I remember a time when working out to music was quite difficult. Your choice was basically whatever the gym decided to play over the speakers. As time passed we could bring in a walkman or a discman but they were too clunky and quite infuriating to use while trying to life weights. The cord always seemed to get caught just as I was doing some overhead presses.
Apple kind of changed the game when they introduced the Ipod. It was a magical little device that allowed us to create our own mixes and bring our music wherever we wanted. It seemed like overnight everyone’s gym bag included not just a sweat towel and sneakers, but also an Ipod.
But if you’re old enough to remember this time, then you also remember the frustration of having to buy all the music that you wanted. And our playlists were awesome at first, but after about 2 weeks we were craving other songs – which meant more money to buy new songs.
Despite all of this, one thing remains true – music makes working out easier. There’s something about listening to songs that make us move a bit quicker or inspire us to go a little longer. For some people it’s listening to sweet 90’s R&B and others it’s all about the Rocky Theme song or the current Top 40.
Music motivates us to keep going and it takes the bland feeling out of the treadmill like nothing else can. There are many days that I feel as though my cardio would simply cease to exist without my music.
What about the tempo of my music?
One of the things that you will want to keep in mind when you’re working out is how fast your music is. While you want something that’s faster in pace, you don’t want to choose anything that’s so fast that you cant keep up or you’ll over-exert yourself. Some techno music can be a little too fast for light cardio workouts or strength training.
On the other hand you’ll want to make sure that you’re not including songs that are too slow either. Generally speaking, you will want to start with slower music for your warm up and stretching, then slowly build up the tempo of your music and then bring it back down again for the cool down.
Having almost constant access to free wifi or data plans means that we can now use services like Sirius XM, Pandora, or Spotify to listen to pre-made playlists that are never the same and are totally free, or very inexpensive.
It seems as though technology and music have teamed up to make working out more fun and go by quicker than ever before. Music is a large part of our lives and our culture so if you’re not yet using it in your workouts – give it a try!
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