The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of motivational and relaxation music on aerobic performance, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and salivary cortisol (SC) concentration in trained men. Thirty male physical education college students (ages: 25.66±3.89 yr, height: 176.65±7.66 cm, weight: 78.45±16.20 kg, body fat percent: 12.86±5.74) voluntarily participated in this study and divided to three groups: motivational music, relaxation music, and no music. All subjects run to exhaustion with 80-85 percent of maximal heart rate on the treadmill. For measuring of cortisol, not stimulated samples of saliva collected, 15 minutes before and five and 30 minutes after the exercise. RPE was obtained every five minutes during exercise. Based on the findings, aerobic performance during the motivational music conditions was significantly higher than the relaxation and no music treatment. Furthermore, RPE and cortisol concentration significantly were lowered five minutes after exercise for relaxation music conditions than motivational music and no music conditions. But there were no significant differences in salivary cortisol concentrations at 30 minutes after exercise between three groups. In conclusion, music would result in better aerobic performance and decreased RPE than no-music condition, but aerobic performance in motivational music was better than relaxation music. However, relaxation music decreased cortisol concentration greater than motivational music. This study provided some support for the hypothesis that listening relaxation music reduces physiological and psychological arousal during aerobic performance. In addition, motivational music can be applied to endurance performance non-elite athletes with a considerable positive effect.
