Daily Insights 06 [Music Weakens Your Ability to Compete]

Unpopular and Unapologetic opinion opinion but I have logic behind this post: Training with music can weaken your ability to compete.

For the past 15 years, I’ve experimented with how music impacts training, competition, and performance. Whether in sports, workouts, running, or high-pressure moments with life in general.

I’ve been an athlete for most of my life. I started playing tennis at age nine, competed through juniors, played college tennis on scholarship, traveled the ITF/Pro Circuit, coached college tennis, and I’m still competing in my 30s.

This perspective comes through the lens of a tennis competitor where performance under pressure separates and distinguishes your competitive career from everyone else.

Like most of us, I had a typical relationship with music growing up. Linkin Park in high school. EDM in my 20s (the good stuff, before it became junk post-2015). Then came house music in my mid-20s. But now, at 38, I’ve shifted my mindset. I haven’t listened to music during training or workouts since 2024.

Rare exceptions? Maybe a late-night drive home from work to stay awake, but that’s about it.

Here’s what I’ve learned about music and competition:

1. Music Creates a False Ceiling

Music can make you feel like you’re pushing harder, faster, longer, but is it real?

• Can you dig into that extra gear during a match if you’ve only ever found it with music pumping in your ears?

• When there’s silence, no rhythm, no beat, where will that mental and physical push come from?

  
  

2. Music Removes the Pressure

Music isn’t designed to put you in a state of pressure. In fact, it’s the opposite, most of us use it as a form of escape, comfort, or to boost adrenaline. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but consider what happens when it becomes a crutch:

• Are you paying attention to your breathing or is it drowned out by the beat?

• Are you aware of your heart rate, fatigue, or the signals your body sends you?

• Are you using music to mask discomfort instead of embracing the grind?

• Where do you build self-resilience if silence is always filled with sound?

  
  

In competition, there’s no soundtrack. Tennis matches don’t allow headphones. You’re alone with your thoughts, the sound of the ball, and the weight of the moment. If your training is filled with constant beats, how do you handle the raw silence of match day?

3. Embracing the Struggle

I hesitate to call it “pain,” but that’s what it feels like in those tough, gritty moments when everything inside you wants to quit. Music can “take the pain away,” much like other forms of escape. Without this begin taken out of context, I’m NOT equating music with alcohol or drugs. However, consider this: when life gets tough, the majority of people turn to music, alcohol, or stimulants.

Is it a coincidence that any or all of these are used to numb discomfort? To “float away” or "leave the moment"?

A Story from My Coaching Years

When I coached college tennis (2015–2020) as Head Coach for Men’s and Women’s Tennis, I tested this theory. During a spring break trip, I gave the women’s team a simple task:

Conditions:

1. Run together as a team.

2. No music/headphones.

3. 15–20 minutes at a steady pace.

   
   

This wasn’t about fitness, it was about unity, mental focus, and shared struggle.

As I drove back with the men’s team, I saw the women running, half with headphones in. When I asked them about it later, some claimed, “We can’t run without music.”

They missed the point.

I wanted to see:

• How would co-captains step up if someone struggled?

• Would teammates encourage one another?

• Would they talk, laugh, or push through together?

• What would they learn from running without distractions?

Instead, I saw:

• 4 athletes following instructions.

• 4 athletes tuned out, each in their own mental bubble (with music in).

• No team camaraderie, no shared rhythm.

• A slow, disconnected jog.

Later, we had a team meeting. I explained that this wasn’t about running; it was about building mental resilience, leadership, and team cohesion. The exercise was about collective struggle, communication, and being present, something music had stolen from the moment.

I'm not mentioning this to single out the women's team. Based on my knowledge of both teams, I cannot confidently say that the men's team would have acted differently.

Why I Stopped Listening to Music

My personal shift began in my early 20s (around 2009). I started noticing how music influenced my mental state, during workouts, daily life, relationships, and even mood regulation.

Today, as a Muslim, I now understand why music is not permissible. I don’t follow this blindly; I’ve felt firsthand how it affects emotional balance and spiritual focus. Ironically, I started questioning music’s influence long before I embraced Islam.

Final Thought:If you want to compete, really compete, you have to train like you’ll play. No soundtracks. No crutches. Just you, your breath, your mind, and the challenge in front of you.