Research on the relationship between music and exercise began in the 1990s when mobile listening technology first appeared. Since then and with the development of mp3 players and iPods, studies have shown that music generally aids exercise by decreasing perceived effort and distracting the exerciser, according to National Geographic.

"When I used to go running in the '80s and listen to music, I had to carry a walkman. And at the time we thought, 'Oh these are great!'" said Andy Lane, an exercise scientist at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. "They were terrible, of course, these great heavy things and the headphones never worked. Now you've got iPods, and this massive use of this technology. So the research corresponds with the demand."

New research by cognitive scientist Tom Fritz attempted to find other ways music aided exercise by having participants make music during exercise rather than just listen to it.

Fritz had 61 non athletic subjects exercise while listening to music in the traditional way. Then, he had the same group exercise while making music in a type of program he calls "jymmin" - a cross between jamming Bob Marley style and exercising using gym machines. Fritz's demonstration of "jymmin", however, is slightly unclear. Based on the video, it's difficult to tell whether he is merely dancing along with the music as he performs his exercises or if the machines act as instruments and by moving them he is creating sound.

Fifty three of the participants reported less perceived effort when making music rather than just listening to it. The finding contradicted previous research, according to Fritz. By combining the music and the exercise, one is forced to concentrate more deeply on the exercise aspect. The music acts not as a distractor but a "guide".

"You're playing a melody and then remembering, OK, if I'm at this position, then I can make this tone," Fritz said of the connection between music and exercise in jymming. "Your proprioception is your guide to playing the music."

Fellow scientists were impressed by the clever experiment but raised questions about its design, according to Nat Geo. For one example, if jymming does truly make exercise more enjoyable, the reasons why aren't clear. Fritz posited several explanations. Beau Sievers, a graduate student at Dartmouth also studying the relationship between music and motion, pointed to a more social explanation.

"There seems to be something going on here with play and fun and the interaction between people," said Sievers. "I would have liked to see some analysis of the interactions between the participants, to see if people are working together to create some kind of musical result with one another."

Fritz remained enthused about the many possibilities of his findings.

"You reach a point where you think, wow, I'm ready to sit down and go home. But you're in the middle of a session, and you realize someone else is just starting some kind of improvisation, and so you think, OK, OK, I can't stop now," he says. "All of a sudden, your idea that you've reached your limit is totally gone. And you can play on and on and on."