Dr Costas Karageorghis, deputy head (research) of the School of Sport and Education, has worked with the popular digital music service Spotify to compile the Ultimate Fitness Workout Playlist, drawing upon his long-running research programme into the psychological effects of music.
Through an analysis of 6.7 million workout playlists conducted by the Spotify market research team, and the application of a new theoretical model that he developed, Dr Karageorghis crafted the Playlist by considering the global popularity of contemporary tracks, along with their psycho-acoustic properties (referring to the scientific study of the perception of sound), rhythmical qualities, tempo or beats per minute (bpm), and lyrical content.
As Dr Karageorghis explains, "My research group has examined the effects of music on physical activity from many different perspectives – using experimental techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), respiratory analysis and heart rate variability to a broad range of qualitative approaches such as observations, surveys and interviews.
“One of the most important recent findings," he continues, "is that a well-selected playlist can modulate how you feel even at relatively high exercise intensities. We came to the conclusion that, during high-intensity exercise, there is a ceiling for music-tempo preference of approximately 140 bpm."
This conclusion has important consequences, as Dr Karageorghis outlines: "Prior to the work done at Brunel, it was thought that music tempo should rise in a linear manner with exercise heart rate. Many commercial albums and playlists have made their selections directly predicated on our published findings."
Dr Karageorghis describes a “sweet spot” for music in the exercise context associated with a tempo range of 120 - 140 bpm with "good psycho-biological and information processing-related reasons for the efficacy of this narrow range."
One of the consequences of his body of work for public health is that well-selected music can have a positive influence on how you feel at exercise intensities that are commonly associated with negative feeling states. Dr Karageorghis explains, "This means that at the point at which your body is shouting ‘STOP’, the music has the power to lift your mood and beckon you on.”
Based on the Spotify listings, Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton is the most frequently appearing track on workout playlists. This hip hop tune with a relatively fast tempo of 147 bpm, close to the sweet spot, is therefore especially suited to cardio training and very high intensity workouts, whereas Daft Punk's summer disco hit Get Lucky, for example, with a tempo of 116 bpm, is better for warming up.
The Ultimate Playlist has been developed to accompany the various sections of a typical workout – warm up, the gradual increase of exercise intensity during cardio training, strength training, and warm down – with the music tempo matching each phase of the workout.
Spotify users can listen to the Ultimate Fitness Workout Playlist, and view more details about the track selection, through the Spotify webplayer.
For more information about Dr Karageorghis, please view his Brunel profile.
The Ultimate Workout Playlist
Katy Perry
| Roar | Mental Preparation
|
Jason Derulo ft 2 Chainz
| Talk Dirty
| Stretching |
Rizzle Kicks
| Skip To The Good Bit
| Stretching |
Daft Punk ft Pharrel Williams
| Get Lucky
| Aerobic Warm Up
|
Little Mix
| Move | Aerobic Warm Up |
Duke Dumont ft A*M*E
| Need U 100%
| Cardio Training (Low Intensity)
|
| Avicii | You Make Me
| Cardio Training (Low Intensity) |
| Viralites | Feel My Rhythm
| Cardio Training (Moderate Intensity) |
Pitbull ft Ke$ha
| Timber | Cardio Training (Low Intensity) |
Lady Gaga
| Applause | Cardio Training (High Intensity) |
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft Ray Dalton
| Can't Hold Us
| Cardio Training (Very High Intensity) |
Pharrell Williams
| Happy | Cardio Training (Very High Intensity) |
Eminem ft Rihanna
| The Monster
| Strength Training
|
John Newman
| Love Me Again
| Strength Training
|
Groove Amada ft Stush and Red Rat
| Get Down
| Strength Training
|
will.i.am ft Justin Bieber
| #thatPOWER | Strength Training
|
| Ellie Golding | Burn | Warm Down |