Time and again when asking professional athletes about their process for success, you will hear about the importance of a “routine.” Good sleeping habits, nutrition habits, workout programs, rest days, superstitions and whatever else works for that particular athletes system will be mentioned in their routine. Consistency brings consistency. Ask any baker, if you use the same ingredients with the same baking process using the same oven, those cakes are probably going to taste the same over and over again. Throughout my playing career, one part of my routine was listening to music in the time leading up to my pregame catch and bullpen session. I had been researching how music impacts people and I wanted to use it to help me and my teammates perform at the highest possible level.
I stumbled upon some research on rodents and a maze, and how music influenced the speed at which the rodents could complete the maze to get the prize waiting for them. In that experiment, they found that classical music cut the rodents time in half. In another study involving people, it was found that hip-hop/rap music was closely connected with high self esteem and confidence. So, I connected some dots from the best players I knew and observed their routines and what types of music they listened to. I combined the stuff they liked with the stuff I liked and created a pregame playlist for the team to hear before we would head out to the field. The starting pitcher on that team would select the pregame music for the team to listen to. On the days I pitched, I played that playlist of music. That year, while pitching well, my team supported me a ton and helped me lead the league in wins (13 wins, 2013 PCL). Using music to help prepare the brain for high level athletic performance is no secret. Watch any sporting event and you will see almost all the athletes with headphones or listening to the stadium music while they prepare for the game.
Now, I would like to share one particular song that helped me tremendously prepare for games in the last 3 years of my playing career. The song is called “Time” (Hans Zimmer).
It was one of 4 songs I listened to on repeat while I actively warmed up my body a couple hours before game time. My brother Eric had sent it to me after the movie Inception came out. He really liked the song and wanted to share it with me. If you have never seen the movie I highly recommend watching it. Now going back to the song, whenever I listen to it I would walk through my playing career. From early memories in little league and travel ball, through college and the early years of my professional playing career. I would think about the people who helped me along the way. The good times and the hard times. The song would fill me with so much emotion that my eyes would start tearing.
It was a good emotional response. It helped me lock in to the game. Anxiety about the opponent, or how my body felt seemed to fade away. I would compare it to watching an inspirational movie except the main character is yourself and the movie was going into the final scene, when the odds are against the main character and character reaches for every bit of his being to overcome those odds.
”There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does…”
”Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.
The researchers found that music listening recruits not only the auditory areas of the brain, but also employs large-scale neural networks.”
”For instance, they discovered that the processing of musical pulse recruits motor areas in the brain, supporting the idea that music and movement are closely intertwined. Limbic areas of the brain, known to be associated with emotions, were found to be involved in rhythm and tonality processing. Processing of timbre was associated with activations in the so-called default mode network, which is assumed to be associated with mind-wandering and creativity.”
Now, I do not know how many of you who read this actually have stood in front of thousands of people live, waiting for your next move, while cheering for the hitter at bat to respond to that move in time… those moments can bring about varying thoughts. Those thoughts are sometimes negative. In those moments the ability to control your thoughts is IMPERATIVE. Drowning out the noise of the crowd and refocusing on the task at hand. Executing the right pitch in the right location would be ideal. Executing a pitch in an okay location still works. Executing the wrong pitch in the wrong location is nightmare inducing.
I worked best when I controlled the rhythm of the game. When I was locked in (focused on the task at hand), its easy to be in rhythm. Sometimes during these moments there would be a song playing in my head. Those days when a song was ”stuck“ in my mind, seemed to be the easiest when it came to performance.
For me, recreating that state of being was a part of my routine. Using music helped me to better prepare my mind and body so that I could consistently perform my best on game day.
Using music helps the mind get the body in a place you want to be in. Find your playlist for success and use it to get through competition and trials. Take note of popular songs when you and your team are successful and create a playlist that you can come back to when you are in need of inspiration, motivation, or a nice reminder of positive memories. Connect a song or two to the mindset you want to be to help you lock in to that frame of mind.
Here’s some links to the song ”Time,” and some of the research mentioned above. Explore.
Link to performance of “Time” by Hans Zimmer
Links to articles and research on how music impacts the brain and body
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