Pump Up Music

      Music can be an important part to helping people get in the mood emotionally to workout. Listening to songs with an upbeat rhythm and cheerful or intense tone helps set people in the right mindset to get some work done and strive for results. Music helps get you out of your mind and into the beat of the drums and the bars of the lyrics so that you can escape from your present situation or mood and into the world as seen by the artist or band blaring though your headphones.

        You know those times when you are listening to music in the background at a party or a restaurant and all of a sudden a song comes on that you know and like and a wave of uncontrollable urge come over you to get up and dance? Whether you succumb to the urge or not, the song has definitely gotten you pumped up. Music just seems to have this effect on us at times, given that it is the right song or genre, and it can be a very useful tool to help wake us up when we are in a funk and get us ready to tackle the next workout or task ahead of us. Listening to “Eye of the Tiger” almost never fails to make me want to stop what I am doing and go run for president of the United States (or you know, some other seemingly impossible task that has about a .0007% chance of actually happening). 

      "Eye of the Tiger" is not for everyone however, and different people can be pumped up by a multitude of different genres. When the concept of “before game” or “pump up” music comes up, the commonly thought of genres are the ones with a low base and fast beat, such as pop, and rock that cause peoples heart to race, which is ideal before a race or practice and help people warm up. However, many people prefer to listen to Taylor Swift or the break up station on Pandora before their workout. This helps them feel ready to go simply from the fact that they enjoy that music and get excited by the fact that they can sing along. They will blare that Whitney Huston song proudly as they zoom down the interstate (*sassy finger snap*)! Whatever works for you is the right music! Some people swear off music while they are working out, and others, like me, never seem to think about listening to some hard rock before they head out for a run, but I have recently come to see that benefits of music. So give it a try, or don’t, but even if you don’t enjoy the music before a workout, it certainly does make life more fun listening to Maroon 5 more often!