The Effects of Music on High-intensity Short-term Exercise in Well Trained Athletes

Purpose: the purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects of listening to music during warm-up on short-term supramaximal performances during the 30-s wingate test in highly trained athletes. methods: twelve young male athletes (20.6±1.8 yrs, 177±4.4 cm and 72.3±5.3 kg) underwent two wingate tests in separate sessions with a recovery period of 48 h in-between, either after a 10 min of warm-up with (mwu) or without (nmwu) music. high tempo music (> 120 to 140bpm) was selected for the study. heart rate (hr) and rate of perceived exertion (rpe) were recorded after the warm-up (for hr = average of warm-up) and immediately after the wingate test. results: hr, rpe and the fatigue index during the wingate test are not affected by the incorporation of music during warm-up. however, power output (ppeak and pmean) was significantly higher after mwu than nmwu (p < 0.05). the relative increases were 4.1 ± 3.6 and 4.0 ± 3.7 w·kg^-1 for ppeak and pmean respectively. these findings demonstrated the beneficial effect of music during warm-up on short-term supramaximal performances. conclusions: as it’s a legal method and an additional aid, music may be used during warm-up before performing activities requiring powerful lower limbs’ muscles contractions during short-term supramaximal exercises.