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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1427373
This article is part of the Research Topic Towards a Psychophysiological Approach in Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sports-Volume III View all 8 articles

Music influences performance without increasing perceived exertion during high-intensity rowing intervals: A cross-over design study

Provisionally accepted
Tom Brandt Tom Brandt 1*Andrea Schittenhelm Andrea Schittenhelm 2Denny Andres Denny Andres 1Patrick Adler Patrick Adler 1Merle T. Fairhurst Merle T. Fairhurst 3Annette Schmidt Annette Schmidt 1
  • 1 Institute for Sports Science, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Neubiberg, Germany
  • 2 NextGenerationEU, dtec.bw Project Smart Health Lab, Institute for Sports Science, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Neubiberg, Germany
  • 3 Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), 6G Life, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study assessed how exposure to slow (SBM) versus fast beat music (FBM) during high-intensity rowing intervals affects performance, heart rate (HR), lactate levels, relative perceived exertion (RPE), and recovery.The A/B crossover design involved 21 participants performing 5 x 500 m rowing intervals under two conditions: FBM and SBM. Primary endpoint was the difference in total rowing time. Secondary endpoints included average HR, average RPE as well as rowing interval times, RPE, and HR per interval. For exploratory purpose, HR and lactate drop during the initial 5 minutes post completion was analyzed.Listening to FBM resulted in significantly shorter total rowing times (p = .009, rB = .59), especially during the 1 st interval. The 1 st interval was also significantly faster than intervals 2 -5 (p < .001), with the greatest performance drop between the 1 st and 2 nd interval during FBM. Average HR was significantly lower when listening to SBM (p = .03, rB = .48), while average RPE showed no significant difference (p = .47, rB = .02). Lactate values after interval 5 were significantly lower in SBM (p = .05, rB =.41), but no significant difference was found for lactate drop (p = .21, rB = .21). However, participants exhibited a higher HR drop rate with SBM (p = .05, rB =.42). Conclusion: FBM improved performance without increasing RPE, while SBM proved superior for recovery. Systematic customization of music based on intended training stimuli holds broad potential for the competitive sports, fitness, and health sector.

    Keywords: self-selected music1, heart rate2, Recovery3, pacing4, drop in performance5

    Received: 03 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Brandt, Schittenhelm, Andres, Adler, Fairhurst and Schmidt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tom Brandt, Institute for Sports Science, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Neubiberg, Germany

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