How Music Can Improve Your Game

 

 

By Allie Bendus

 

 

Walk by any team dressing room before a game, chances are you’ll hear music. Although the playlists might be different, pre-game beats are pretty standard in rinks across the league. But, did you know that listening to music can also help improve your performance on the ice?

 

In yoga, we use music, sound and vibration as a way to create positive energy, help our bodies move more efficiently and build an optimal mindset. These benefits are great for hockey players and can help boost performance on and off the ice in four important ways:

 

1. Increased focus: Music has words, sounds and beats that can provide distraction from some of the stress or nervousness you might be feeling before a game. Walking into the dressing room and hearing a good song can help narrow your point of focus and promote positive feelings and energy, while limiting the negative.

 

2. Pumps you up: Listening to some of your favorite songs before a game helps build positive energy and an optimal mindset. This effect is actually created by the sounds and vibration of the music and can be carried onto the ice and help provide a more motivated performance during the game.

 

3. Increased endurance: Have you ever found yourself lifting weights or running to the beat of a song? Music can help create regulated movement patterns by encouraging body motion that is synchronized with the tempo or beat of a particular song. This kind of synchronization can promote more efficient performance and improve long-term endurance on and off the ice.

 

4. Motor skills: Stick handling and hand-eye coordination are two kinds of hockey based motor skills that can benefit from the power of music. Creating a relaxed environment by playing music allows the body to move more freely, which can help improve coordination.

 

So, with all these great benefits – the next question is whether all music choices will have a similar effect? When it comes to athletic performance studies show that our bodies respond best to songs with strong, energizing beats, and positive lyrics. Make sure to load your playlist with feel good, get the flow going tunes and let power of music help boost your performance on and off the ice.