Scientists Reveal a Natural Way to Increase Your Workout Stamina By 20%

May 25, 2026

The study, published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, focused on 29 healthy, active exercisers who worked out on stationary bicycles in two separate sessions—one while listening to music and one while listening to nothing. Both times, they wore over-ear headphones. The cyclers began with a workload of 70 watts, which increased by 25 watts every two minutes until they reached exhaustion or could not maintain 60 revolutions per minute (RPM), even with verbal encouragement.

After both sessions, it was found that those who listened to personalized playlists while pedaling ultimately lasted 20% longer than when they didn’t. They also tolerated higher intensity levels. But there was a catch—although the music listeners curated their own playlists, they did so under a condition: Rhythmically, songs had to be within a range of 120 to 140 beats per minute, examples of which include Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” Bad Bunny’s “Monaco,” Post Malone’s “Circles,” and Cindi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” So, the jams had to be upbeat, which, we can probably agree, is the case for any good workout playlist. Prevention