This month's Runner's world has a feature story on running and music. According to Dr. Costas Karageorghis, who was himself quite a runner and now studies the relationship between music and athletic performance, music does benefit runners. It can increase their performance up to 20%. Dr. Karageorghis suggests music in the 120 beats per minute range, noting that this tempo yields substantial gains when exercising at 75% of your maximum heart rate.
(Image from canalphotos.org)
According to the article, a good running song has the following characteristics:
It's interesting that three of these are rhythm related and one--"powerful themes"--is not musically related at all (per se). It raises the question "is the music motivating you/acting upon you or is it the words that are motivating/acting upon you?"
Electronic dance music fits the bill for most of these categories. People also like "Eye of the tiger" and Eminem's "Lose yourself."
I enjoy both running and bicycling. I can't run without my iPod (I do at races); I can't even think of biking with it. I typically listen to hardcore, metal, or rap when I run. I like spoken word (like the BBC Newspod) when I'm cooling down.
By far, my favorite motivational exercise song is this. It does fit all of the qualities above...
How about you? Do you run (or bike, or whatever) with music? Without? What are your favorite running tunes?
(Image from canalphotos.org)
According to the article, a good running song has the following characteristics:
A relentless rhythm
Powerful themes [lyrics]
A trance-like quality
An aggressive pace
Uplifting arrangements
It's interesting that three of these are rhythm related and one--"powerful themes"--is not musically related at all (per se). It raises the question "is the music motivating you/acting upon you or is it the words that are motivating/acting upon you?"
Electronic dance music fits the bill for most of these categories. People also like "Eye of the tiger" and Eminem's "Lose yourself."
I enjoy both running and bicycling. I can't run without my iPod (I do at races); I can't even think of biking with it. I typically listen to hardcore, metal, or rap when I run. I like spoken word (like the BBC Newspod) when I'm cooling down.
By far, my favorite motivational exercise song is this. It does fit all of the qualities above...
How about you? Do you run (or bike, or whatever) with music? Without? What are your favorite running tunes?