Summary: Listening to upbeat, motivational music during intense exercise can increase enjoyment and motivation—and even boost physical effort—in adults who are otherwise insufficiently active.
Source: University of British Columbia
New research from UBC’s Okanagan campus shows that fast-tempo, motivational music can make a demanding workout feel easier and more enjoyable, even for people who rarely exercise.
Matthew Stork, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, led a study that explored how carefully selected music affects the experience and performance of less-active adults during high-intensity interval training (HIIT). The findings suggest that the right soundtrack can both improve the subjective experience of HIIT and raise measurable physiological output.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves short, repeated bursts of intense exercise separated by recovery periods. It is time-efficient and can provide meaningful health benefits, but many people—especially those who are insufficiently active—find it unpleasant and difficult to sustain. Stork points out that this perceived unpleasantness can discourage continued participation in HIIT despite its benefits.
Earlier work by Stork and UBC Okanagan colleague Kathleen Martin Ginis examined the effects of music during HIIT in recreationally active participants. Their latest study focused specifically on adults who are insufficiently active, used a more rigorous process to select motivating songs, and implemented a HIIT protocol tailored to be practical for less-active individuals.
The research was conducted at Brunel University London in collaboration with Professor Costas Karageorghis, an expert on the effects of music in sport and exercise. Stork convened a panel of British adults to evaluate the motivational quality of 16 fast-tempo songs; the top three rated tracks were then used in the experimental sessions.
“Music often serves as a dissociative strategy—drawing attention away from bodily sensations such as increased heart rate or muscle discomfort,” Stork explains. “For high-intensity exercise, however, music appears to be most effective when it is fast-paced and clearly motivational.”
A different group of 24 insufficiently active participants (12 women, 12 men; average age about 24 years) completed a low-volume sprint interval protocol commonly called the ‘one-minute workout’: three 20-second all-out sprints with recovery intervals, embedded in a 10-minute session that included warm-up and cool-down. Each participant performed the session in three separate conditions: with motivational music, with no audio, and while listening to a spoken-word podcast without music.
Compared with the no-audio and podcast sessions, the music condition led to greater reported enjoyment, more positive affect, higher peak power output, and elevated heart rates across the session. Participants not only enjoyed the training more when music was present, but they also produced greater physical output.
Stork notes that one surprising finding was the increase in heart rate in the music condition. “We expected music to enhance enjoyment and perceived motivation, but the higher heart rates were an unexpected physiological effect,” he says. He suggests this may be due to entrainment—the tendency for human biological rhythms to synchronize with musical rhythms. In this case, fast-tempo music may have driven an increase in cardiac response during exercise.
The study’s results indicate practical applications: for adults who are insufficiently active, researcher-selected motivational music can enhance the pleasure and enjoyment of HIIT while also encouraging higher performance. This combination—greater enjoyment plus improved performance—may increase the likelihood that people will repeat and adhere to HIIT over time.
“Motivational music can be a straightforward, low-cost strategy to help insufficiently active adults get more from their HIIT sessions,” Stork says. “By improving both how people feel and how they perform during intense exercise, music may help them stick with a training routine.”
Funding: The study appears in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Financial support for the project came from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
Source:
University of British Columbia
Media Contacts:
Patty Wellborn – University of British Columbia
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Closed access. Article: “Let’s Go: Psychological, psychophysical, and physiological effects of music during sprint interval exercise”. Matthew J. Stork, Costas I. Karageorghis, Kathleen A. Martin Ginis. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.101547
Abstract
Let’s Go: Psychological, psychophysical, and physiological effects of music during sprint interval exercise
Background
Sprint interval training (SIT) is time-efficient and can deliver meaningful health benefits for adults who are insufficiently active, but many find it unpleasant. Researchers have begun to test whether music can enhance the pleasure of SIT, yet its application to SIT protocols designed for insufficiently active adults is not well understood.
Purpose
To examine psychological (affective valence, arousal, enjoyment), psychophysical (perceived exertion), and physiological (heart rate, power output) responses to researcher-selected motivational music during a low-volume SIT protocol performed by insufficiently active adults.
Methods
In a randomized, fully counterbalanced design, 24 insufficiently active adults (12 women, 12 men; mean age 24.08 ± 4.61 years) unfamiliar with SIT completed three trials (3 × 20-second “all-out” sprints with 2-minute recoveries) under three conditions: motivational music, podcast control (no music), and no-audio control.
Results
Post-exercise enjoyment was higher in the music condition compared with the podcast and no-audio conditions. Heart rate responses across the SIT trial were elevated in the music condition relative to both control conditions, and peak power output was greater with music. Affective responses during the trial were more positive with music than with no audio, and tended to be more positive compared with the podcast. All conditions showed a rebound toward more positive affect after exercise.
Conclusions
Applying motivational music during brief, intense interval exercise can increase pleasure, boost enjoyment, and elevate performance in adults who are insufficiently active. These benefits may improve adherence to SIT or HIIT protocols over time.