It’s science! Why working out to the beat / dance fitness gets you better results.
Science has proved it so many times – working out to a beat gets you better results, in less time and helps you maintain consistency with your workouts. But did you know you can also use different song tempos to help you achieve specific results – more muscle tone, a stronger body, better cardio endurance, increased mental resilience…?
This is exactly why we created our Signature studio method based on sessions that have you sweating to the beat. Here's the science behind the programming, and how you can use it to give your own home workouts a boost too!
How's this for a cool fact – the brain uses the information it receives from one sense to help it understand another. And music and movement are particularly entangled in the brain, so much so that even if someone is sitting perfectly still, listening to music will increase electrical activity in various regions of the brain important for coordinating movements.
Yep, it turns out music literally changes the body and mind when you listen to it, even more so if you listen while working up a sweat and even MORE so if your movements are coordinated with the beats you’re listening to!
This is why at our studio, we decided to buck the usual group fitness trend of simply moving from one workout station to another and instead teach our girls to #SweatToTheBeat - we custom create the music and moves for every one of our classes based around a specific BPM (beats per minute, or musical tempo) that helps you get real, specific results, and love the process too so it's easier to say YES to that next session!
We’ve studied the work of psychologists, professional musicians and sporting institutes to find out exactly how to use music to take your workout further, varying the tempo and feel of the tunes to boost your endurance, reduce perceived effort, distract you from pain and fatigue (which helps you work harder for longer), elevate your mood and even help your metabolism to work more efficiently.
Here’s a little insight into how we create our DJ-mixed playlists and match them to your workout moves to help you perform better, effortlessly…
Tempo: 115-120 BPM
Classes: Used for warm ups in all classes
Example: Lights by Ellie Goulding
This is the BPM of the songs you’ll find in our warm ups. 115-120 BPM is the pace psychologists suggest people have an innate preference for and as such, they help to ‘get you in the mood’ for a good workout, even if you weren’t feeling those good exercise vibes before you walked in the door. It’s also the pace that helps your body slip into a fat burning state, which is a great way to kick-off your session!
Tempo: 128-130bpm
Classes: Beautiful (strength), G.I.R.L.S (mat toning class), the “AB” part of ABCC (Abs, Booty) and the “Beautiful” set in our Signature class
Example: Break Free by Ariana Grande
128-130 BPM is the tempo for our Beautiful and Girls classes, as well as the Abs/Booty component of ABCC (Abs, Booty, CardioCrave) and the first part of our Signature workout (strength). These are the workouts we’ve designed to strengthen your muscles, increase muscular endurance, put you effortlessly in the fat burning zone and tone you up from head to toe! 128bpm is a tempo that has you naturally working at a moderate intensity level, and we’ll often slow the movements down to half pace to slide into that 64bpm zone, which keeps your muscles under tension for longer and increases muscle quality and density.
Tempo: 132-138 BPM
Classes: Unstoppable (cardio), the “CC” part of ABCC (CardioCrave) and the “Unstoppable” set in our Signature class
Example: SOS by Rihanna
132-138 BPM is the tempo of music we use for Unstoppable (continual work cardio) classes, as well as the CardioCrave component of ABCC sessions. This pace of music has been proven to lift your mood and help you stay on pace for longer, by encouraging endorphin (happy hormones) release and reducing perceived fatigue, helping you push through the pain barrier to increase cardio endurance outcomes. In other words, it makes you feel pretty unstoppable ;)
Tempo: 140-145 BPM
Classes: Fearless (chase a goal sessions, like our own version of a WOD – let’s call it a WOW!) and the “Fearless” set in our Signature class
Example: Applause by Lady GaGa or Beat Dun Drop by Machines Don’t Care
140-145 BPM is the pace of music proven to max your motivation levels and we use it for our Fearless workouts, which are goal-based sessions designed to push you beyond your comfort zone. These workouts aren’t set to the beat like our other workouts, but we provide a challenge (for example, a list of exercises to complete or a set number of reps to chase) and the music is designed to push you higher as you race the clock to complete that challenge. It’s the perfect BPM for tougher intervals or higher work rates, and we always include bass-heavy tracks to really put you in the zone.
Tempo: 60-80 BPM
Classes: Cool downs, all classes
Example: Halo, Beyonce
This is the pace we use to cool you down and have you leaving the studio in a state of happy-chill. It’s the BPM used for yoga and slow pilates, and is perfect for your Sunday chillout playlist too ;)
Our studio intro offer is just $20 which gives you access to any 3 classes, so you can try a few! Just pick your favourite style of workout and book your spot! Or, try our Live Stream classes for just $10, or grab a weekly On Demand membership and your first week is free!