Author(s): BOZZATO, M., RIZZATO, A., DI SILVESTRE, A., PAOLI, A., MARCOLIN, G., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF PADUA, Country: ITALY, Abstract-ID: 1278

INTRODUCTION:
Listening to music could be an encouraging way to increase adherence and enjoyment in physical activity practice. The effects of music on physical activity have been comprehensively studied (1) and showed that music could be an ergogenic aid in improving psychological and psychophysical states, besides exercise performance (2). However, previous research focused on exercises that are hardly found in everyday sport practice (e.g. handgrip tests, and isometric strength tests) (3,4). Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of self-selected music (SSM) and motivational music (MM) on bench press power training.
METHODS:
Twenty healthy young men with at least two years of experience in resistance training participated in the study. In the first session, subjects were familiarized with the experimental settings and performed the 1-repetition maximum (1-RM) test. Then, they underwent three bench press sessions in a randomized order: with SSM, MM, and no music (NM) as a control condition. A 48-hour recovery occurred between sessions. In each session, subjects performed three sets of eight repetitions at 75% of 1-RM. We calculated the mean power (PAVG) and peak power (PPEAK) for every completed repetition. Subjects were administered the Borg scale CR-10 (RPE), the Feeling Scale (FS), and the Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) within each session. A two-way analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures investigated the main effect of music (i.e., SSM, MM, and NM) and fatigue (i.e., first, second, and third set) or the interaction between them on the bench press power outputs (i.e., PAVG and PPEAK). Moreover, a one-way ANOVA was performed to investigate the effect of music on FAS, FS, and RPE. The level of significance was set to p<0.05. Bonferroni post hoc analysis was performed where appropriate.
RESULTS:
A significant main effect of music (p<0.01) and fatigue (p<0.01) was found for PAVG and PPEAK. The post hoc analysis outlined higher power values only in SSM compared to NM (p<0.05). Moreover, PAVG and PPEAK values decreased from the first to the third set (p<0.001). However, when comparing the third set, SSM highlighted higher power values than NM (p<0.01). SSM and MM positively affected FS (p=0.030) and FAS (p<0.001) scores. Interestingly, FAS scores resulted higher in SSM with respect to MM and NM (p<0.05). No changes in perceived exertion were detected.
CONCLUSION:
Our data highlighted improved performance during the bench press exercise when subjects listened to music. Notably, self-selected music seemed to be as effective as motivational music independently from the beats per minute (BPM). Moreover, SSM led to a higher psychophysical activation than MM. Our findings thus encourage the use of self-selected music during resistance training.
REFERENCES:
1) Terry et al., Psychol. Bull., 2020
2) Karageorghis & Priest, Int. Rev. Sport Exerc. Psychol., 2012
3) Ballmann et al., J. Strength Cond. Res., 2021
4) Bartolomei et al., Percept. Mot. Skills, 2015