Acute effects of listening to music and/or watching video clips on perceptual variables and performance during a high intensity exercise session

Abstract

Performing exercise at high intensity can improve health. However, there is a negative association between high intensity and pleasure while exercising. External resources, such as listening to music and/or watching video clips, can be used to enhance pleasure and performance. Nonetheless, results regarding the use of these tools during high intensity exercise are still controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the acute effects of listening to music and/or watching musical video clips on perceptual variables and performance during a high intensity exercise session on a cyclergometer. Thus, a cross-sectional study was performed with a sample of 14 male participants (23.4 ± 3.1 years, 78.3 ± 12.3 kg; 1.7 ± 0.06 m; 26.2 ± 3.4 kg/m²) who randomly performed exercise sessions at 10% above the anaerobic threshold under three conditions: control (CC), listening to music (MC), and watching musical video clips (VC). Heart rate (HR) was measured before all sessions. During each session, every 3 min, participants answered a feeling scale (FS), perceived activation scale (PA), rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and had their HR measured. These variables were also measured every 5 min during a 30-min period after exercise. The results showed that the audiovisual resource promoted higher levels of pleasure during exercise. RPE, PA, and performance were not different among sessions (p>0.05). Thus, it is possible to infer that watching videos clips during high intensity exercise sessions attenuates displeasure due to the distraction promoted by the visual/auditory stimulus. It is concluded that watching musical video clips during high intensity exercise on a cyclergometer can be more pleasurable but does not increase performance nor decrease RPE.