Might The Correct Music Help You To Maximize Your Workout Program’s Effectiveness?

One of the many benefits of walking as a way to take exercise is the fact that that it requires no specialized equipment. For many people, whilst it isn’t essential, listening to music while they exercise is something that can make their workout both more efficient and enjoyable.

The impact which music can have on workout efficiency has been the subject of a large number of different academic and medical studies and trials. In 2010, a scientific study was carried out at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK which looked at the effect listening to music could gave on workout efficiency and perceived enjoyment.

They used a “workout mix” of songs and varied the tempo to see if this had any impact on the workout effectiveness of a group of 12 male students. They found that when the tempo was higher, workout effectiveness was also higher – and the subjects also felt that their workout was more enjoyable. It’s good to know that the UK taxpayer’s money is being well spent.

If you wish to increase the efficiency of your walking workout, there are any number of sources of information available. Nike has its own blog dedicated to music to workout to. You can buy special workout music CDs on Amazon – you will even find workout play lists on iTunes.

Some of these get very scientific. You can select a playlist that begins with a fairly sedate number of bpm (beats per minute), and which then gets faster as you warm up before reverting to a lower bpm towards the end of your workout as you enter the cool down stage.

At the end of the day, there’s no need to get too scientific or to over analyse the situation (assuming that you’re not a professional athlete or trainee Olympian that is). Whether or not you get the right number of beats per minute correct is pretty much immaterial. As you walk along with your favorite tunes playing in your ears, the time and the miles will pass much more quickly.

Something up tempo might help if you wanted to walk a little faster. Of course, if you would prefer to take it a bit easier and listen to something soothing and relaxing, then that’s great as well. The main thing is to pick tracks which you like and which will help to make your workout session enjoyable for you.

One small piece of advice – don’t set the volume so high that you are unable to hear traffic noise and aural warnings if you tend to walk in areas of heavy traffic. Do enjoy your walking workout program- it’s one of the best exercises to lose weight that you can do.

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