Top ten songs to get you across the finish line
Today I have a lovely guest post for you all about the effects of music in enhancing your running, enjoy!
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Whether you’re running a marathon, a half, 10k or just trying to stay on the treadmill for longer than a few minutes, staying motivated can be difficult at times. We can’t always have a personal trainer standing over us encouraging tip-top performance. However, experts have found that your gym playlist can actually help enhance your running, and make you run for longer.
It’s been claimed that listening to music while running can boost performance by up to 15%*. But why is this? Dr Karageorghis, an expert in the effect of music on exercise at Brunel University says that, ‘music is a legal drug for athletes’. Karageorghis differentiates between two types of runners – ‘associators’ and ‘dissociators’. Elite athletes usually fall into the former category, meaning they focus inwardly whilst running. Other runners are ‘dissociators’, or somewhere between the two. This means they actively seek distraction and stimulus from their surroundings during exercise. It’s possible that music acts as a distraction from our feet pounding the pavement, and so we can run for longer.
Listening to music makes you run faster on the same amount of oxygen
Dr Karageorghis teamed up with Prof. Peter Terry, a sports psychologist from the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, and found that amazingly, music increased energy efficiency by 1-3%. This means that people can run further on the same amount of oxygen, just by listening to songs.
Females more susceptible to the mood-enhancing effects of music
The sport scientists also studied how listening to music whilst running decreased the perception of effort. According to them, the mood-enhancing effects of music benefitted women more so than men*. So, a song such as Magnetic Man ft. John Legend ‘Getting Nowhere’ probably isn’t going to help your brain to exert itself. Similarly, if you listen to a tune that takes over 90 seconds for the beat to kick in, you probably won’t notice a performance boost.
We’ve compiled a list of our top ten treadmill tunes that we think can really help go the extra mile...
- Nero – Promises
- 30 Seconds to Mars – Kings and Queens
- Darude - Sandstorm
- Herve – Cheap Thrills
- Tiesto & Diplo – C’mon
- Dizzie Rascal – Bonkers
- SASH! Feat Stunt – Raindrops
- The Killers – Mr. Brightside
- Kanye West – Stronger
- Roots Manuva – Witness the Fitness
What do you reckon? It might not be to everyone’s taste, but combining the songs you love with upbeat, fast and epic tunes are a sure-fire way to see you bolt across the finish line.
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10767128
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/22/does-music-help-you-run-faster
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I know that listening to some good tunes while working out makes a huge difference for me. I also tend to listen to completely different music when working out to when I just listen at home. My workout track is Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk :-), What are your favourite songs to run or workout to?
*this post has been sponsored by the Training Room
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