The Benefits of Listening to Music During Swimming

Last Updated on February 26, 2021 by admin

In this article, we will provide advice, hacks and tips on the benefits of listening to music during swimming.

For many competitive swimmer’s, music can play an important role during their training and their pre-race routine.

As a swimmer’s cardiovascular system reacts to a song’s beat, this can result in a higher stroke rate (tempo), increased balance and rhythm and a greater distance per stroke (DPS).
As the song’s beat increases the swimmer’s stroke rate usually increases.

The benefits of music during training

Some swimmers find listening to music with a fast beat on the way to training helps them with their motivation.

Others find that listening to music with a slow beat can help them relax and stay focused.
Many swimmers find listening to music with a slow beat during their pool warm-up is a great way to prepare for the rigours of the training session ahead.
Some middle and long-distance swimmers listen to music during training sets.
They often find listening to music with a faster beat, helps them to increase their stroke rate (tempo) and distance per stroke (DPS)

The benefits of music during a pre-race routine

**Many swimmers find listening to music helps them shut out unnecessary distractions**

Some swimmers find listening to music with a fast beat on the way to an event helps with their motivation.

Others prefer listening to music with a slow beat to help them relax and stay focused.
Many swimmers find listening to music with a slow beat while waiting for their event helps them shut out unnecessary distractions, helps keep them calm and relaxed.
Some swimmers before there event use a different playlist with a fast beat to motivate and ‘pump them up’ before their event.

Reducing the rate of perceived exertion

Some scientific studies have concluded that listening to music during training may reduce a swimmer’s rate of perceived exertion.

The rate of perceived exertion for swimmers is a simple but effective method of monitoring and evaluating the intensity at which a swimmer performs during training and competition.
A swimmer gives a subjective measure of the level of intensity they have performed during a particular training set or event.
Music has been found that for some swimmers it can subconsciously reduce the feeling of fatigue whilst swimming, as they focus on the music rather than their body’s stress.

Increasing endurance levels

Some scientific studies have concluded that listening to music during swimming can help to increase a swimmer’s endurance levels.

Some studies have shown that listening to music can improve a swimmer’s endurance levels by up to 15%.

Beats per minute

The tempo of each song is based on the number of beats it contains per minute (BPM).

Different swimming activities ideally require songs with a different beat. For example,

Pool warm-ups

Pool warm-ups slowly prepare the swimmer for the rigours of the training or event ahead.

Therefore, they should ideally perform their warm-up with a series of music below 80 beats per minute.

Training sets

Many swimmers find that training to songs ranging from 120 to 140 BPM ideal.

Dryland/land training

Many swimmers find listening to music during their dryland/land training sessions can be very beneficial.

Working out a song’s beat per minute

To determine a song’s beat per minute (BPM), the swimmer should count the number of beats for 15 seconds, then multiply that number by 4.

Several websites can help to work out the number of beats per minute for a wide range of songs. For example, Song BPM

Choosing a swimming playlist

It should be remembered that all swimmers have different levels of fitness, technical ability and musical tastes.

Songs that motivate or relax a certain swimmer, may not have the same effect on another.
Therefore, choosing an ideal swimming playlist should be personalised and may take a period of trial and error.

Example swimming playlist songs

Listed below are some examples of swimming playlist songs some of our master’s swimmers use.

Warm-up songs

‘We are the Champions’ – Queen (64 bpm)
‘Sunshine on Leith’ – The Proclaimers (76 bpm)
‘No Woman, No Cry’ – Bob Marley and the Wailers (78 bpm)
‘Last Request’ – Paolo Nutini (80 bpm)
‘Time After Time’ Cyndi Lauper (80 bpm)

Training songs

‘Speed of Sound’ – Coldplay (123 bpm)
‘Here Comes the Sun’ – The Beatles (129 bpm)
‘Love Shack’ – The B52’s (134 bpm)
‘Atomic’ – Blondie (135 bpm)
‘Let It Go’ – Idina Menzel (From the movie Frozen) (137 bpm)

Choosing an MP3 player for swimming

There are many ‘waterproof’ MP3 players available for swimmers.

They range in size, style and price.

