Listening To Music And Running: Will It Help You Train?

Runners have many schools of thought on their training patterns and how to push their training further. For some runners, the silence creates a meditative experience during their runs, but other runners need a beat and improve their speeds and training persistence with headphones on and music playing.

Many athletes and trainers have posed the question:

Does listening to music while running improve your speed and endurance, and does the genre or artist matter?

This article will explore the relationship between running and music and how it could help you improve your training. Using these insights, consider picking up a set of sports headphones or pairing your music device to ensure you can get more out of your time running.

Endurance + Music

Listening to music as you run can help with endurance. The mind is a powerful tool when focused on a task, but sometimes, distraction through music can help us stay on track. In a study on the effect of music interventions on emotional states and running performance from the Journal of Sports Science Medicine in 2011, Andrew M. Lane and his colleagues found that music increased pleasant emotions during running, which helped them to run longer. The music had a high motivational effect that made the running tasks more enjoyable and allowed them to ignore the negative emotions they might experience from being short of breath or other factors during training. With an improved attitude during running, it became easier for participants to stay motivated when running and push their training further.

Music Reduces Stress

Music Helps You Run Faster

Music Helps with Breathing and Pace

Reducing Boredom on Long Runs

Exercises like running can reduce stress, and music can have the same effect. Music can affect areas of the brain that control our emotions and help to reduce stress hormones. When you go for a run while listening to music, you can feel happier and more refreshed than if you were running on your own without a soundtrack.

Based on studies done for Ergonomics in 2006, Judy Edworthy and Hannah Waring saw a difference in playing fast and loud music while people were exercising. Participants on the treadmill who were listening to loud and fast music felt a more positive effect. This type of music can be played to enhance the exercise and lead to an optimal training experience.

As well as motivating you to improve your pace, a song with a specific beat or a playlist with the same BPM will help you control your breathing and speed. Running for endurance and improving your training will often require a rhythm. When you listen to music, you can get into a rhythm by breathing every few beats of a song, maintaining a stride for every few notes, or finding a tempo that works well for keeping your pace. Experiment with different genres or artists, or build a playlist to keep your speed on track and improve your breathing as you train.

If you are training for endurance or a marathon, your training sessions can sometimes require a lengthy run. If you are preparing on a treadmill, putting on your headphones and training with music can improve your mental health and help you get through the most monotonous parts of your run. Based on a study completed in 2012 on music and driving, music improved driving performance rather than impairing it because the mental effort required to process the music while driving improved attention rates by keeping the mind active. This can mean that even choosing electronic music or meditation music for your runs could enhance your sessions by keeping you more attentive and less bored throughout your training session, such as during a long or treadmill session.

Music Improves Your Enjoyment of Exercise

Based on a clinical study completed for the Med Sci Sports Excercise journal in 2015, Matthew J. Stork and his associates had participants complete interval exercise training with and without music. The sprint interval exercise was more enjoyable, and participants were more motivated to continue when they listened to music. Adding music to your runs lets you get through the more intense portions of your training and feel more motivated to continue. Music could help you push through to the last mile of your run or help you keep up with your training if you are new to running.

It Can Improve Recovery, Too

Having a playlist for running and a separate playlist for recovery can help, too. The fast-paced music you use to keep your pace and breathing can help you run faster and focus on one part of your workout. Introducing a recovery playlist, such as slow songs or meditation music, after your run can prepare your body to relax and recover properly. This helps your blood pressure and heart rate decrease and ensures you can recover as you move on from your training and start your workday or relax and hydrate after your run. Using music to trigger mental recovery is a good start to putting your whole body in relaxation mode.

Suggestions for Adding Music to Your Runs

Try using music before your run during your warmup to boost your mood as you stretch.
Run in a safe place where music may not distract you from factors like traffic.
Find a comfortable set of headphones that can reduce tension in your ears or offer noise canceling to help you focus.
Find running playlists to help you maintain cadence with songs with a similar BPM.
Abstain from using music if you are recovering from injury. You need to be in tune with your body and know the signs to stop running if required.
Cut out headphones or music during the competition. Listening to music before a race can help you improve performance and stimulate the nervous system, but during competition, it is best to keep your senses honed so you can watch for other runners.

Final Thoughts

Always consider safety issues before using headphones on an urban run. Still, if you are thinking of adding music to your treadmill training sessions, it can bring incredible results for your training. Distracting your mind and listening to your favorite songs can keep your brain occupied and motivated even during longer training sessions. You can also get more out of the experience in terms of stress relief and push your training further by optimizing your breathing and cadence.

If you are a runner, consider adding music to your training sessions when it is safe and experiment with the music or playlists that work best for your training style.