Experts divided on whether gym thump is vital for a good pump

New Delhi: Noise annoys. Ask Umesh Sharma, a 48-year-old lawyer. After a stressful week, he wends his way to the gym every Saturday and Sunday, eager to let the tensions ease out of his being. But frequently, he returns home in an irritated mood. Blame the Punjabi music blaring at the gym in Greater Kailash. “I look forward to those two hours to be at peace and release my tensions, but the kind of music they play doesn’t help me concentrate,” he says. And yet the same raucous music can impart a sweet note into the day’s agenda for others. For management student Devina Anand, it is the distraction she needs from the aches and pains of exercise. Tuning her physique becomes easier with the booming beats. “Fast music encourages me to work harder and achieve my target,” she says. “Faster the beat, better the tempo of my workout.”
Choosing the middle path, Mayawi Vaishnav says that it’s the lyrics, more than the music, that motivate. “Sometimes it's rock music that helps me reach my target. At other times, a song like ‘Zinda’ from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag injects energy into my workout,” says the Delhi University student.
Clearly, gym goers – and many others too -- are a discordant lot when it comes to melodies on the treadmill. National Green Tribunal, for one, belongs to Sharma’s choir, having recently identified the loud music in gyms located in residential areas as a source of "nuisance". Gym trainer Akshay Manghat, on the other hand, swears by flashy music for toning up the sinews. “Music with high BPM (beats per minute) is always preferable because when people try to match their repetitions with the beats, there are good results,” he says.
What is it about gym music that even fitness and medical experts are unable to deliver a unanimous verdict? According to fitness therapist and nutritionist Neeraj Mehta, different exercising techniques require different genres of music. “You will prefer soothing tunes for yoga, but quick-tempo trance or high-beat techno will be best for cardio. Weight training can be accompanied by pop, hip-hop, even rock,” says Mehta. Countering her, hearing and vertigo expert Tushar Malik says, “Loud music can work as a strategy in the gym, but the loudness can cause a temporary threshold shift during the short term, and permanent damage to the hair cells of the cochlea in the long term.”
Over the years various studies have been conducted worldwide to highlight the harmful effects of listening to loud music while exercising, and doctors suggest that most people, worryingly, experience a ringing in their ears even after exiting the gym. Dr Malik suggests it might be safer to use earphones than expose the ears to loud ambient music. “Earphones can reduce background sounds/noise thereby improving the general signal-to-noise ratio even at a lower volume. Noise cancellation headphones work the best, followed by tight-fitting ear phones.”
No sooner said than disputed! Professor JM Hans sings a different tune, saying that earphones pose an even greater risk than loud music. “Plugging in earphones is worse because it is in direct contact with your ear and the pressure it creates can damage the ear drum faster,” he cautions.
The one consensus among experts is that music with faster beats is usually heard in the section where the people are working out to improve their general fitness or because exercising is in vogue. It is more subdued in that part of the gym where the professionals sweat out. “For them gym work is meditation in motion -- and any music, loud or soft, is a distraction,” points out Mehta. Presumably, it is easier to let gym goers tune out from the debate, and find the rhythm that best works for them.