Some of the main MP3 variations include,

Earphones vs bone conduction: Many MP3 players work with earphones, while others use bone conduction.
Bone conduction transmits sound via vibration, removing the need for earphones.
Attachment: MP3 players attach in several ways.
The most common methods of attachment are under the swimmer’s hat or attaching it to their goggles.
Price: MP3 players range in price from around £25 ($34) to £150 ($202)
Storage capacity: MP3 players range in the size of their storage capacity.
These range from 500MB, which holds approximately 100 songs which is about 6 hours of music.
To 8GB which holds approximately 1600 songs which is about 96 hours of music.

Additional attributes

Although choosing an MP3 player mainly comes down to the swimmer’s preferences and budget, some additional attributes should be considered before making a purchase. These include,

Waterproofing quality

Although competitive swimmers should only use their MP3 players for training at shallow depths.

They should ensure that they only choose a quality MP3 player that is waterproof to up to a depth of 10 feet (3 metres).

Bluetooth

It should be noted that Bluetooth tends not to work well underwater.

Our swimmers, therefore, tend to upload their favourite songs directly onto their MP3 player.

Battery Life

Swimmers should ensure that their MP3 player has enough battery life to last between 6 to 8 hours.

Anything less than 6 to 8 hours of battery life, will mean constantly recharging your MP3 player.
Anything more could increase the size of the MP3 player.

Recommended MP3 player for swimmers

Affiliate Links: Our articles and posts may contain affiliate links, to products we use and recommend. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll receive a small commission, which helps to keep us in the water. Many thanks.

Many of our swimmers use and recommend the Tayogo waterproof mp3 player.

They find it comfortable, easy to use, with a large storage capacity and is reasonably priced.

Tayogo Waterproof mp3 Player swimming, waterproof 8GB for Swimming Headset, sports headset, under Water Music Player

Unique Design – Headphones and USB main player separate design, free your hands and adjust its frame to fit your head as you like. Detachable USB main player, you can update your music files anytime if you want.
Built-in 8GB Memory – Up to 2000 songs can be downloaded, supports many audio formats, won’t boring anymore when swimming, surfing or diving, enjoy music anytime anywhere.
Waterproof & Humanized Design Earplug – Its IPX8 waterproof make it come true to enjoy music under the water, delivered with a humanized design spiral earplug, it fit perfectly in the ear and never fall out or hurt your ear.
Shuffle or Order playing – This sports, water-based activities mp3 player is perfect for E-BOOK and playing pre-loaded music in any conditions. you can switch order playing or shuffle play. Fit for purpose.
Warranty – 30 days No-questions-asked full refund and Replacement parts provided free the 12 months.

Training to music

For competitive swimmers who train in a group or squad, training to music is not usually suitable.

It can be deemed as anti-social and will almost certainly not be appreciated by the swimmer’s coach.
However, for those swimmers who train on their own, or as a part of their pre-race routines or during dryland/land training sessions, then music may well be an effective swimming companion.

Takeaways

In this article, we will provide advice, hacks and tips on the benefits of listening to music during swimming, both during training and pre-race.

For many competitive swimmer’s music can play an important role during their training and their pre-race routine.

As a swimmer reacts to a song’s beat, this can result in a higher stroke rate (tempo), increased balance and rhythm and greater distance per stroke (DPS).
As the song’s beat increases the swimmer’s stroke rate usually increases.

Swimming Publications

We produce a growing range of publications on a wide range of swimming subjects.

These include competitive swimming drill publications for backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Which are now available in both Amazon Kindle and paperback formats.
For information regarding our portfolio please follow our link: Swimming publications

Swimming Resource Library

We have produced a swimming resource library.

This contains links to all of our blog posts.
These are subdivided by swimming category

To access any article simply click on the attached page link: swimming resource library

The Competitive Swimming Exchange – Facebook Group

The Competitive Swimming Exchange is a Facebook group to help exchange ideas and information to collectively improve the sport we love.

It’s an international group for all swimmers, coaches, teachers, masters, triathletes and swimming parents.
It’s for all those who are interested in competitive swimming, either in the pool or in open water.

For more information about joining this group please use the following link: The Competitive Swimming Exchange

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