Music and Athletic Performance
I recently have been running without music on. I anticipated my first run without music to be boring, slower paced, and painful to get through without having music to stay motivated. Imagine my surprise when my run actually felt the best it had in a long time and I finished faster than my most recent runs. In the past I always ran with music to tune out the sound of my breathing and distract me from the difficulty that I experience during running by playing music that pumped me up. However, if you stop and think about it, why would I want to tune out what my body is trying to communicate to me? It doesn’t quite make sense, I may not like what my body is telling me, but if I want to see improvement its important to listen. Without my music I am able to hear when my breathing becomes more labored and can make corrections to fix it, I can hear the sound that my feet make against the pavement and am able to adjust my pace as needed, no wonder my run time is faster.
I also have found that I enjoy lifting weight without music as well and especially without headphones on. At home it is common to find me watching a movie while working out. Which made me wonder why I lifted with my headphones in on in a gym setting. The reason it came down to was I needed to focus, and in a gym setting there were many distractions for me, so putting headphones on was a way for me to turn the rest of the world off. However, while in the gym, what was playing in my headphones more often than not were audiobooks. Movies and audiobooks help me to relax while I am lifting but still allow me to hear what is happening with my body.
I have noticed that my best atheltic performances have happened when I was in a relaxed state with either no music on or possibly an audiobook or movie, my best pull-up PR to date happened while I was listening to an audiobook. This got me thinking, why do I perform best without music and why do others need music? So I have a theory, I tend to be a very “amped" up” person in everyday life. I tend to develop higher stress levels, anxiety, and am constantly over analyzing situations. My workouts serve as a way for me to manage my stress levels and give me something to focus on. So, if I am already in this “amped up” state in my day to day life, my body doesn’t need to be more hyped up with workout type music to perform well, it needs to calm down.
So I wonder, for individuals that have performed their best while listening to music, are you typically a calmer person with managed anxiety and stress levels? If you are typically a laid back person, it would make sense that getting a little pumped up while listening to music during your workouts would help you. It may give you a little bit of adrenaline to help push you through your workout.
If you have never tried working out (running, lifting, etc.) without music, I encourage you to give it a try and see what happens. Was your workout better than expected or worse? Did you find that you were able to pay better attention to what is happening within your body? Keep in mind that it may take a little time to get used to this new experience so you may need to try it more than once. I want to know, what has your experience been with music and working out and what are your stress levels and personality type? Comment below and let me know!