Make Exercise a Dance

Anecdotal, scientific, and observational evidence align at one incontrovertible conclusion, music affects exercise. More than 250 million iPods deliver the beat. If you’ve ever exercised to music you’ve felt its affect. Just sitting in a chair music, tends to make you move. Even mass market science has taken note. Every study done on the subject concurs, exercise is easier to music. Studies have also found:
*Music distracts you from some of the unpleasantness of exercise
*Runners go longer at a higher intensity with a lower perceived rate of exertion
*Athletes listening to music are less stressed, release less cortisol, the stress hormone
*Heart rate and breathing correlates with a tune’s tempo
*Music influences an athlete's mood as well as performance
*Exercise and music commingle to boost short term cognitive skills like verbal fluency
*Body rhythms such as breathing and heart rate tend to take on the rhythms of the music
*Exercise intensity correlates with music intensity, a fast song helps you move faster
*Music stimulates the neocortex and verbal centers of the brain
*Music is motivating

Music turns exercise into a dance.

photo by marksebastian

Self-Massage: Doing It to Music

Music improves athletic performance and will power your massage. Millions of runners, cyclists, and gym rats move better with their ear buds plugged into a tune. Running with an iPod has been shown to improve athletic performance, while reducing perceived exertion, amping enjoyment and upping motivation. As usual scientists are baffled by the phenomenon. The dance between exercise and music touches on biology, psychology, and kinesiology. One theory is that music affects our ability to withstand pain. But a more compelling one is that it distracts our mind and let’s our body do its job. If we let our mind focus on the music and our body just act, we perform better. Or at least that’s the best explanation to date on why, in one study, basketball players who were prone to choking under pressure shot better after listening to upbeat music and lyrics. Most athletes acknowledge music helps them train and perform. While the neocortex helps us do many things, physical activity is not one of them. DIY massage, a powerful form of physical activity, is greatly enhanced by music. So the next time you sit down to massage your quads, neck, or feet do it to music. photo by mark sebastian