UrbanUpdate

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In the fitness world these days, it seems every erciser is off in his own earbud universe, where workouts are ruled by Kanye, Skrillex, and the most recent episode of The B.S. Report. But it turns out that headphones could rob you of some of those heady endorphins you get from pushing yourself to the limit. "You’re really not going to be aware of those experiences that you’re getting," Dr. Caroline Silby, a sports psychologist who has worked with gold medal Olympians, says. "Ercising with music, you’re really disconnecting rather than using ercise as a way to connect to how it makes you feel. What ends up happening is you start to feel very passive about your workout. You sort of look back and say, what did I just do?"

Music is perfectly fine for warming up. There’s nothing like a little Kendrick Lamar to get you in the zone on the way to the gym. Calvin Johnson and the rest of the NFL are always stretching and running routes during pregame with their Beats By Dre headphones. Every ballplayer picks an at-bat track for home games. But when they step onto the gridiron or into the batter’s box, the music stops.

Even if you’re not one of the world’s best athletes—maybe especially if you’re not—you should be paying attention to your body, not what dubstep track is next on your CROSSFIT BEAST playlist. "One athlete I work with told me that he listens to his heart because he says it’ll tell you what you need and what you want," Silby says. "Everything we do athletically has a rhythm to it. Listening to your heart rate go up and down is a way to tap into that rhythm."

But what are you supposed to do without tunes? Just think? Not to get all dorm-room stoner on you, but, yeah, just see where your mind takes you, man. "Part of it is to leave the music at home so you can see when you work out and it feels really good, where do you naturally put your mind." Syria, fixing the economy, the Houston Astros—it could be anything. Just follow your mind to its weirdest corners.

If you can’t bear to let your mind wander for the 45 minutes you’re staring at girls on the elliptical, Silby suggests focusing on technique. "You can’t possibly be thinking about everything that hurts," she said. "Make the workout more feeling-oriented, you know? Where’s my form? Am I projecting confidence?"

If you workout in the morning, think about what’s on the docket for the day. How’re you gonna tackle your next project? And just as importantly, what are you going to drink come happy hour?

Yeah, sure, it’s easy to think that headphones are helping you reach your threshold. _I’m locked in, bro! _But this week, do yourself a favor when you head to the gym—power down the tunes. You might find you’re focused enough to crank through your workout faster and more effectively. And you’ll appreciate the music more when you resume your regularly scheduled listening on your way to wherever you’re headed next.

Bill Bradley is a columnist at Next City. Follow him on Twitter @billbradley3.

Photo: Ben Stiller in Starsky and Hutch

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