All the fascinating ways classical music can improve sports performance

25 July 2025, 16:05

From improved balance to enhanced mental focus, classical music has been shown to improve sports performance.

As England gears up for the Euro 2025 final this weekend, it’s not just football boots and match tactics making the headlines. Rising Lioness Michelle Agyemang has reportedly taken her piano to the tournament.

But her love of classical music isn’t just a personal quirk – it may well be a performance enhancer.

A growing body of research suggests classical music can offer measurable benefits to athletes: helping regulate nerves, boost balance, reduce perceived effort, and even foster team cohesion.

From gymnasts training to Chopin, to runners finding their rhythm in Beethoven’s symphonies, the science is beginning to match what musicians and athletes alike have long suspected: music moves us – literally.

Over the years, more and more studies have explored the effect of classic music on athletic performance.

Music, exercise and perceived effort

It turns out that listening to the right kind of classical music during exercise can actually make the effort feel easier. In scientific terms, it lowers what’s known as “perceived exertion”, meaning athletes often feel like they’re working less hard than they actually are. That can be a game-changer in sports where stamina and mental focus are everything.

This effect was highlighted in a study published in the International Journal of Social Science and Humanities (2023), which examined how listening to classical music while exercising improved motivation, lowered fatigue, and enhanced mental focus.

Providing balance and finding focus

A particularly interesting example comes from a 2023 study from Wrocław University School of Physical Education. Young female gymnasts who trained to classical music over a six-week period showed improved balance, better mood, and lower perceived effort compared with a control group who trained in silence.

The researchers suggested that classical music not only improved their movement control but helped them feel more emotionally grounded while training.

Emma Raducanu plays piano in IG clip

And it’s not just young athletes benefiting. Runners, cyclists, and footballers alike have reported that classical music helps them focus, feel calm under pressure, and find a steady rhythm in motion.

A 2021 study by The Independent explored how runners were turning to classical music, including pieces by composers like Holst, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, to help them stay present and connected to their body while training. Music was described as a “mental companion” in long-distance endurance workouts.

Read more: 10 sports stars you didn’t know were also musicians

Music to get your heart racing

Tempo matters, of course. Pieces with a beat between 120 and 140 beats per minute – think Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 Finale or the lively end of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 – are perfect for workouts. They offer the kind of pulse that helps athletes maintain pace, without overwhelming them with intensity.

At the same time, slower pieces like Ravel’s Boléro or even some gentle piano nocturnes can help warm up the body or wind things down after a session.

Hayato Sumino plays virtuosic Ravel Boléro on two pianos

Flow state

But beyond the stadiums and track events, classical music offers athletes something else: a way to centre themselves. Its structure, its emotion, and its rhythm can help people enter what psychologists call a “flow state” – that feeling of being completely in the zone, where movement feels effortless and time seems to stretch.

Flow state in sports is consistently linked to superior performance. Athletes experiencing flow report heightened focus, a sense of effortless control, and automatic execution which all correlate with winning outcomes and improved subjective performance assessments.

So, when you next need to prepare for a sporting moment, think about getting some music practice in before!

Manchester City footballer Nathan Aké on piano playing

Whether you’re preparing for a match or just going for a run, the right piece of music can be the difference between pushing through or giving up. Classical music offers far more than elegance and entertainment – it delivers psychological, physiological, and emotive fuel.