What Happens When You Listen to Music While You Walk

How Music Shapes the Way We Walk: Insights from Real-World Urban Research

Walking is one of the most natural human activities—yet the rhythm of our steps is more flexible, more responsive, and more influenced by our surroundings than we often realize. A fascinating study by Marek Franěk, Leon van Noorden, and Lukáš Režný explores how music affects walking speed, step tempo, and how we adapt to our environment when moving through a real outdoor city setting. Unlike many lab-based studies, this research takes place entirely in the real world: a 1.8-kilometer walking route through the downtown of Hradec Králové. The authors wanted to know:Do we naturally synch to the beat when walking with music? Does music make us walk faster or slower? And can music override how the environment influences our pace? The answers reveal just how powerfully music shapes the way we move.

Do We Automatically Walk to the Beat? Not Quite.

One might assume that when we listen to rhythmic music, our steps fall into line with the beat—almost like an instinctive dance. But the study found that in real outdoor walking, this synchronization is surprisingly inconsistent.

• Some participants never synced to the musical beat at all.

• Others synced only briefly or sporadically.

• Even with clear-beat pop music, precise step-to-beat coordination rarely appeared.

This tells us that walking, especially in a complex outdoor environment, is guided by many competing demands: navigating streets, avoiding people, responding to traffic, and adjusting to terrain. Music influences walking, but it doesn’t fully control the rhythm.

Tempo Matters: Fast Music Speeds Us Up, Slow Music Slows Us Down

Even though synchronization was rare, tempo still had a strong influence.

The researchers compared:

• Motivational music (fast tempo, strong rhythm, high energy)

• Non-motivational music (slower, pleasant, without strong movement cues)

• World pop tracks (clear, steady beat but varied emotional character)

Key Findings:

• Fast, high-energy music consistently led to faster walking. Slow, relaxing music caused walking speed to drop.

• People didn’t need to sync their steps exactly to the beat for tempo to affect them. The feel of the music—its energy, rhythm, and emotional charge—nudged their bodies into a faster or slower pace.

• This has practical implications for fitness walking: If you want to walk faster, listen to upbeat music. If you want a calming stroll, choose slower, soothing tracks.

Music Can Override the Environment—To a Point

When people walk in a city, their pace naturally responds to the environment—slowing in busy or narrow areas, speeding up in open or pleasant spaces.

But the study found that headphone music can partially mask environmental influences:

• With motivational or non-motivational music, the natural ebb and flow of walking speed caused by the environment became less pronounced.

• People maintained a more consistent pace, guided more by the music than by visual cues around them.

• This masking effect was stronger than with the pop-music playlist used in the first experiment, suggesting that emotional and motivational qualities of music influence pace even more than beat clarity.

Music doesn’t completely disconnect us from our surroundings, but it does smooth out some of the environmental variability in our walking speed.

Personality Plays a Role

The study also discovered that people responded to music differently depending on their personality traits:

• Extraverts tended to be more influenced by energetic music.

• Individuals high in neuroticism showed different patterns of synchronization and pace changes.

This suggests that music-paced walking isn’t one-size-fits-all. How you respond may depend on who you are, not just what you hear.

Why These Findings Matter

Although this study focuses on everyday walking, its implications reach into fields like physical therapy, sports training, rehabilitation, and urban design.

Because music can steer walking tempo—even without perfect beat synchronization—it holds promise for:

• rhythmic gait training

• rehabilitation after injury or illness

• helping older adults regain confidence in walking

• motivating people to walk more or at a healthier pace

Motivational music may help people walk faster and with more energy, while relaxing music might support stress-reduction or gentle recovery-focused walks.

Final Thoughts

This study shows that walking with music is more complex—and more fascinating—than simply matching our steps to a beat. Music influences our pace, emotions, attention, and even how we experience the urban environment around us.

Fast or slow, upbeat or soothing, motivational or calming—the music we choose while walking shapes our movement in real and measurable ways.

And while not everyone syncs perfectly with the rhythm, the emotional and energetic qualities of a song are often enough to change the tempo of our steps.

How Self-Selected Music Boosts Exercise Intensity—and Makes Workouts Feel Better

Music and exercise have long been linked, but new research provides a more nuanced look at why and how music shapes our workout experiences. A study titled “The influence of self-selected music on affect-regulated exercise intensity and remembered pleasure during treadmill running” examines what happens when people choose their own music playlist while running—and the findings suggest that music does far more than simply make workouts more enjoyable.

