Published May 28, 2026 05:36AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Key Takeaways<\/strong>: A recent study published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise<\/em> found that people who listened to music at 120\u2013140 bpm saw a 20 percent increase in endurance. The study\u2019s lead author and sports psychologists explain why music can improve overall performance and how to find the music that works for you.<\/p>\n Many of us know what it\u2019s like to finally crush a fitness goal. You spent weeks or months increasing your leg press weight by 20 pounds, or shaving a few seconds off your mile. The amount of pride and elation we feel after breaking through a personal barrier is unmatched. Aside from your determination to reach said goal, you were also building endurance during those painful, strenuous workouts.\u00a0But what does that mean exactly, and why does it matter?<\/p>\n Endurance refers to how long your body can withstand resistance<\/a> and impact during exercise (resistance can be your body weight or supplemental weights, such as dumbbells). Higher endurance means that you can train longer before reaching failure or exhaustion.<\/p>\n Pushing yourself to exercise longer to boost endurance also offers a host of health benefits<\/a>, such as improved heart and brain function, longevity, a reduced risk of diseases, and lower blood pressure.<\/p>\n The thing is, achieving better endurance takes work and time. Being too tired, or too busy, to complete a workout is, alas, a struggle we all must face. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could boost endurance and feel like we\u2019re doing less<\/i>? That\u2019s exactly what a new study out of Finland explores.<\/p>\n The research, published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise<\/i><\/a>, suggests there\u2019s a relatively simple hack you can do to increase your endurance: listen to music, specifically music with a fast tempo\u2014at least around 120 beats per minute (bpm). According to the study, working out to fast-tempo music can boost your endurance by up to 20 percent compared with exercising in silence.<\/p>\n Before getting too<\/em> excited, there are nuances to consider here beyond simply playing music when\u00a0you exercise. Here\u2019s what the study authors and doctors have to say about music\u2019s impact on your workout and how you can harness the positive effects.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic may change the \u2018experience of effort,\u2019\u201d says Andrew Danso<\/a>, the lead author of the study and researcher in the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies at the University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4 in Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4, Finland. Meaning, listening to music may help you to drown out the discomfort of intense exercise, allowing you to work out longer than if you exercised without music.<\/p>\n For the study, Danso and his team recruited 29 adults and asked them to do two separate cycling tests at about 80 percent effort. (Think about going a little less hard than an all-out sprint.) One of those workouts was done in silence; during another session, the participants listened to their choice of music. Danso points out that the participants\u2019 playlists included songs with relatively fast tempos, around 120 to 140 bpm.<\/p>\n The researchers found that when participants biked in silence, the average time to exhaustion<\/a>\u2014how long they could pedal without getting tired\u2014was 29.8 minutes. With fast-tempo music, people cycled an average time-to-exhaustion of 35.6 minutes. That translated to a 20 percent improvement in endurance. Despite the small sample size, these findings are valuable, as they suggest that listening to music may improve exercise tolerance. This does not prove that fast-paced music on its own directly boosts endurance, but the findings suggest a correlation between upbeat music and increased endurance.<\/p>\n Though participants exercised longer and burned more calories while listening to music, the researchers found that their heart rates and lactate levels (a chemical the body produces when muscles break down carbs for energy use during exercise) were similar to those of people who didn\u2019t listen to music. \u201cThe endpoint looked very similar\u2014music just seemed to help people stay with the discomfort longer,\u201d Danso says.<\/p>\n The study didn\u2019t explore why<\/em> music may support endurance, but doctors have a few theories. \u201cMusic does lots of things. For instance, it affects people\u2019s mood,\u201d\u00a0Douglas P. Terry<\/a>, a neuropsychologist and director of the Center for Cognitive Neurosurgical Studies at Vanderbilt Health in Nashville, Tennessee, told Outside<\/em>. \u201cIf the music is helping your mood during a strenuous activity, you might be able to do that activity for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Music can also serve as a distraction during a workout, \u201callowing individuals to focus less on fatigue and more on the experience of movement,\u201d says Marcia L. Edwards<\/a>, a sports psychologist and assistant professor in the Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.<\/p>\n Some music may also increase your motivation and help you stay on pace with the rhythm of the beat, Terry says.<\/p>\n \u201cParticipants in our study didn\u2019t actually report \u2018less\u2019 exhaustion at the end. Their perceived exertion ratings were nearly identical between conditions,\u201d Danso says. \u201cWhat changed was endurance\u2014they were willing or able to continue longer before reaching that same endpoint.\u201d That\u2019s an important distinction, he says, because those results suggest that even though music doesn\u2019t erase fatigue, it can change how we perceive exertion during exercise.<\/p>\n This study focused on music\u2019s impact on a cycling workout, but the findings are likely applicable to other forms of exercise, according to Danso. The type of music you use likely matters, too. He stresses the importance of choosing your own music rather than listening to whatever is on the radio, piped through gym speakers, or from a friend\u2019s playlist. But music that feels energizing, emotionally engaging, or personally meaningful is likely more effective for promoting endurance, too, he says.<\/p>\n To replicate the music the participants responded to, you\u2019ll want to choose songs with a bpm of at least 120. For a sense of what that sounds like, popular songs such as Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cBad Romance,\u201d Whitey Houston\u2019s \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody,\u201d and \u201cStayin\u2019 Alive\u201d by the Bee Gees are all 120 bpm.<\/p>\n To figure out the bpm of any track, you can use free websites such as Songbpm<\/a>, and Spotify offers curated bpm-based playlists<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear whether listening to spoken-word content, such as audiobooks or podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0would offer the same perks. \u201cPodcasts can provide distraction and engagement, which may help reduce perceived boredom or discomfort during lower-intensity exercise,\u201d Edwards says. But she says that music has \u201cunique properties\u201d like rhythm, tempo, and emotional stimulation that can sync with movement to directly influence your workout intensity and pacing.<\/p>\n Not everyone enjoys exercising to music, but Danso says plenty can benefit from this hack. \u201cIf music helps you stay engaged and tolerate hard exercise longer, it\u2019s likely a useful training tool,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Want more\u00a0Outside<\/i>\u00a0health stories?\u00a0Sign up for the Bodywork newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\nHow Does Music Influence Endurance?<\/h2>\n
Why Does Music Boost Endurance?<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the Best Music to Listen to Increase Endurance?<\/h2>\n
Choose Songs with a Fast Tempo<\/h3>\n
Would Listening to a Podcast Have the Same Effects?<\/h3>\n