Monday, September 27, 2010

Exercising without outside influences

I have the bad habit of running while listening to music.  Besides the fact that I might become deaf within a few decades if I keep blasting sound into my eardrums, it also creates a false aura around my exercise.  While competing in actual races, I do not listen to music.  If I want there to be any semblance of continuity between practicing and racing, I should try to simulate actual race conditions, and not listen to music, while on a normal run.  There are also rules against this during NCAA competitions and USATF (USA Track and Field) road races, especially while competing for prize money or whatnot.  

So there are rules against listening to music.  There is probably a reason behind this; namely, that music empowers a person to do more, or go faster, while working out or running.  I have found this to be true while merely driving or sitting.  A good song or musical piece will ready me for hard work.  I think the ancient Greeks went into battle to music, played in one certain mode that prepared them psychologically for battle.

That can work for pre-workout or pre-race rituals.  Listening to music during the preparation can ready one's mind.  However, growing used to working out while at the same time listening to such music is not as good of an idea.  The body grows used to work while listening to the music.  It will be harder (not impossible but more difficult) to conquer a difficult race course while silent, with the only sounds those coming with feet pounding on the ground, etc.

Someone once told me that running is a spiritual activity.  One becomes closer to Nature, and God, while working to exhaustion.  Music merely will get in the way, especially if indulged in too much. 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This makes me think of my growing habit of listening to music while studying. In some senses, I'm actually concentrating much less than I would be doing the same things in silence, but it does have the benefit of reducing the distractions to a single pleasant one. And then there's the mood-setting...listening to upbeat music to get you into an enthusiastic mood that can be transferred to the paper-writing or whatever it may be. But...anything with words can make my writing a bit flippant, I've found. Mozart is the way to go if I want to do something academic well.