There is not much of controversity on this topic and usually there are two groups of people.
First has no doubt about the fact music takes huge place in theirs training sessions. Very often these people go to the gym with a specific playlists of tracks or songs that help them get into the zone and give 100% during the lifting.
Most likely different types of music can produce different effects on different people.
Which means they can feel varies types of emotions.
A very common practice among many successful fitness models and bodybuilders is to listen completely different types of music before, after and during their training sessions.
For example many people prefer calm music before they enter the lifting room, but when the workout starts they pick really dynamic and aggressive tracks.
Music that full of energy.
It is no wonder why so many of the IFBB PRO’s are Metal Heads.
I completely understand that.
Metal is genre who is full of energy and even anger which makes it definitely useful when it comes to lifting weights. Many people need an edgy type of feel in order to get few extra reps. A lot of Metal and Rock songs fully capable of providing this feel.
Personally I am not a metal head, but I actually enjoy certain tracks if they play em in the gym during some of my training sessions.
Even if lifting weights on metal is something that feels so natural and even essential for a lot of gym rats out there is not everybody’s “go to”.
Since I started training my main go to genre’s for lifting are either “Old School Trap” or certain selection of track from the earliest stages of
“NeuroFunk”.
It ain’t like I do not get motivated when listening to others, but it happens that those are the two main genres that really allows to push myself beyond limits.
It also happens that I am inspired from the same exact genres when it comes to producing my own music as well, but this is a completely different topic …
Often times find I do my best heavy workouts while listen to playlists that include tracks from both. Even if totally different both genres have their own cinematic type of sound.
The pure Energy and Motivation combo from tapes Like Trap or Die (Mostly produced by Shawty Redd.)
AND….
The pure aggression that comes from mixes like “Us Against The World” By Evol Intent.
But the reality is:
Bodybuilding is a lot more mental than physical sport.
It is journey of your body and soul and the biggest part of the training is actually done in the mind.
If you search on google for footage and interviews you will find that:
*All of the greatest legends from the golden era say they have visualized the desired goals and results already accomplished in their minds before they made them happened.
This goes for every type of success or thing that worths it’s efforts.
While unbelievable for ones and obvious for others:
Bodybuilding as a whole has to do a lot with emotions.
This is extremely important, specially when it comes to developing a ritual for some:
Beast mode motivation.
Deep in every person’s soul there are certain places …
Hidden memories which can trigger certain emotions …
Often times we find ourselves into positions where these emotions can either
Make us or break us.
A lot of average people and gym goers neglect this key important detail.
All of the music I choose to train on has to do with my emotions, because this is what makes me get the extra reps or sets.
I do not try to offend nobody and it may sound weird, but what has been played on the radio since I started lifting till now, never had the ability to effect me or trigger the appearance of these emotions or memories in my head.
So I always tend to avoid it by always been armed with fully loaded with music Iphone.
Back in the days it was actually an Ipod Shuffle.
This is the way I use to prevent my motivation from suffering and turning my workouts into a disaster.
But the real question is:
Should you do same as me ?
Should you avoid the radio and listen to what I listen ?
And the real answer is:
No. You don’t.
What you should to do instead is find what makes you feel the emotions which can have the same beneficial effect on you.
And…
This is the point of this whole article.
Very often emotions from this caliber can be triggered only by reminding memories deeply hidden in the darkest places of our souls.
Somehow they are connected to the music.
On spiritual level they are related, part of a memory for something else…
To a certain degree this might lead some feelings of anxiety or depression,
But…
They might also let us perform at our absolute best in everything we do.
Because…
They can allow us unleash some exceptional energy and this is exactly what you should looking for.
The music that produces these or similar type of effects on you is the one you should us to train on.
But on the other hand maybe you don’t need music at all and if so this is completely fine.
Maybe what gives you that feel is the sound of them iron plates and stacks when they hit each other during a set …
Maybe it is the silence in the gym you train…
Maybe you prefer to listen to the sounds while you are deadlifting bare feet on the floor…
It could be anything and everything and you can find it anywhere and everywhere.
It is always available long as you search for it.
*Can be memories for people, things, places or situations from the past.
*Can be things you want to achieve or people you see as a competitors in life now.
In the end of the day it really doesn’t matter as long as you find it and build a ritual from it.
A ritual that serves and helps you to accomplish greatness with the things you do.
Your Craft.
But in the end of the day I do not expect from this tactic to always work during each every part of everybody’s life.
We are all different during the different phases of our lives, so we have different needs and goals.
Nowadays during training session more and more often, instead of music I find myself prefer listening to either podcast, an audiobook or even interview with someone who inspires me and is very successful at what they do.
In the interview this individual or group of people shares with the world some useful techniques on how get stuff done and kick more ass during the day.
Truth to be told I left the gym a lot more satisfied, because I feel like I got the best out of my time.
On one side I’ve trained my body, but on the other I fed my brain with useful and practical information.
You on the other hand do not need to listen to the same stuff as I do, specially if you are not interested in the same stuff as me.
But . . .
You can listen to all kinds of amazing content about everything.
You can even stream bodybuilding oriented podcasts.
I see this practice as a great way to absorb information from books and others.
Really useful specially for someone who is very busy doing stuff
In my honest personal opinion:
Constant improvement of the knowledge base in our heads should main priority in everyone’s live.
Reading books is great, but not everybody’s willing to dedicate 100% of their attention on simply sitting down and reading a paperback or hard cover copy.
The reasons may be different.
The two most common are either not enough time or simple the fact some people do not find reading of a paper book that attractive.
But when Incorporated in workout it can become a lot more appealing.
This is completely fine thus we live in this unique era when everything is possible and reading is not a necessity anymore, because of things like audible and podcasts.
When I put that type of content on my ear taps I feel like I definitely do not hit the weights that aggressively. In fact I am a lot more calm and I feel humble, which is really good because allows me to get a bit more rest between sets and actually more sets with more weight.
So it allows me to do more volume which is what my body responds to best and I feel I don’t need to always train with mad intensity.
Hope the written above makes sense:
Thank You For Your Time.
Yours Truly: PETEONTHEBEAT.
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