Ever since it became possible to listen to music on portable players, people have worked out while listening to music. But what kind of music is the most effective to work out to? I suppose that depends on what you define as “effective,” but according to a new study, if that means “running faster,” we now know exactly what you shouldn’t run to: Drake’s music.
Analyzing a group of joggers, sportswear retailer Pour Moi produced the study as part of a promotional campaign to see which music made people run the fastest over the course of 60 completed three-mile runs. Unfortunately, it turned out that those who bump Drake actually ran the slowest, with a six percent increase in run-time — almost 15 minutes on average.
Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj also added time with Doja adding 25 seconds and Nicki Minaj adding up to a minute and 24 seconds to the average run time. However, the most motivating musician might not come as much of a surprise; Beyonce‘s high-energy tunes like “Put A Ring On It” and “Run The World (Girls)”averaged a reduction in two minutes and 45 seconds.
While the study itself doesn’t sound incredibly scientific, it is kind of fun to look at the data and learn that listening to more pop-centric artists like Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, and Britney Spears produces lower run times. Oddly enough, though, the incredibly upbeat BTS also caused runners to drag. Maybe an expanded, more airtight version of this study could be done in the future to determine just why that is.
You can read the full article on Pour Moi’s website.