How Music Helps Maximize Cardio Performance

From ancient Greek warriors chanting battle songs as they march across plains to face their enemies, to modern day boxers warming up for a match, music has been one of the most powerful motivating forces to exist.  Music can soothe, incite passion, bring joy, even help release anger – so why not use it to your advantage while doing cardio?

You probably already listen to some of your favorite tunes at the gym while hitting the treadmill or elliptical, but there’s more to this habit than you may think.

A Brunel University Psychologist named Dr. Costas Karageorghis even bases his research on music’s correlation to exercise.  Without getting too technical, he basically did research that proved that tempo in music helps push people to exercise longer and with more intensity.  The best songs to maintain optimum cardio are ones that have 120-140 beats per minute, which is the range of optimum heart rate.

Cardio exercises include any type of aerobic work out that increases your heart rate and improves your cardiovascular system.  Beyond fat loss, cardio improves your heart strength, endurance, lung capacity, and metabolism.  Popular cardio exercises include running, swimming, bicycling, nearly all sports, and even things like jump rope and speed walking. 

For maximum results, you can perform cardio exercises every day, but resting a couple days a week is advised.

All types of cardio are beneficial, but a certain type called HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training has been shown to increase results dramatically.  Plus, HIIT cardio workouts are much shorter than static cardio exercises.  Let’s take running for example.  When running using HIIT, you should warm up for about 3 minutes walking fast or running at a slow pace.  Then for 1 minute, run at a fast pace, almost as fast as you can go.  Slow down for another 2 minutes and then run as fast as you can the next minute.  Cycle between the 2 minute moderate pace and 1 minute all out pace for the next 10 minutes and do a warm down for about 2 minutes.

Now, you are done!  You can do this with any cardio exercise.  The constant change of pace forces your body to adapt and change its metabolism rapidly.  This results in a more effective cardio exercise by burning more calories in a shorter period of time.  Studies show that with HIIT cardio, your body burns calories even after the workout is finished.

High Intensity Interval Training can be improved even more by listening to upbeat music.  Your body tends to imitate things around it, and listening to high tempo music will subconsciously keep your legs and heart moving fast.  Beyond running to the beat, listening to music keeps your mind focused and prevents boredom.

Hearing was developed well before eyesight in evolution.  Because of that, our ears are connected directly to our brain stem where our eye sight is connected to the actual brain.  Our brain stem houses many of our emotions.  That’s why a film score works, because sound instills a sense of fear, love, hatred, empathy, even sexuality much faster and more strongly than the visuals of the film do.  So, when we listen to music while performing cardio exercises, the melody actually affects our emotions directly.  When our mind is motivated, our body can go farther and longer.

So, next time you hit the pavement to do some fat burning cardio, bring your iPod (or run to the Apple store!) and you’ll see your results increase.  The best music for cardio really depends on your taste, although upbeat music is shown to push your body a bit more.  While doing cardio, I actually enjoy faster paced music, so I would suggest anything that you enjoy while doing cardio is worth trying.