Music during the training session: does it really make you lift more?

Putting on headphones before a set, does it really change anything? Yes, but not where you'd expect: music makes you do a few more reps and makes the effort more enjoyable, especially if you chose it yourself. It doesn't make you lift heavier on a single rep. Here is what twenty-two studies measure.

What the major syntheses say

The largest meta-analysis, published in 2020, brings together 139 studies and 3,599 participants. Listening to music during exertion improves feelings (effect of 0.48), physical performance (0.31), and perceived exertion (0.22), and slightly improves the body's efficiency, measured by oxygen consumption (0.15). Heart rate, however, does not budge (0.07, not significant). The performance gain is clearer with fast music than with slow or moderate music.

A 2025 meta-analysis on 59 studies confirms that the strongest effect is on mood: music improves pleasure (0.40) and arousal (0.39) during exertion. Tempo, exercise intensity, and the motivational nature of the track matter; sex, type of exercise, and choosing the music yourself changed nothing.

In bodybuilding: a few more reps

This is the result that comes up most often. A 2026 synthesis on 21 anaerobic exertion studies finds that music increases the number of reps (effect of 0.46) and improves feelings (0.75), but its effects on peak power, speed, and perceived exertion remain uncertain. By the way, heart rate went up by about 5 beats per minute.

Trials point in this direction. In 15 students, music increased total bench press reps from 38.3 to 41.7, and heart rate dropped back down faster after a cycling sprint (256 seconds versus 293). In 31 trained men, it increased the number of reps at 60% of the one-rep max (1RM), without changing the max load itself. In 10 trained men, listening to music before the bench press increased power, bar speed, and the number of reps to muscular failure.

Your music or someone else's?

This is the detail that matters most. In 12 trained men, the music they liked made them do more bench press reps than the music they didn't like, with a faster bar on the first reps and more motivation. In 19 trained men and women, the chosen music made them do more reps on the squat and deadlift; with imposed music they didn't like, motivation and pleasure dropped. In the 20 young men, their favorite genre won out over both a genre they didn't like and silence.

A 2023 meta-analysis on music listened to before exertion (30 studies) goes in the same direction: it improves average power (0.38) and peak power (0.53), reduces the time to finish a task and fatigue, and self-selected music does better than imposed music. In 20 athletes, the music they had chosen increased bench press power compared to silence.

Sprint, core training, endurance

For short and maximal efforts, results are contradictory. In 20 moderately active adults, music increased power output over four 30-second sprints and made the training session more enjoyable, without changing perceived exertion. In 36 men, music paced to the stride improved the 400 m time, whether motivating or neutral. But a 1999 trial found no difference on the same sprint test, and a 2020 meta-analysis on this test (9 papers) sees no effect on raw power, only on power relative to weight.

For sustained efforts, it is clearer. In 12 young adults, music listened to throughout the exercise prolonged core training and the wall sit, and delayed the feeling of fatigue; played only when fatigue set in, it helped very little. In endurance, a 2026 meta-analysis (15 studies, 339 participants) finds a time to exhaustion markedly longer (effect of 1.89), better performance over a fixed duration (0.39) and a lower perceived effort (0.36). To improve your fitness, the article improve your cardio reviews the subject.

In short

In practice: for your long sets or your final efforts, put on music you like, rather fast. To set your loads, the 1RM calculator helps you, and the training session generator puts together a training session for you. For what happens between two sets, the article on rest time reviews the subject, and the one on mind-muscle connection talks about the other way to use your head during training.

Every figure in this article comes from a study that you can open: the underlined mentions lead to the summary of the work it is taken from, written from the abstract alone. The trials are short, on small groups, and measure a single training session. Informative content, which does not replace the advice of a health professional.