Music or silence?
Imagine being by yourself in the gym with no music playing. Just silence and your own breath, the sounds of your hands and feet hitting the walls as you move through the space. The rattling of weights as you load and unload the bar.
To me, the sound of that silence surrounding my actions, regardless of whether I’m doing parkour or lifting, is deafening.
Lately I’ve been more observant of the people around me, particularly in the fitness/athletic realm, and what kind of habits they work to keep or kick. Some of you may not consider whether or not you have to listen to music while you train or lift to be a habit, but let me ask you a question:
Can you have as good of a session if you’re in the opposite of a situation you consider ideal for you? If you’re like me and prefer to listen to music when you train, would it negatively affect you if you left your headphones at home? Or if you thrive in silence and prefer to lift/train alone, would it be distractingly overwhelming to walk into a gym at the peak of a session with music blasting on the speakers and everyone’s energy through the roof?
I recently experienced both ends of this.
At the first ever Sunshine State Championships two weeks ago, (a parkour competition hosted by the FLPK League) the athletes who made it through to the final round were given the opportunity to choose what song they wanted to play during their final attempts to earn a spot on the podium. I wasn’t at all surprised when Raul, a friend and long standing member of the parkour community, opted to have no music playing in order to perform with the highest level of focus possible. If the room could have been completely silent in that moment, I think he’d have preferred it that way.
But I know that, had the option to have no music playing not been presented, he would have performed with the same level of intensity and focus regardless.
At MOVE LIFT LIVE, an incredible community of human beings in Brickell (Miami) dedicated to bettering themselves and motivating those around them to do the same, I overheard a conversation between Darryl and Nelson - a new friend of ours and mentor within the Village - regarding how he felt about working out after the energy in the gym had just calmed down from everyone finishing up their sessions.
“I usually like it when the gym is like this, but sometimes I need the madness, the chaos; I need Armando yelling and his crazy loud music, I need THAT energy.”
And I definitely understood what he was saying. If I hadn’t already lifted in the midst of that “chaos” Nelson mentioned, I don’t know that I would have had as good of a session.
But then, even after expressing his desire for a different energy than the one he was experiencing in the gym, he went to WORK. No complaints, no wishful thinking about anything being different (out loud, at least), just hard. fucking. work.
There’s a kind of fortitude that begins to develop when you do things outside of your comfort zone, and something as simple as having to train in a space that doesn’t necessarily cater to your desires can start that process.
A choice as seemingly insignificant as whether or not to have music playing while you train becomes much more important when you consider how it’s going to affect your performance and why. Realistically, it shouldn’t matter. I recognize that there’s plenty of people who may read this and think to themselves about how they’re unaffected either way and this whole post is maybe a little pointless, and I think that’s great! I’m working to one day be able to achieve that level of indifference to something that ultimately shouldn’t determine the outcome of my session anyway.
However, if you’re like me and find yourself relying on a certain external factor like music or vibe to help push you through whatever session you’re having, I challenge you to choose the opposite of what you prefer.
It’s easier to complain and say “damn the music sucked today” or “I can’t train in this energy” and walk away with a half-assed session and the intention of coming back tomorrow. But wouldn’t it be more rewarding to get through it anyway?
I did it today. And although I won’t lie and say that I loved the experience, it definitely forced me to reach into something I hadn’t before.
There’s strength in that and I want to harness it.
I think you should too.
- Mel Rivera
