Whether I'm wearing iPhone headphones at the gym or taking a class, I need music to motivate me to workout. However, there is a debate in the fitness world about whether or not wearing headphones while working out is actually beneficial to your gym goals.
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I never even really thought about it, but music can either make you zone out, therefore messing up your form, or you can be TOO into the beat that you're not doing the moves correctly.
"It’s very hard to listen to music without becoming distracted and repeating exercises too fast and poorly, instead of doing everything correctly, keeping excellent form," says Dalton Wong, a personal trainer at Twenty Two Training, tells The Telegraph. While this is definitely true for resistance exercises or classes like pilates where small movement is key, other fitness trainers believe that music is integral to spinning or running workouts.
"I’ve known people to hit personal bests on sprint times [that they never dreamt of] by using music," says Alice Rickard, a high-intensity exercise instructor at 1Rebel studios in London.
Since there isn't really a "yes" or "no" answer for whether or not you should wear iPhone headphones while working out, the choice is yours. But definitely consider the type of exercise you're doing and if music will distract or push you.