Are you the person who drives over to the gym, parks, realizes you forgot your headphones, and immediately drives home to get them because you can’t workout without them? You’re not alone, and perhaps more importantly, science is on your side. A University of Edinburgh study on the effects of music and workout playlists found that not only does the right kind of music help boost your efforts when jogging outside or on the treadmill, but they also found the ultimate motivational workout song.
According to the study, the song “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor got the most effort from fatigue participants compared to other songs that were selected. Anecdotally, this track has been on workout/motivational playlists and mixes on Walkmans to Discmans to iPods to smartphones as a multi-generational favorite, especially for marathon runners. Which is why it shouldn’t be a surprise that the song has over 1.6 billion streams on Spotify and its official music video has 1.1 billion views on YouTube.
Another music study by Dr. Jacob Jolij found that “Eye of the Tiger” was also one of the most feel-good songs of all time. At 109 beats per minute, the song hits that sweet spot between upbeat and motivational, which rewards our brains’ preference for repetitive rhythmic structure creating a consistent drip of pleasing dopamine. This feel-good neurotransmitter can make you feel good as you’re working out while also motivating you to continue, creating a feedback loop of encouraging effort and rewarding you for that effort as you commit to your task. Being that the song scientifically both motivates and rewards a person chemically through its lyrics, riffs, rhythm, and beat, one can conclude that it’s the most motivational song of all time.
The history of the song is burned into American popular culture. After Sylvester Stallone was denied the rights to use “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen as the theme song for the movie Rocky III, he approached Survivor to come up with a song specifically for the film. After viewing footage of the movie, the band recorded a demo on February 1, 1982 and sent it to Stallone. Sly liked it so much he didn’t wait for a re-recording in a professional studio and immediately added the demo version to the film. A recut, professional release of “Eye of the Tiger” was unleashed to the masses three weeks after Rocky III hit theaters, and it has been on a wild run on and off ever since.
Music is a great motivator in not just exercise, but when you’re preparing, working, cleaning, or doing some other task. Studies and articles from the National Institute of Health and Harvard Business Review back this up. The right kind of music can help not only motivate a person to keep going at their task, but could keep them focused and boost overall productivity along with performance. Other studies show that listening to music alters our perception of time, making long and boring slogs or duties feel shorter depending on if we’re listening to the right track. So, it might be worth putting on your headphones not just when you’re on the treadmill, but also if you’re studying for a test for extra focus, cleaning your house to make the next three hours feel like 30 minutes, or if you need that extra motivational brain boost before a speaking engagement.
So what songs should you add to your motivational/boost/workout playlist aside from “Eye of the Tiger”? Well, that’s up to you. While many fitness instructors and health experts have their opinions and list songs ranging from artists like Aretha Franklin to Mastodon to DMX to Mariah Carey and back again, it’s still pretty much subjective. “Eye of the Tiger” might not even be the best track for you. Over time, listening, and investigating recommendations from friends and family, you’ll be able to curate a great playlist or multiple playlists specifically for when you need that extra “oomph” for a particular task. Enjoy the search.