Affect-Regulated Exercise: Exercising at What Feels “Good”

Instead of asking participants to run at a predetermined speed or heart-rate zone, the researchers used an affect-regulation approach. Participants were told to adjust their treadmill speed to maintain a Feeling Scale score of +3, which corresponds to “good.”

This method aligns with a growing body of research suggesting that people are more likely to maintain exercise routines when they work out at intensities that feel pleasant rather than forced.

Before the music/no-music comparison, each of the 17 participants completed a maximal exercise test so researchers could identify their ventilatory threshold (VT)—a marker of when breathing becomes more labored and exercise intensity becomes more demanding.

The Study Design

Each participant completed two treadmill running sessions:

• One session with self-selected music

• One session without music

Sessions were completed 48 hours apart and presented in a randomized, counterbalanced order to control for fatigue and learning effects.

Throughout the runs, researchers monitored:

• Heart rate

• Affective state (via the Feeling Scale)

• Self-selected running speed/exercise intensity

Five minutes after each session, participants also provided ratings of remembered pleasure, a measure of how enjoyable they recalled the workout having been.

Key Findings

1. People naturally chose a challenging intensity—even without music

Across both sessions, participants selected intensities above their ventilatory threshold (p = .002; d = .99).This means that when asked to exercise at an intensity that feels “good,” people actually push themselves harder than many might expect—hard enough to gain meaningful cardiorespiratory benefits.

2. Music significantly increased exercise intensity

While participants maintained the same “good” affective experience, they ran faster and harder in the music condition (p = .045; d = 1.12).

This is an important distinction: music didn’t merely make exercise feel easier—it allowed participants to tolerate a higher intensity without sacrificing their positive feelings.

This finding reflects a core idea in psychophysiology: music can distract from internal cues of fatigue and enhance motivation, enabling individuals to sustain more effort.

3. Music made the workout more memorable—and more pleasurable

Participants rated the music session as significantly more pleasurable when recalling it afterward (p = .001; d = .72).

Memory matters. Research in exercise psychology shows that remembered pleasure has a strong influence on whether someone chooses to exercise again. By enhancing the afterglow of a workout, music may help reinforce future exercise behavior.

What This Means for Exercise Motivation and Adherence

The study offers three critical insights for anyone trying to build a consistent exercise routine:

1. Listening to your body works—people choose intensities that are actually effective

Affect-regulated exercise counters the misconception that people will default to overly easy workouts. Instead, “feels good” often matches intensities that yield genuine fitness improvements.

2. Self-selected music boosts performance without sacrificing enjoyment

Because affect remained positive even as intensity increased, music seems to help individuals reach higher intensities without feeling worse—a valuable ergogenic (performance-enhancing) effect.

3. Enjoyment and remembered pleasure fuel long-term adherence

Exercise programs often fail because they focus solely on physiological outcomes. This study highlights that psychological experiences matter just as much. If music makes workouts feel better both during and after, it could support more consistent engagement over time.

Practical Takeaways

• Choose your own playlist: Self-selected music had a stronger effect than generic music tends to in similar research.

• Use music to maintain positive affect: If you can keep exercise feeling “good,” you may naturally push yourself harder.

• Track how you remember your workouts: Positive memories can increase your likelihood of returning.

• Use music especially on days when motivation is low: It may help bridge the gap between intention and action.

Conclusion

This study reinforces the powerful role of music as both a psychological and physiological enhancer during exercise. When individuals choose their own music, they not only run harder—but they also enjoy the experience more, both in the moment and in retrospect. By improving mood, boosting intensity, and enhancing remembered pleasure, self-selected music may be a simple but effective tool for improving exercise adherence and long-term fitness outcomes.

