Combining Music and Health for a Better Physique

---

Every man strives to achieve a light yet muscular physique. Music and health have always been strongly correlated, with many people theorizing that what you listen to can significantly impact your overall mood and other cognitive functions. However, one untapped benefit of your playlist is it can enhance your workout routine and contribute to a better body.

Picking the Right Tunes for Your Workout

Before diving into music and health’s influence on your physique, what are the factors to choosing the right tune? There are several things to consider for your workout playlist.

Tempo

Music is always viewed as a motivational tool for exercise, thanks to its tempo. A study finds that fast-tempo music is suitable across different exercise intensities compared to those with slower beats. For the best results, it’s recommended to pick out tracks with 130 to 150 beats per minute.

Slow-tempo music does get a lot less love, and it’s also associated with the least desirable psychological outcomes within the same study. However, you may want to adopt it for your cooldown steps to signify the end of your exercise routine.

Genre

Genre is also a big factor in music and health. As lovely as classical music is, it can be hard to hype yourself up to do pushups with it in the background. Well, maybe you can, but it doesn’t help increase your passion for exercise.

Rap is one of the best genres. They’re fast-paced with a sick bass and timely beat drops. Most rap artists are men, which can make the lyrics more intense and provocative than other songs. EDM, pop and hard rock are also ideal since they offer high tempo.  

Length

Everyone’s workout duration is different, depending on their preference and goals. If you have a one-hour session though, you wouldn’t want to have one four-minute song on loop for the entire time. You need some variation.

Make a playlist that matches the length of your workout. Spotify usually displays the playtime, so you can gauge whether you’ve added enough songs. Alternatively, you could just listen to a part of the longest song in the world. It spans up to 138 hours, 41 minutes and 20 seconds.

Preference

Every man has their preference about what they like to listen to. While previous recommendations steer you toward a certain direction, you should always consider what you want. It’ll make the workout much more enjoyable.

Plus, you may just find that you are making better progress. A study finds that athletic performance may suffer if the music played isn’t in line with their preferences, imploring people to always account for personal choice. 

Music and Health Before the Workout

Music and health have always worked hand in hand to enhance the mind, which can already serve as a great prep routine for the actual exercise. Find inspirational music to stimulate you into exercising. 

There are other psychological benefits to listening to music as well. This activity provides a variety of long-term positive effects like better overall cognition, attention and orientation. It can also modify emotions, giving you a good boost on the days you don’t feel like working out. 

Benefits of Music During the Workout

The workout routine is where all the magic happens to achieve a good physique. While the destination may be far, music is a tool to make the journey more bearable. 

Increase Endurance

You need consistency to achieve your dream body. Playing a song doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get buff. However, there are signs it can improve your body’s capabilities to go through endurance exercises. 

The study on how preference improves your athletic performance specifies how music can enhance endurance and resistance in the long run. These improvements in one’s exercise response mean you can constantly work out as you’ve scheduled. 

Influence Fatigue Perception

You need to figure out how to change your fatigue perception. Some people get mentally tired immediately, which can hinder them from working out and delay their ideal physique. 

Research notes that a song’s tempo can factor into runners’ perception of fatigue after running multiple times. Granted, exercise intensity is still the most prominent factor, but you can still anticipate better mental and physical performance and overlook discomfort. 

Improve Strength and Power

With great power comes a strong physique. There’s no shortcut to achieving this, as you must focus on building your athletic capabilities. However, you can listen to music and focus on reaping its ergogenic effects.

Ergogenic effects are associated with higher strength and power output, which fortunately increases when you synchronize your movements with music. There are instances where they still happen even without such adjustments, so further research is needed. 

Using Music as a Recovery Regimen

Overworking your body is a step that can setback your health and bring your preferred physique far from reach. Luckily, you may also use music to recover from the stresses of exercise. Your favorite songs can regulate your heart rate and blood pressure go down.

You can also use slower songs to cool down and stretch, matching your movements to the rhythm. When you’re done with the workout, you can also synchronize your breathing to a steady tempo to calm yourself down. 

Downsides to be Wary Of

Music is beneficial for your health, but there are some precautions you need to take. For instance, if you’re running in a public space, you can’t have the volume too loud. It could prevent you from hearing all kinds of cues, leading to unwarranted bumps, trips, and other accidents. 

Music can even be distracting while indoors. It can negatively influence one’s working memory, affecting information retention. Imagine forgetting how many reps you’re doing. An aimless routine can be detrimental, so you must remember to lock in while your earphones are on.

Utilize Music for Your Health 

Music benefits your health and well-being, which can help you build up your physique in the long run. Just remember to be careful of getting too distracted by the beat. No matter how catchy it is, you have to use it as a tool to persevere and progress.