Do you know what CrossFit, SoulCycle and Zumba have in common? They’re all group fitness classes that bump music through speakers to boost your performance. The intention behind it is simple: even as your muscles burn from working out, the beats will keep you motivated to carry on and help you have more fun. 

There’s a reason why people like to listen to music while exercising, and it goes beyond motivation for a good workout session. A recent study says that music can boost your workout performance and keep you working out for a longer period. Especially high-intensity and high-tempo music. 

So if you’re wondering how you can get the most out of your exercise with music, we’re going to explain it to you. In this article, you’ll see how and why music can be such a big influence in your workouts, how you can customize a fitness playlist and where you can find one that’s perfect for your type of activity. So read on to learn more!

There are plenty of studies about the positive psychological effects of music. A good track can help you improve your mood and focus on a task. But more than that, it can also boost your performance and give you a competitive edge. That is where it applies when it comes to exercising. A good tune affects your workout routine in a number of ways, like:

As with everything in life, there are exceptions when music might not help boost your performance. If you have an injury or if you’re struggling with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). But for the most part, you can benefit from the examples listed above. 

While it might seem unnecessary to some, choosing the right songs makes all the difference in order to boost your performance when you’re working out. After all, it’s truly all about tempo. When you match the music’s tempo with your heart rate, you’ll get more motivation for the duration of your workout. Mismatching that tempo can do just the opposite. 

If you already listen to music while you’re exercising, just think about what happens every time a slower song comes on in the middle of it. Like when you’re listening to an upbeat track and suddenly a love ballad comes on.

Either you dig your phone out of your pocket to change it or you power through. However, it disrupts the focus of your workout because you keep thinking about how much you want the song to be over. 

Making the perfect playlist to boost your performance is actually super easy. The first thing you need to do is focus on the type of workout and the tempo of the songs. The intensity of your exercise should always match the tempo of the songs you’ll listen to.

Finding a song’s BPM (beats per minute) – or tempo – is kind of like finding your heart rate. If you’re more musically inclined, it might be a little easier to count them. If you have trouble figuring it out, there are plenty of apps available on the App Store and Google Play that can do that for you. Nevertheless, here’s a little tempo guideline to help you get started: 

You can get even more specific about your workout if you want to. For instance, you can create a playlist to boost your performance and engineer the tempo to support the little intervals you take. That way, you can apply a fast-moderate-fast structure. Just make sure to pick the songs with the right lengths for such intervals. 

While other factors like lyrics, bass and volume might influence your workout rhythm, focusing on finding songs with good tempo will make choosing the right tracks a lot easier. 

If you don’t want to or simply don’t have the time to create your own playlist, you can try one of the streaming services below. All of them offer a host of different playlists for specific workouts that will surely help you boost your performance. 

Fit Radio is an app which revolves around songs with specific beats per minute for different workouts. You can easily find a series of premade playlists for different heart rates in every genre you can think of. One interesting fact about Fit Radio is that the playlists are mixed with quick cuts, so there’s plenty of variety.

Apple’s music streaming has a whole section dedicated to songs that can boost your performance. You can browse the playlists and select “music by mood” to find the fitness category. There are playlists for yoga, weightlifting and much more. The best part is that the playlists are updated quite often, so there’ll be plenty of new songs for you to enjoy. 

Much like Apple Music, Spotify also provides its users with a wide range of workout playlists with music to boost your performance. The streaming giant often updates its playlists and adds new ones almost daily. You can find playlists categorized by their beats per minute to help you decide which one is better for your next activity.

A good workout can mean a bunch of different things, including what you already do in your everyday life. If you’re constrained by an injury or simply don’t have enough time to hit the gym, there are still ways you can get a good exercise.

But do daily activities actually count as exercise? Follow the link below to learn more on the subject. You’ll see how simple daily tasks like walking the dog and cleaning the house can help improve your health.