I didn't get a ton of sleep last night, I went to bed at my usual time so an hour later, due to the time change and several sets of tiny feet came in at their usual time this morning, an hour 'earlier' due to the time change. Such is life!
I started my workout and after 15 minutes was too tired to continue and listening to talk radio wasn't helping. I'm an admitted NPR addict but it's not exactly conducive to inspiring one to rock out to a cardio fitness regime.
I switched to fast music and went for 40 minutes solid. This was the longest I've done with this cardio workout (my usual would be 30 mins) and felt great - all because of the fast 'fitness' type music I was listening too. For one, the upbeat tempos and enjoyment of the songs urge one to continue and secondly, I kept telling myself 'one more song' and on I went. My kids rocked out too.
Music and exercise are like cheese cake and coffee (bad analogy when talking exercising and keeping in shape). I looked into this a little bit today, after my not-so-starling realization that talk radio and fitness weren't best paired (and how had I not realized this before?) Studies have shown that uptempo, upbeat, loud (ish) music during exercise help a person go longer - and stronger.
Apparently, music with beats between 120 and 140 per second work best for cardio/aerobic routines, with heavy metal music preferred in weight rooms. Groups ranging from Wham! to Green Day to LL Cool J to Metallica have been cited as exerciser favorites. Gyms have fitness CDs programmed and piped through to exercise classes and CDs are available for sale, based on favorite tunes that the masses recommend for working out.
For more on this topic, click here
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/10/europe/fitness.php?page=1
...and don't be afraid to let current events radio take a back seat to some pop, hip hop or metal, when you hit the gym.
Tell Us
Does music inspire to your work out harder? What's your music of choice?