The effects of music on cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular fitness in recreationally active individuals: a narrative review

Abstract

Music is made up of several features (e.g., melody and rhythm) and it accompanies our life in different daily activities. During the last years, there was a growing interest in research about the music-related effects in the exercise domain. Music stimuli could act as an ergogenic effect leading to improvements in health-related and physical fitness components like cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular fitness. Moreover, listening to music may positively affect individuals’ psychological state which could lead to increased exercise adherence. Conflicting data exist regarding the effects of music on cardiorespiratory and muscle-strengthening exercises indicating that music’s characteristics (i.e., rhythm and musicality), studied samples (i.e., athletes and amateur) and methodology (i.e., self-selected music and research-selected music) might influence the results. Listening to music while exercising is becoming more frequent also in recreationally active individuals. While literature mainly focused on the effects of music in elite and amateur athletes, little data are available regarding recreationally active participants. Therefore, this review aims to summarize evidence regarding the effects of music on health-related physical fitness components in recreationally active individuals, specifically referring to cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular fitness. These outcomes will be helpful to all recreationally active participants to optimize the exercise protocol with the use of music.

Effects of self-selected versus motivational music on lower limb muscle strength and affective state in middle-aged adults

“…Musical preferences have been recognized as a moderator factor that might influence the relationship between a musical stimulus and the individuals’ responses to it. It has been assessed that familiarity with a melody might positively influence emotional responses, thereby increasing exercise performance ( Karageorghis, 2020 ; Terry et al, 2020 ; Greco et al, 2022 ). However, it is not yet clear whether the main effect on muscle strength is given by the music characteristics ( i.e ., tempo > 120 bpm) or the affective responses consequent to listening to self-selected music.…”

Enhancing Running Exercise With IoT, Blockchain, and Heart Rate Adaptive Running Music

“…The Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized numerous industries, including music therapy [1,2], personalized music recommendation systems [3][4][5], and exercise and fitness [6][7][8][9]. Several studies have demonstrated the positive effects of music on exercise performance, mood elevation, and fatigue reduction, such as improved endurance and better adherence to exercise programs [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, more studies need to explore integrating IoT with music in the context of exercise.…”

The Effect of Music Listening on Athletes' Anxiety, Depression, and Pain: A Mini Review

“…Studies looking at how music during the warm-up process affected athletes' short-term maximal performances discovered considerable ergogenic effects. The motivating benefits of music have been associated with improvements in self-confidence, increased physiological arousal, and enhanced motor coordination [7,18,19].…”