YOUR NEW TRAINING BUDS

Unleash the performance benefits of music with our pick of the latest wireless earphones and turn your training up to 11

Cut the cord on boring workouts. These wireless earbuds will pump up the volume

You don’t need a degree in sports psychology to know that music motivates you to work harder during exercise. But you might not know that it also changes the way you perceive your workout after the final rep. When athletes blasted upbeat music during a HIIT session for a study published in the Journal of Sports Science, not only did their peak power output soar, but they also rated the experience more positively compared to those listening to a podcast or sweating in silence. In short, your favourite tunes motivate you to train even after your workout has finished.

Less inspiring, however, is the experience of being garrotted by the wires of the tatty earphones that came free with your phone. Or fiddling with an expensive adapter just to plug them in, now that your phone’s jack point has disappeared. Or picking up your AirPods from the floor every time you do a burpee. To benefit, you need kit that’s fit for purpose. Gratifyingly, there’s a new wave of totally wireless earphones that stay in place and won’t get in your way. We opened the MH Lab to the tech experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute and sweat-tested the best. These are the results, so listen up.