm of a song with your hand for 15 seconds, count the hits you have made and multiply them by four.
You can also search lists of songs with that tempo and, among all the hits. that there are —that are many—, choose the ones that convey the most to you. The motivational factor is very important , so do not focus all your attention on the technical characteristics of the chosen music, pay attention also to the influence they have on your state of mind when you listen to them.