Why Elton John is your ideal workout partner: fast tempo music is best for your indoor exercise

Fast music is good for your high and low intensity exercise, reducing perceived effort and increasing the heart rate

Other research shows that high tempo music increases people’s enjoyment of their workout

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Elton John is your ideal exercise partner. His 177bpm song I’m Still Standing will increase your heart rate, and make your workout seem easier. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 2:00am, 28 Feb 2020Updated: 5:40am, 28 Feb 2020

Adding fast music to an indoor workout routine could be the best way to stay fit if you are working from home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Home workers have been finding innovative ways to stay active: Chinese medicine health therapist Pan Shancu, for example, ran 50km (31 miles) around his Hangzhou flat. Meanwhile, staff at one of the few hotels still open in Wuhan have been engaging in a daily exercise session to keep the virus at bay.

And a first-of-its-kind study has just revealed that high tempo music may make this exercise easier and more beneficial.

Italian researchers have shown that music is an important tool to engage people in low-intensity exercise, but also beneficial for high-intensity training. It helps to reduce perceived effort during endurance training.

Listening to fast music while you work out distracts you from fatigue. Photo: Shutterstock

Many people listen to music while exercising and previous studies have found that music can distract from fatigue and discomfort while increasing participation in exercise. But until now, researchers did not understand what kind of music was best suited to different types of exercise.