Strava can now soundtrack your workouts with Spotify integration

By Cat Ellis
published

Play, pause, skip, and browse through music, podcasts and audiobooks while recording an activity

Strava app with Spotify integration
(Image credit: Strava)

You can now listen to music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Spotify while recording your workouts on Strava, so you don't need to switch between the two apps while you're on the move.

The new feature is available to Spotify free and premium users, and Strava is taking over Spotify's 'Workout' playlist on April 20.

Handily, the addition comes just in time for this year's London Marathon on April 23, and according to Spotify, Calvin Harris, Florence + The Machine, David Guetta, and Taylor Swift are the artists most commonly added to users' London Marathon playlists.

There's been a surprising amount of research over the years into the effects of music on athletic performance. Syncing your cadence with the beat of the music is a popular strategy for cyclists and runners, but that's not all. In 2012, Professor Andy Lane from the University of Wolverhampton found that music can provide such a distraction while you're training, it can reduce rate of perceived exertion by up to 12%.

Professor Lane suggests putting on your favorite tunes before you even leave the house, or while you're warming up, to help you get into the right frame of mind rather than worrying about the workout ahead.

Cat Ellis
Cat Ellis
Editor

Cat is the editor of Advnture, She’s been a journalist for 15 years, and was fitness and wellbeing editor on TechRadar before joining the Advnture team in 2022. She’s a UK Athletics qualified run leader, and in her spare time enjoys nothing more than lacing up her shoes and hitting the roads and trails (the muddier, the better), usually wearing at least two sports watches.