The Fascination Behind Pump Up Songs in the Fitness and Endurance Sport World

While some solely rely on pre-workout drinks and coffee to get their bodies and minds hyped up for a run or ride, others bank on different pump up tracks. 

Listening to music has a certain characteristic that magically improves one’s workout routine. It is not exactly a new concept, which is why more and more people seem to wear earphones or headphones in the gym nowadays. That being said, it’s hard not to wonder what people actually gain from their go-to music when hitting the road.

The New York Times’ Gretchen Reynolds wrote an article that talks about how listening to music takes athletes to a different zone. In other words, it distracts them from bodily awareness, veering their minds away from pain in the process. To a certain extent, even adapting and/or creating music in time to one’s pace carries an intense effect during a workout. For this reason, most professional coaches have also doubled up as disc jockeys.

There is absolutely no doubt: music is an excellent kind of distraction that ups athletes’ effort. It can be anyone from Jay-Z and Kanye West, artists that Lean It Up considers as having some of the best pump up songs ever, to Axl Rose and Slash, who still remain significant up to this day thanks to their great songs, the recent band reunion and an official Guns N’ Roses slots game on Slingo that’s being played by thousands across the world. Regardless of genre, this kind of diversion makes participants less aware of their physical exertion, boosting their performance in the process.

Ideally, when it comes to the type of tunes to listen to, the faster it is, the better. Upbeat hype music requires the brain to process more information, which – in more ways than one – takes people’s minds off of pain and suffering, according to WebMD’s article ‘Exercise and Muscle’. This helps people get “in the zone” so to speak. It also channels a specific memory and relates to the artists’ emotion, enhancing the motivational power of a song.

Other than being a diversionary tactic and a pain buster, music has a way to elevate one’s mood. In a study on the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, it found that the people that listen to songs on a regular basis effectively alters their dispositions for the better, helping them reach self-awareness. It allows them to think about themselves more, concentrate on the task at hand while also giving them a brief escape from the present. Indeed, everything comes full circle.

All things considered, good music can positively affect the mind and body. Professional coaches, for their part, should also have a great taste in music. It does not really matter whether they are fans of a certain genre, what counts most is that they understand this concept and apply it to their respective students. For more about endurance coaching, as well as other health-related topics, be sure to check out the our other blogs on Training Tilt.