When I got my first portable cassette player (purple and Barbie-themed), I was excited to use it to play my mix tapes on my runs. I had heard that people do that.
It clipped so conveniently to my shorts! As long as my shorts were tight enough not to get pulled down by the weight of it.
My dad said no way.
(He was also the reason I was doing running workouts at an age when I was still excited about a Barbie cassette player, in case you were wondering.)
His reasoning was sound, and it’s why I still don’t intentionally listen to music during a workout even though I could have long since upgraded to an iPod. (I don’t own an iPod. Or whatever is now more awesome than that.)
It’s a distraction.
Sure, it can be motivating (“Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, baby), it can help you set a pace, but in the end you’re using it to keep your mind off the task at hand: running.
You can’t hear what’s going on around you.
Cars? Someone creepy following you? Someone yelling at you that the snow you’re about to run across is actually just covering a huge hole? I grew up running in the country where at least the cars and creeps weren’t issues, but now that I live in the city I’m doubly glad not to have music in my ears while I’m navigating the sidewalks and crosswalks.
It robs you of your mental training.
If you’ve ever trained hard, or even if you’ve just found it hard to train, you know that your mind is just as involved as your body is. Moreso. If you’re forever letting your mind escape the challenging reality your body is involved in, you’re not going to get any mentally tougher, and it’s the mental toughness that carries you through the last hard minutes of your workout. Oh, and life.
It disconnects your mind and your body.
Your mind is jamming to Coldplay and your body is trying to lift something heavy. Your body needs your mind right now. It needs the encouragement. It needs the insistence. It does not need charmingly distorted guitar riffs and a voice like butter.
Now, of course it’s different in a fitness class where music is kind of the point. And maybe it’s different for you. But when I’m running or lifting weights at the gym, my ears are open.
Do you work out with music? How does it help you? Would you consider a trial run without your tunes to experience what I’m talking about here? Let me know how it goes for you.