Did you know that running to a fast paced song can make you fitter? Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between a song’s BPM (beats per minute) and athletic performance. The type of songs you play can actually boost your performance by 15%. Good news for those of us whose jogging is a bit lacklustre at the best of times!
Pump Up Your BPM
Running along to music with the right BPM will motivate you to run at a consistent rhythmic pace, rather than getting puffed and quitting. And we all know how good it feels when a pumped up song comes through the headphones. Suddenly you feel like you’ve got a second wind.
Well, you can get that feeling every time you run. First of all you need to work out your BPM so you can match it perfectly to the BPM of the song. Finding your BPM isn’t that hard to do.
- First run for 15 minutes at a comfortable pace
- Time yourself for one minute and count the number of steps you make
- Do this a few times to get an average BPM.
The fitness experts say the best BPM for experienced runners is 180 BPM. This is what elite athletes have been analyzed at doing, but anywhere between 160-170 BPM will get your heart pumping. Anyone who’s just starting out will want to aim for between 120 to 140 BPM.
Create a BPM Playlist
Once you know your speed, then you need to find songs with that BPM to create a playlist. If you’ve already got a heap of music, then just download an app to analyze it and figure out the BPM of each song. If you do a google search for ‘bpm analyser programme’ then you’ll find a number of programmes available.
Alternatively, there are websites out there that have calculated the BPM of hundreds of songs, and even grouped them into categories, e.g ‘Running songs at 180 BPM’. Running Playlist is one of these which has playlists designed for 5k runs and 10k runs, as well as songs for different BPMs.
An even easier alternative if you have Spotify is to simply go into the new ‘Running’ option in the menu. This offers a range of different playlists such as ‘Upbeat Run’, ‘Mood Booster Run’ and ‘Country Running’ which detect your running tempo and then plays songs to match your performance. All you need to do is just start running.
Getting into your stride with the right music for your BPM can happen inside as well as outside. Give us a call, we have treadmills for hire so you can run in the comfort of your own home.
