Most people have experienced music’s amazing ability to stir our emotions: the human race has known this for centuries, if not millennia. It is only in the last couple of decades though that it has systematically been used by athletes to boost sports performance through the advent of lightweight, portable music players. It also seems scientific research supports what most people instinctively know: listening to music before or during exercise can inspire you to work harder.
While musical tastes are highly individualised, not everyone has the time, inclination or technical skills to compile their own play lists. Realising that this creates a market opportunity, companies have started creating ready-made motivational play lists. We decided to sample a couple.
Running Trax
This new 3-CD album from Ministry of Sound features “upbeat dance anthems, each possible disc designed to give the best possible motivation”.
The tracks are specially selected for each album and are designed for different exercise intensities: Jog, Run and Sprint.
Strangely, we found the pace of the 1st CD (Jog) much higher than the 3rd (Sprint) although the latter was far more inspirational. Perhaps the idea is that you listen to some of the tracks before embarking on your killer session.
A novel and useful feature of this album are the warm up and cool down tracks at the beginning and ends of each CD. These include classics from Faithless, Jakatta and Static Revenger.
The album comes with a guide that shows you how to perform a basic warm up and warm down. It also includes useful facts like “how many miles you have to run to burn off one beer” (two) and “if it’s ok to run with a hangover.” (No. You’ll be dehydrated. Drink 600ml of water and wait a couple of hours before pulling on your trainers.)
We liked the third CD best, which according to the experts is classic trance, with tracks from Faithless, Chicane and Sash.
CD one and two are funky house floor fillers and electro anthems respectively. If you enjoy funky house, dance anthems, and upbeat trance and love exercising to music then this collection might be for you.
Our favourite, Track 8 on CD 2 (Guru Josh Project, Infinity), features in an inspirational Ironman Clip that you can also see at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckFvoGRPiCU
The CD can be bought from Amazon or Play.com and retails for £15.
Gym Bunny – Essential gym mixes
The terms ‘Gym Bunny’ and ‘triathlete’ seem to be about as related as ‘honest’ and ‘politician’, but it would be unfair to dismiss this latest offering from Power Music simply because of its name. Power Music have been producing workout music since 1987 and know what they’re doing. Clearly, some thinking has gone into track selection. This is not just someone’s random play list.
According to the creators, “there is a science behind each playlist, the all important elements being based on tempo corresponding to heartbeat when training.” The mix is designed to both inspire you to go to the gym and motivate you while you’re there.
Apparently it includes a number of chart topping hits but unfortunately our tester was so out of date he hadn’t heard a single one before.
Top coaches such as Joe Friel recommend triathletes incorporate strength and conditioning work into their routines. If you’re one of those people who really doesn’t like gyms but know you should occasionally visit one, Gym Bunny could make your trip that little bit more bearable. However, we felt the mix was more appropriate to aerobic workouts than pumping iron. If you’re anything like most triathletes, you’ll probably be doing most of your aerobic workouts outside.
Opinions vary on whether or not to take music with you out on the road, especially when cycling, and safety – being able to hear that juggernaut bearing down on you – should be your primary consideration. Some people maintain it’s OK to listen through one ear, keeping the other open for traffic. Other people only listen to music when running in parks and some won’t use it ever outside. British Triathlon Federation rules prohibited listening to music during a race.
With this in mind, we found the best and safest way to incorporate Gym Bunny into a training session was on the turbo trainer. Perceived effort (or rate of perceived exertion – RPE – as some people call it) definitely dropped while heart rate was maintained.
The other way to use motivational music – and many swimmers do this – is to listen before you start a training session or event. That way, you can have the songs replaying in your head without the danger of shutting yourself off from your surroundings.
Tastes in music vary widely. We suggest trying before buying and, if you like it, don’t be put off by the name (but hard-core Ironman athletes might prefer not to tell their mates what they’re listening too).
Gym Bunny is available to download at iTunes or on www.powermusic.com and retails for £7.99.
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