What science says about training with music

Almost everyone who works out has felt it: with the right song in your ears, time flies, your legs respond and the urge to stop takes longer to show up. That’s not just a feeling. It’s one of the most studied effects in sport psychology.

139 studies, one conclusion

In 2020, researchers Peter Terry, Costas Karageorghis and colleagues published the largest analysis ever done on the topic in the journal Psychological Bulletin. They pulled together 139 studies, with nearly 3,600 people, comparing exercise with and without music.

The results all point the same way. With music:

• workouts are more enjoyable. This was the strongest effect of all;
• performance improves, especially with fast songs;
• effort feels lower: the same workout weighs less on your mind;
• the body uses oxygen a little more efficiently.

And all of this at no cost: heart rate doesn’t change. Your heart works just the same; what changes is how you experience the workout and how much you give.

Why it works

Music does several things at once:

• It takes your mind off fatigue. Your attention goes to the beat and the lyrics, leaving less room for burning legs.
• It lifts your mood. A song you love gives you energy and makes training fun.
• It gives your movement rhythm. A strong beat organizes your stride and your pedal stroke, and the movement flows.

A review by the same researchers (Karageorghis and Priest, 2012) shows the effect is strongest in exactly the activities OmniBeat focuses on: running, cycling and walking, repetitive movements where the beat can guide every step.

Enjoyment is what brings you back

Music’s strongest effect is enjoyment, and there’s a good reason that matters so much. Nobody sticks with a workout they hate for months. An enjoyable workout is one you want to repeat, and repetition is what brings results.

Good music won’t do the workout for you. But it makes you want to train, and train with more drive.

How OmniBeat takes it further

In most workouts, music is just background: a playlist that plays while you exercise. In OmniBeat, it’s part of the workout:

• Original songs, with a strong beat and uplifting lyrics.
• Tempo that follows each block: it speeds up during effort and slows down during recovery.
• The beat guides your movement: one step, or one pedal stroke, on every beat.

Most of these studies were done in the lab, with groups of active young people, and the effects vary from person to person. But the direction is clear and shows up study after study: with music, training is better.