Some people can’t help letting out a little noise during a hard workout. It might serve a purpose.
I recently went rock climbing in a serene park in southern Wyoming called Vedauwoo. The desert was tranquil in the early morning, a breeze gently moving through the trees.
But that quiet didn’t last long.
For about an hour I growled, roared, cursed and whimpered up a wide crack that seemed determined to spit me out. At one point, I found a new noise somewhere between grunting, screaming and weeping.
Panting at the top, as curious hikers looked on, I wondered whether my vocal conniptions were remotely helpful. We’ve all heard those guys — and they’re usually guys — at the gym who erupt in sound every time they lift a barbell. Do these noises do anything to improve performance? Or is it all in our heads?
The physiological benefits
Not surprisingly, the research into athletic screaming is a little thin. Some small studies have suggested that it improves strength, striking power and oxygen use, but researchers aren’t exactly sure how this works. Most benefits have less to do with the actual sound and more with the way we breathe just beforehand, said Mary J. Sandage, a professor of speech and language at Auburn University who studies extreme physical activities and speech.
Dr. Sandage said that some studies have found that some people who have had their larynges removed, and so can no longer trap air in their lungs, have trouble lifting heavy objects. This suggests that some of our power may come from something called the Valsalva maneuver, in which you put pressure on your lungs but close your throat. (Think about the act of pushing during a bowel movement.)
“We do it to produce force. We have to air-trap like that to lift, to push,” Dr. Sandage said.
Creating internal pressure on your core in this way may buttress your spine and allow you to produce a little more power. The grunt, then, is like a release valve for that pressure. Dr. Sandage said that the benefits of grunting probably applied only to short bursts of exertion, such as lifting a weight or hitting a tennis ball.