Let the Beat Build With Litesport: How Music Improves Your Workout
We all have that one song or artist that gets us going no matter what terrible mood we’re in. For Trainer Jill, that’s Latin music she can dance to. For Trainer Max, that’s Justin Bieber. For Trainer Anthony, it’s throwing it back to Blink 182’s “What's My Age Again?”.
Whatever the genre is that gets you going, there’s one commonality: music. Music helps motivate you to work out and can help you go harder and for longer. This isn’t a fluke of nature. There is scientific proof that music can distract you from feelings of pain and fatigue, boost your mood, elevate your endurance, and even improve your boxing rhythm.
This is why each Litesport class is full of energizing songs that’ll keep you moving and having fun. But it’s not just fun to work out to the beat of your favorite songs, it’s actually more effective. Let’s dive into why that is exactly…
Reduces feelings of pain and fatigue
A lot happens in your body when you start to experience fatigue. The levels of lactate rise in your muscles, your heart rate increases, you sweat more, and you start taking in more oxygen. These and other actions are helping your body cool down and supply energy to keep going. Your body is listening to all these signals and deciding when you might need a break.
These signals are frequencies to your brain. Scientists have found that music helps disrupt some of these frequencies. This distraction in your brain gives you the perception that your workout is easier or less fatiguing than if you hadn’t been listening to music. This explains why you can last longer when you hear your favorite track come through the speakers.
This doesn’t mean that listening to music eliminates all feelings of exhaustion. Rather, music helps aid the effectiveness of your workout by allowing you to go for longer and harder than you might have thought possible. In one study, for example, participants who listened to “Eye of the Tiger” during a high-intensity workout improved their workout performance and their perceptions of how difficult the workout was.
2. Boosts your mood
Music helps make your workout more enjoyable by changing the way you respond to fatigue. Instead of focusing on how tired you feel or how sore your muscles are, you focus on punching or squatting in time to the beat. Music that you find motivating or exciting can help you work through your exhaustion and improve your perceptions of how the workout went.
There is a lot of research on music association and what kinds of music create the greatest boost in your mood and endurance. One study on participants completing a 60-meter dash, for example, found that those who listened to preferred music before exercising increased their feelings of self-confidence heading into the task.
Music that you have a cultural or personal association with has a greater chance of boosting your mood and improving your workout compared to a genre or song you aren’t as familiar with or as excited by.
Think about a song you listen to on repeat. That song has the power to take you to a different world, influence your mood, or recall memories that elicit certain emotions. The more association you have with a song, the greater it can boost your mood and your workout as a result.
3. Elevates your endurance
Not only can music boost your mood and alter your perception of how hard you’re working, but there is also evidence that music can impact your performance. A study done on cyclists, for example, showed that those who pedaled in time to music required 7% less oxygen to do the same work as cyclists who did not synchronize their pedal strokes to the beat. By decreasing their energy expenditure, these cyclists were able to go for longer.
In another study done on the effect of music on treadmill speed, they found that participants increased their pace and distance without feeling any more exhausted by listening to music. In another study where participants had to keep a weight extended at shoulder height, those who listened to music during the task lasted longer than those who had no music.
Music has a unique way of capturing your brain’s attention, changing your emotions, and helping to increase your endurance. The effect of music on workout performance is so strong that one expert described it as a “type of legal performance-enhancing drug.” While music has been with us since the start of civilization, only recently have we started scratching the surface of music’s power over the brain and the impacts it has on exercise.
4. Improves your boxing rhythm
Every move you make while boxing involves rhythm. Whether you are getting in and out of a punch, pivoting and spinning, weaving, or changing direction, you are constantly moving. Finding your boxing rhythm is a huge part of building your boxing foundation. Music is a great tool for finding your boxing rhythm and improving your movement patterns.
Music helps your rhythm in a few ways. First, it helps improve your speed by encouraging you to punch to a beat that might push you to move faster than you would on your own. For most people, the temptation when you hear a beat is to move to the music. This makes it easier to practice punching drills and increase the speed of your punches.
Second, it helps you practice changing direction and pace at a moment’s notice. The mood or dynamics of the music often fluctuate from quieter, calmer sections followed by loud, energetic sections. By listening and paying attention to the music, you can time your punches to the tempo, or speed, of the song. In a boxing match, you need to be able to switch direction, break a current rhythm, and fall into a new pattern to avoid your opponent and position your body to land a punch. Music helps train your body to listen, pay attention, and make your move.
Third, it establishes a natural pattern of repetition which helps hone your boxing skills. Through repetition, your punches become second nature. This allows you to start focusing on more complex boxing techniques and combinations. This is important while boxing so that you can pay attention to your movement while being aware of your opponent.
With Litesport, music becomes your opponent. You are tasked with punching alongside your trainer or to the beat of the music. You win by keeping up and not backing down from the challenge.
Let the beat build with Litesport
Ready for more science to back up why the beats keep you moving? Research shows that humans have a preference for rhythms at a frequency of two hertz, which is equal to 120 beats per minute (bpm). One of our favorite 120 bpm songs is Bon Jovi's “Livin on a Prayer.”
Lucky for you, we’ve done the work of finding the perfect songs for your next workout. Your favorite hip-hop, pop, and dance remixes drive each Litesport class, including Punch Tracks of your favorite artists, such as Ariana Grande, DMX, Post Malone, and more.
All you need is a Litesport membership or a 7-day free trial to get started. Then, try on different genres, playlists, and trainers to see what style of music works for you. After all, the right song can make the biggest difference in your workout. We’ve got plenty of options to choose from, so turn up the volume, elevate your workout, and get your heart rate pumping.