The kind of music that you listen to as you work out can enhance your fitness routine. Researchers discovered that music plays such an important part that if you listen to the wrong tempo of music while exercising, it can actually make it harder for you to get fit.
During the research, it was discovered that specific types of music should be played during specific types of exercise during a routine. Music can cause you to speed up, slow down or change your movement or gait.
It can cause a change in your heart rate as well as in your blood pressure. Rock music has a beats per minute (bpm) of 120 to 130. Pop music is 116 while rap music is 120 to 140.
Heavy metal, depending on whether it’s slow or fast ranges from 60 to 150. Country music has a bpm of 120. There is a rhythm during exercise and the type of music that you listen to should enhance that rhythm rather than disrupt it.
Studies found that one of the genres of music that can throw off your rhythm is rock music, especially during cardio workouts. That’s because the beats per minute don’t always remain steady and there’s too much fluctuation.
If you’re going to be running on the treadmill, you want to listen to short, punctuated beats, which are found in rap music. You can also use this kind of music when you’re stretching before you start exercising.
But if you prefer, you can listen to pop music when you’re warming up. This type of music is good for the cool down portion of your fitness routine as well since the bpm is steady.
Some people have a heavy metal playlist for when they’re lifting weights. That’s because the music’s bpm isn’t too slow or too fast. Even though it’s heavy metal, there’s a steadiness to the rhythm.
For more fluid exercises such as yoga, you’ll want to play music that has a more tranquil flow. This would be music such as classical, or slow pop music. To create your fitness playlist, you can go to Spotify.
You can create your own list from scratch simply by tapping “new playlist” to get the songs you want. You can search the library for Spotify radio, your friends’ music or you can search by artist.
You can search playlists that are specific for working out. These might have titles such as “workout mix” or “fitness playlist” or you can even name a particular type of exercise such as “step aerobics” or “running.” If you prefer to use iTunes, you can simply sync your phone to the workout list that you create using your iTunes library or the library you share with family or friends.
