If you’re looking for a simple way to increase your foot speed, a perfect playlist might do the trick. We have many debates at Cardio High about what makes a perfect playlist. We get requests for ’80s, rock, pop, EDM and “anything with a beat.” Researchers recently conducted a study that tested working out with and without music.
The music that was played was considered “fast and loud,” according to this study so that means if you are listening to slow jams during your run – they may not help your foot speed.
The researchers hired 25 men and 25 women and asked them run on a treadmill both with and without music. They discovered that when listening to music people were able to increase the amount of time they could maintain a higher speed.
The people in the study were able to hold a higher speed for up to a minute longer with music. 60 seconds may not seem like a long time – but even 20 seconds at a high speed can seem like an eternity when you are really pushing the tempo.
So, if you are doing your workouts without any soundtrack, give it a shot and see if it helps. Just make sure it’s fast and loud… just not too loud. We care about your ears.
The researchers did not study which genres or which tempo helped people run faster. Our own informal research shows that a higher tempo with music that people like and have some familiarity works best.
