Listen Like Rocky Balboa

Photo by Sol vazquez on Scopio

The theme song from the movie Rocky is probably one of the most popular songs of all time to psych yourself up before an athletic competition.

In 1995 there was an interesting study done in which two researchers asked two groups of runners who were just about equal in speed from past races to compete against each other in a 60-meter dash.

Before the race one group listened to one minute of the Rocky theme song on headphones and the second group stood in silence for that 1 minute.

Any guesses which group ran faster? Those that listened to the music!

The researchers also found that of those who listened to the music:

• Their heartbeats were faster

• Their muscles were tenser

• Their anxiety was lower

One minute of a song gave them a significant and systematic physiological advantage.

This is probably one of the reasons you see so many pro athletes with headphones on as they get off their team buses, while they are in the locker room or while warming up.

Do you think music might help you as you prepare to compete?

Depending on your sport you might want music that gets you psyched up or instead, calms you down. For instance, before a football game, you probably want to get psyched up while before golf you will likely want to calm down and focus.

These playlists are definitely a personal thing, something you will have to make up on your own as it depends not only on the sport but also on what type of music you like and dislike.

Take a moment now to browse through your music playlists. Identify which songs you think will get you in the right mindset before your next competition, game, performance or match. Then create your pre-performance playlist and listen to it just before each of your next 5-10 athletic events to see how it impacts your personal performance.

Reference: K.G. Hall and B. Erickson. “The Effects of Preparatory Arousal on Sixty-Meter Dash Performance.” Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics Annual 10 (1995): 70-79.

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