Better Exercise Through Music

The beneficial effect that music has on boosting exercise performance has been well established, and has been used to enhance various types of exercise and exercise classes.

A recent study by Dr Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University’s School of Sport and Education, has focused on the use of rock/pop music, including tracks by Queen, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Madonna to demonstrate the link between music and cardiovascular exercise performance.

Thirty volunteers kept time to music while exercising on a treadmill. The results of the study demonstrated that when scientifically selected, music enhances exercise endurance by 15% and also making exercise less of a task and more pleasurable. The music also helped keep exercisers more positive during intensive exercise close to physical exhaustion.