When my sister and I were small, our mother had a strange rule for our new Sony Walkmans: no jogging or biking with it (she claimed we’d be too distracted to hear any oncoming traffic.) This seemed weird, since the name sort of implied that you should take your music with you when you exercised. Fast forward to today, and I rarely, if ever, see people jogging without ear buds. Portable music has become as necessary to our exercise routines as comfortable sneakers.

And according to researchers from John Moores University in Liverpool, UK, music has a measurable impact on the way that humans exercise.

Researchers asked three subjects to ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes at a pace that each found comfortable, over a period of 3 days. Their equipment proved that the test cyclists rode farther with more pedal power and had higher heart rates when riding to high-tempo songs. The positive effects of music narrowed at the higher end of the workout spectrum, so a little Lady Gaga might not help an Olympic sprinter. But if you’re planning to head out for a jog after work, some up tempo tunes could help you reach your goals faster.