🎧 Music Meets Movement: Why Tempo Matters for Exercise

We all know that music can change our mood — but it also affects how we move. The study “The exercise intensity–music-tempo preference relationship: A decennial revisit” explores how different music tempos influence people’s experience during exercise, especially in terms of motivation, enjoyment, perceived exertion, and how hard they push themselves. ScienceDirect

Unlike many past studies that used familiar songs with lyrics, this work uses unfamiliar, non-lyrical music — isolating tempo as the main variable. The goal: to find out whether tempo alone affects how people exercise, how they feel during exercise, and how much they like it. ScienceDirect

🔬 Study Design: How It Worked

• Participants: 24 people around 20–21 years old. ScienceDirect

• Exercise intensities tested: Five levels: low (well below ventilatory threshold), moderate (at ventilatory threshold), and high (up to respiratory compensation point). ScienceDirect

• Music conditions: Four different tempi — 90, 110, 130, 150 beats per minute (bpm) — plus a control condition with no music. ScienceDirect

• Measured outcomes:

  • Music liking (how much they liked the music) ScienceDirect

  • Core affect (valence = how pleasant, arousal = how energized) ScienceDirect

  • Attentional focus (whether they were more internally or externally focused) ScienceDirect

  • Perceived exertion (how hard the exercise felt) ScienceDirect

By controlling for familiarity and lyrics, the study isolates tempo’s direct impact — giving us clearer insight into how beat and rhythm alone influence exercise. ScienceDirect

📈 What They Found

✅ Fast Music = Better Mood & Motivation

Across all exercise intensities, fast-tempo music (especially 130–150 bpm) produced the most positive psychological outcomes. Participants reported higher enjoyment, higher arousal (energy), and stronger motivation when the music was fast. ScienceDirect

⚠️ Slow Music = Less Liked, Lower Energy

Conversely, slow-tempo music (90 bpm) received lower liking scores, was associated with lower mood and energy, and less favorable psychological outcomes — regardless of how hard participants were exercising. ScienceDirect

🧠 No Clear “Sweet Spot” Tempo by Intensity

Previous studies — many using familiar, lyrical music — reported a “cubic” or “inverted U-shaped” relationship: low intensities pair better with slow music, high intensities with fast, and moderate intensities with mid-tempo. But this study did not find that pattern with unfamiliar, non-lyrical music. ScienceDirect

In other words: when tempo is isolated from familiarity or lyrics, faster beats seem to perform best across the board.

💡 Why This Matters: What It Means for Walkers, Runners, and Everyday Exercisers

Music Tempo Can Help You Push Harder

If you’re going for a brisk walk, a fast walk, or a run — fast-tempo music may help you feel more energized and motivated, even on a difficult day. It might help you maintain a stronger pace or sustain exercise longer.

Music Choice Matters — Tempo More Than Familiarity

You don’t necessarily need to pick your favorite hit songs to get a boost. Even unfamiliar, non-lyrical music with a good beat can positively impact motivation and enjoyment. That’s useful if you want to avoid repetition, or if lyrics are distracting.

Slow Music Might Be Better for Recovery or Gentle Movement

Because slow tempo tended to lower energy and engagement, it may be less ideal for workouts — but could be useful if you’re doing a gentle cooldown walk, stretching session, or a mindful stroll where relaxation is the goal.

For Consistency & Enjoyment

Since positive mood and enjoyment were higher with faster tempo, playlists built around fast-beat, motivational music might make workouts more enjoyable. That enjoyment can translate into better long-term adherence — especially for people trying to make walking or exercise a habit.

🔎 Bigger Picture: What This Study Adds to the Science

• By using unfamiliar, non-lyrical music, the study strengthens the case that tempo itself — not lyrics or familiarity — influences exercise experience.

• It challenges previous assumptions about the “optimal tempo by intensity” (i.e. mid-tempo for moderate effort), at least for non-lyrical music.

• It underscores the psychological impact of music on exercise — not only how we feel in the moment, but in how likely we are to stay active over time.

  
  

🏃 Tips if You Want to Use These Findings

• Try a playlist of fast-tempo, beat-driven music (130–150 bpm) when you walk or run to boost energy and performance.

• Reserve slower-tempo music for recovery, cool-down walks, or slower-paced sessions.

• Don’t be afraid to use instrumental or non-lyrical tracks — tempo alone can be powerful.

• Experiment with different tempos to see what feels best for your body and mood.

📝 Final Thoughts

The 2024 revisiting of the exercise intensity–music-tempo relationship reminds us that our bodies respond not just to how hard we move — but how we move with rhythm. Music isn’t just background; it can shape our mood, energy, and motivation. Whether you’re going for a brisk walk, a daily stroll, or a run, the beat beneath your feet matters.

Next time you lace up and press play — pay attention to tempo. It might change your walk more than you expect.