What is the Best Workout Music?

Music can drive you to the place you want to be. It manages your emotions either by stimulating or calming down. Recently I have noticed that there seems to be a certain kind of music that is very well suited to motivate and increase performance while working out. And it looks like science agrees.

Golden Behaviors

– Nudges for a Healthy Lifestyle –

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The workout wasn’t going as I anticipated. I felt tired and out of sync in the gym. Then a certain song started playing in the gym and I experienced a complete turnaround. Motivated and energized I continued the rest of my workout. What was so special about this song that it made such a difference in my mindset and performance?

Music and memory

Professor Catherine Loveday is a neuropsychologist at the University of Westminster. She has done multiple research on music and the brain. Her work frequently mentions the so called ‘reminiscence bump‘. This is the tendency for adults to have increased or enhanced recollections for events that occurred during their adolescence. Events can range from music and movies to sport games and nightclubs. The reminiscence bump occurs roughly from 16 until 25 years old, although some researchers argue that it starts and ends a few years earlier. When people are asked to name their favorite music, they overwhelmingly select music from age 12 till 17. So whether it is recollection or naming favorites, those teenage years seem to be very important when it comes to music.

Music and the teenage years

So why do we have such an enhanced recollection and preference for music from our teenage years? Science has come up with three explanations:

1. The memory development of the brain is at its peak. So there is a physical component to it.

2. New things happen all the time in our teenage years. And first times are easier to remember. In school, at work, developing friendships, new romances.

3. The teenage years are very formative. A lot of decisions are made that will affect our lives for years to come. Choosing an education or profession, for example.

So these explanations are most likely why music from our teenage years feels visceral and elicits strong feelings of connection and enthusiasm. It feels like part of who we are. Because of (unconscious) memories, it can easily transport us to different times and places and remind us of certain people.

The nineties teenager

Born in 1980, I was a teenager in the nineties. So when Armand van Helden’s ‘You Don’t Know Me‘ was released in 1998, I was 18 years old. During that time in my life I was spending substantially more time on the dancefloor, than at my school desk. So I vividly remember the tune hitting the dancefloor on multiple occasions. I not only remember the location, but also the people who were with me that night. Both friends and other partygoers. Music really bonds in my experience. So when I heard Armand van Helden’s now house classic in the gym 22 years later, it immediately brought back the energy I felt back in the day. I can still hear the crowd screaming in the club just before the beat finally drops after the one minute build up intro.

Recognizing songs

The peak of memory in our late teens is evident. Humans are very well equipped to recognize songs from that period. Even with limited exposure. It takes people no more than a second to recognize most popular songs from their teenage years.

Take this test with popular songs from the 2000s where you hear twenty songs played for only one second. If you were in your late teens, early twenties during this period, you will find it relatively easy to recognize most of the songs with only one second of sound. So when it comes to music from our teenage years, we tend to be better than our Shazam app for music recognition.

Guess the song in 1 second // 2000s edition

Golden oldies

The reminiscence bump and the preference for music from our teenage years have long term effects. Last month I rediscovered another house classic called ‘Whole‘ by Benjamin Bates (real name Benjamin Kuijten). I reached out to him with a message via LinkedIn to thank him for this great production. I told him about the preference for music from our teenage years and what it means in the long run. That in forty years time, his song will be blasting through the speakers in a dining room of a retirement home in my hometown Scheveningen. Benjamin was happy with the appreciation after all those years since the song came out and hoped I would also listen to it in the car in the meantime. I think I will settle for the gym since it gets me really pumped up and I don’t want to get a speeding ticket.

So the next time your workout needs an extra boost, try one of your teenage years favorite songs to increase your motivation and performance. See if it also works for you.

I hope you can share your favorite workout music. I would love to hear what songs you listen to and if there are any teenage favorites among them. Please let me know in the comments.

Sander Palm (1980) is author of Golden Behaviors and behavioral economist. He uses insights from the behavioral sciences to explain why people often act against their own interests. As a behavioral expert, he explores how you can nudge your behavior for a healthy lifestyle. He has a Master of Science in Marketing (VU University Amsterdam).

When you have been inspired to start and maintain your Golden Behaviors, reach out to me.

Source of top image: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

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