Date of Award
Summer 2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Exercise Science
Department
Kinesiology
First Advisor
Brenda Davies
Abstract
Music has been found to produce feelings and emotions of power, reduce physical pain, and manage mood and affect. Ergogenic aids are regularly used in the resistance training (RT) setting to help improve performance. While the ergogenic effects of music are widely documented in aerobic exercise, research is lacking in the RT setting. The aim of this study was to examine the possible ergogenic benefits of music during RT workouts. Twelve individuals (mean age in years 49.8 ± 17.5 years) participated in the present online study, with nine female participants (mean age in years 48.2 ± 17.7) and three male participants (mean age in years 54.3 ± 22.0). All participants performed RT training exercises while listening to three music conditions: general music (GM) playlist, self-selected (SS) music playlist, and empowering music (EM) playlist. Participants then completed online surveys where they rated different aspects of their workouts such as motivation, enjoyment, and focus on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 = terrible, 2 = bad, 3 = good, 4 = great). The playlists with the highest mean ratings included the SS playlist for quality of workout (3.50 ± 0.52), the GM playlist for enjoyment and motivation (3.58 ± 0.52 and 3.50 ± 0.52, respectively), and the GM playlist (3.42 ± 0.52) and SS playlist (3.42 ± 0.6) for focus. In conclusion, music may have functioned as an ergogenic aid in RT workouts by increasing the quality of the workout, improving motivation, focus, and enjoyment, reducing the rate of perceived exertion, and creating a dissociation effect during the exercises. The practical applications of this study can be applied to a variety of RT exercisers ranging from the general population all the way to elite sports athletes.