117: Costas Karageorghis on music and performance

This week’s guest is Costas Karageorghis Costas is a professor of sports psychology at Brunel University. I first knew of Costas, many years ago as “Piano Man”, as he was sat at the piano in a bar at a BASES conference, skilfully and joyfully playing away entertaining conference attendees. Only the next day did I find out that that music was his specialist topic. Since, Costas has become renowned for his research on the effects of music on exercise and sports performance. In Costas’ book Applying Music in Exercise and Sport, the preface begins with a quote from Confucius, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without”. What is fascinating is that the link between music and sport isn’t more widely explored. In this discussion we explore the connection between sports and music, starting with on one of my favourite indulgences -the sports montage. We delve into how music can support exercisers, how it can make exercise seem easier, how it can be used to help performers get ready for competitions, how music preferences diverge based on culture, within teams and based on your circumstances. I start by asking Costas what he thinks about the Supporting Champions podcast music.   Links SAVI Group on Twitter https://twitter.com/SAVIBrunel SAVI playlists on Spotify Brunel SAVI Group On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brunel_music_and_driving   Hi, I’m Steve Ingham Sports and Performance Scientist co-founder at Supporting Champions. I have the privilege of supporting over 1000 athletes of which over 200 have gone on to win World or Olympic medals. For the last 25 years I’ve been fascinated by, researched and applied innovative ideas to help people succeed and now I want to share those performance strategies with you. I help aspiring and professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive community hub  https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/onlinecourse   If you’re working in sports performance or business and want to get support to develop your team and systems – take a look at what I offer here – https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/speaking/  Links Twitter at https://twitter.com/ingham_steve Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@supportingchampions Twitter www.twitter.com/support_champs Linkedin, www.linkedin.com/company/supporting-champions Instagram https://www.instagram.com/supportingchampions/