Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Competitive athletes have steadily improved in ability and performance over the history of athletics.Sports theorists, however, have asserted that there is a final limit of human endurance and exertion, and that it is fast approaching.When the limit is reached, significant improvements in speed and scoring records will cease to appear.The theorized limit of physical potential is creating an environment in which athletes are hurrying to be the first in their sport to post what could be the final record.In this competitive environment, athletes and coaches are constantly looking for training enhancers that can help them achieve this goal.Music is an ergogenic performance enhancer, with different genres providing different training benefits.This study was designed to examine which aspect of music (genre, familiarity or personal preference) provides the greatest increase in rowing ability during indoor rowing training.Four separate genres (instrumental and lyrical death metal, and instrumental and lyrical electronic music) were examined, as well as two musical treatments that examined familiarity and preference with the music (one treatment selected from a listing of popular songs, one treatment selected by a democratic vote from the subjects).In the end, the familiarity and preference treatments produced a significant increase in rower power output, whereas the four musical genre treatments did not, suggesting that varying the genre of music played during indoor rowing training will not make a significant increase in training benefit, whereas deliberately selecting music that the rowers know and enjoy will.
Author: Joe Sudar
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2283376647