What influence and benefits does music have on fitness?

Geschatte leestijd: 7 minutenTranslated text:

The added value of music during training has been demonstrated in cardio and explosive strength. However, an effect on strength training has hardly been demonstrated.

Table of Contents

• Music during training
• “Disocciation” and motivation
• Positive effect on cardio
• “Music positive effect on explosive power”
• Which music?
• Less cortisol and muscle breakdown due to music
• Effect of music on cortisol
• “Music lowers cortisol in surgery patients”
• Music lowers cortisol caused by psychological stress
• Better recovery after training by listening to music
• So music for better recovery?

Music during training

When I hear the song “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor, I always feel like putting on a tired gray tracksuit, walking into a butcher shop to use slaughtered pigs as punching bags, and then running until I reach a big staircase that I then run up to cheer at the top. People who were born too late or too early to understand the above will probably recognize the following example: Music can influence your state of mind in such a way that after a long walk arriving at the destination you still want to walk a little further because you were so comfortably “in the zone.”

The results of a study on the effects of listening to music on performance during 5 km running were published this month [1]. It was found that listening to music improves these performances.

This doesn’t surprise me at all. However, it did make me wonder about strength training. So, it’s time to delve into both.

“Disocciation” and motivation

Music has long been applied to cardio, and especially the effects during running have been studied in various researches [4,5]. Music can help in two different ways here, through dissociation and motivation [6-9].

With “dissociation,” in this case, it means that mentally you are less focused on the fact that you are running [6,7]. You might recognize this same effect when you’re running at moderate intensity and talking to the person next to you. Normally, after five minutes, for example, you might not feel like continuing and have to push yourself to keep going, but while talking, fifteen minutes can pass by quickly. This is strange because you’re using oxygen as fuel and oxygen uptake should actually be worse when you talk. Apparently, the distraction of a conversation prevents you from negatively influencing yourself with thoughts of fatigue.

Music can have a similar effect, with the difference that you can keep breathing normally while “losing yourself in the music.”

This also distinguishes the tough ones from those who are just starting training. If you train longer, you are apparently better able to ignore thoughts of fatigue or at least not let them play a role. This is at least evident from the fact that inexperienced athletes benefit more from listening during exercise than experienced athletes [10,11].

The additional motivation from music is presumably achieved by the effect that music has on the amount of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and noradrenaline. Substances that activate the “action mode” of the nervous system (orthosympathetic nervous system). So, these substances don’t have a direct effect on the muscles, but they do affect the control of these muscles from the brain.

Positive effect on cardio

In a study conducted at Tel-Aviv University, the influence of listening to music on performing multiple sprints was examined [8]. The researchers had basketball players, averaging 16 years old, perform 12 s

prints of 30 meters each. The music was played during 6 of these sprints, while during the other 6 sprints there was no music. The sprint times were then compared.

On average, the sprint times with music were 0.11 seconds faster. This may not seem like much, but this small difference can make a big difference in performance.

One of the most logical mechanisms for this improvement is that music provides an additional stimulus to the nervous system, which improves the connection between the nerves and the muscles. This would make the muscles contract faster and more powerful. However, this hypothesis has never been investigated in strength training.

“Music positive effect on explosive power”

The added value of music during training has been demonstrated in cardio and explosive strength. However, an effect on strength training has hardly been demonstrated. Yet, such an effect would be very logical. After all, strength training also consists of explosive movements, and in addition, there is an increased demand for activation of the “action mode” of the nervous system in the case of strength training, in comparison to, for example, a 5 km run.

This additional demand for the action mode is caused by the greater recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers during strength training compared to cardio training. These fibers have an additional effect on the nervous system because they require a stronger signal from the nervous system to contract than slow-twitch muscle fibers do. So, you could say that strength training places a greater demand on the control of muscles from the brain than cardio training.

Which music?

Many studies on the effects of listening to music on exercise performance examine the “characteristics of music” [12-15]. This includes the tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, style, and volume of music.

A recent review [16] examined the effects of different types of music on various types of sports performances. The conclusion of this review was that fast music with a lot of rhythm had the most positive effect on performance. So, music that raises the heart rate seems to work best. The only exception to this was for strength training.

For strength training, it’s better to listen to music that you like than music that has a high rhythm. The most plausible explanation for this is that strength training requires more focus than cardio training. In strength training, it’s mainly about making powerful, technical movements, while in cardio training, it’s more about keeping going. Music with a high rhythm can provide an additional stimulus for the latter, but it can be distracting for the former.

Less cortisol and muscle breakdown due to music

During exercise, the body produces the hormone cortisol [17]. This hormone is produced in response to stress. This stress is actually desirable because it stimulates the body to adapt to the training. This adaptation is exactly what you are aiming for with strength training.

However, in the case of cortisol, there is more at stake. Cortisol is not only involved in training adaptation but also in muscle breakdown [18]. So, in theory, more cortisol could mean more breakdown of muscle tissue. This would be very unfortunate because the aim of strength training is to build up muscle tissue.

Effect of music on cortisol

Studies that examine the effects of listening to music during stressful situations suggest that music can reduce the amount of cortisol produced [19-21]. This effect has been demonstrated in situations where the stress was both physical and mental.

“Music lowers cortisol in surgery patients”

For example, a study was conducted where patients were randomly assigned to either listen to music or not listen to music during an operation [22]. It was found that the cortisol levels in the patients who listened to music were significantly lower after the operation than in the control group. What is striking here is that this effect was observed despite the fact that the patients who listened to music were less anesthetized during the operation.

Music lowers cortisol caused by psychological stress

A study that examined the effect of music on cortisol levels in the context of psychological stress found similar results [23]. The cortisol levels of participants who listened to music were significantly lower than those of participants who didn’t listen to music. In this case, the participants were given a mental arithmetic task as a stressor. After this task, their cortisol levels were measured.

Better recovery after training by listening to music

Finally, it has been shown that listening to music can improve recovery after exercise [24]. In a study, it was found that the cortisol levels of participants who listened to music after training returned to their normal levels faster than those who didn’t listen to music.

So music for better recovery?

Whether it is wise to immediately start playing music in the gym to reduce the breakdown of muscle tissue and improve recovery is a different question. The studies mentioned above all involved listening to music during or after mentally or physically stressful situations. Whether this applies to strength training is still unknown.

It is interesting to note that there are studies that indicate that listening to music during strength training has no effect on performance [25,26]. This may be due to the fact that the distraction provided by music is less of an issue during strength training than during cardio training.

There are no studies that have examined the effects of listening to music after strength training. So, if you’re interested, you could test it for yourself. Who knows, in a few years, a study will be published showing that music can improve recovery after strength training.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the “inflammation theory” is gaining ground. This theory suggests that the breakdown of muscle tissue after training is not bad, but necessary for muscle growth [27]. So, less cortisol, and thus less muscle breakdown, may not be such a good idea in the end.

Conclusion

There is a clear line showing that music helps with cardio but not with strength training. The added value in cardio is caused by both distraction from the effort (dissociation) and motivation. Additionally, we see a role for music when it comes to generating explosive power.

References

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