The Soundtrack of Your Workout

Who here is old enough to remember when exercise videos were all the rage? Every celebrity had one: Jane Fonda, Cher, Marky Mark, even Debbie Reynolds and Angela Lansbury. Today we can still find people exercising on TV and DVDs created by everyone from "Dancing with the Stars" to Barry's Bootcamp. And what do all of these health and fitness workouts include? Music.

There is a pulsating, motivating musical soundtrack to guide everyone through his or her workout. This is because most people find exercise boring and wish for something to either propel them forward or distract their disinterest. What, we can ask, is the real truth behind the phenomenon of soundtracking your workout?

A Ph.D. named Costas Karageorghis calls music a "legal drug for athletes. It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15 percent." The bottom line: Studies show that music helps people with their workouts. It distracts them from boredom or from pain and fatigue, as well as arouses them to push weight harder or stay on the treadmill longer. Let's look at some of the factors when it comes to choosing your workout soundtrack.

Many yoga teachers use slow, relaxing music as ambient noise and spiritual inspiration to keep students from becoming aroused beyond a heart rate and breathing pattern matching the intensity of their stretching. Exercises like yoga and tai chi, even pre- and post-workout stretching, are designed to be more laid back, so the latest dance remix will be less appropriate than your basic meditation CD.

If you are lifting weights or doing cardio, you can really start to have some fun, though Dr. Karageorghis advises music that is too fast can be a deterrent from a great workout. He advises keeping it between 120 and 140 beats per minute for optimum results.

An oft-cited study conducted in 2004 showed that runners have no benefit from the music they listen to when performing at 90 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake. Despite those findings, in 2007 the USA Track & Field -- the national governing body for long-distance running -- banned the use of music devices during races.

Those that study the effects of music on the physiological and psychological impacts of exercise use a science that remains a young one, yielding varied results that can be difficult to track. What they have learned is simple enough: Music has an effect, but not an absolute one. While what you listen to while training can indeed help with your workout, it's not essential.

Group exercise classes are largely dependent on music. Weightlifting is not. Many bodybuilders prefer to work out without music, but some that I interviewed advised that when working with extreme weights or going up a weight class, perhaps take off the headphones, lower the volume, and work with less driving music so as not to distract yourself to the point of injury; once in a comfort zone and away from risk, return to your routine. New York personal trainer Dan Tracy refuses all music when lifting weights, determined to be one with the workout, though he does use music to cool down. My own personal trainer, Ray Scalvino, dreams of a gym where the only thing you hear is proper breathing and weights landing on the floor.

As nonindustry exercisers, most people want to know what the current Top 40 is simply so they can import the songs into their phones and iPods. People I spoke with play everything from dance mixes to rock, NPR to opera, Broadway to audio books. It is a personal choice of what will get you up off the sofa and into a state of movement. While training, I don't like to listen to music that makes me feel emotional -- my state of mind must be clear to focus on the weights -- so, for me, it's less Joni Mitchell and more Bourne movie soundtracks.

The most important thing for everyone is to get the most out of your workout without getting injured. So my suggestion: Pick music you like, get on your feet and keep the volume at medium. You really want to hear the car horn while running or the call out of "HEADS!" when someone drops a weight near you at the gym.

Now get out there and shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah.