44 Do you think music helps to boost sport performance?

My gut reaction is that music does help boost performance, and it’s not a coincidence that you see so many joggers listening to music. Now, however, there is some research to prove what many gym users already knew - listening to music can boost your capacity for exercise. It makes a difference, however, what you listen to as not all types of music have the same beneficial effect on your performance. Few gyms in the country come without a pounding soundtrack, but many may be allowing the "wrong" music to reach the ears of their customers. The best songs for moderate to intense exercise tend to have between 120 and 140 beats a minutes (e.g. "I Like the Way You Move" by Bodyrockers, and "Mercy", by Duffy, or some older tunes such as "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen, or "Dancing Queen" by Abba). In addition, moderate exercisers said that the addition of music reduced their perception of hard work. For those exercising at a higher level, this was not the case, although music tended to boost the enjoyment of exercise for everyone. There are a lot of grungy or punky tracks, or slow rock tracks which are really inappropriate. Some gyms tend to just put on a radio station, which can be a bad idea, as radio stations will vary their tracks to create a different mood.