The Best Headphones for Your Workout

By Bari Lieberman, SELF magazine

When it comes to purchasing workout gear there are three things to look for: comfort, performance and durability. And finding the perfect headphones are just as important as wearing the right sneakers.

Related: The Healthiest Cities for Women


According to the American Council on Exercise, "Important factors to consider when selecting headphones include fit, acoustics, portability, compatibility with your music player and if they stay on while you are exercising." Another important factor I found is the material used to cover the earbuds: I prefer the earbuds with rubberized covering instead of the flimsier material which always seems to disintegrate after sweaty workouts.

With lots of different headphones on the market, here's what you need to know to find the perfect style for your workout:

Running:

A lot of runners gravitate towards over-the-ear style headphones like the UltraFit collection from Polk Audio and Yurbuds's Ironman Endure. This style helps keep the ear buds in place. However, I've found that I'll sometimes pick up a bouncing noise when wearing them. The over-the-ear Sennheiser PMX70 received rave reviews on fit, durability and ease of wear on a few running discussion boards I occasionally check out for advice. My current running headphones of choice are the flat, blinged-out jazz buds earbuds (meaning they are placed over, not in, the ear canal) from BodyRock Sport.

Related: 21 Good-For-You Snacks

Swimming:
Listening to your playlist underwater is possible. While you'll have to find a waterproof covering for your music player, there are plenty of headphones designed for water aerobics, swimming or triathlons. H2O Audio's Surge Pro headphones are designed to handle submersion up to 12 feet (or just an extra sweaty workout). These headphones use a canal bud style meaning the earbuds go directly into the ear canal. While this style tends to produce exactly sound quality, you have to be extra careful with volume levels.

Pro Pick:

Tony Horton of P90X loves the sound quality and comfort level of Zippearz Nouveau Ear Buds (he talks about them on his curated Opensky shop). It's the first ear bud style to offer bass and treble controls (so you can play DJ mid-workout!) and comes with three different sized ear gels as well as an adjustable ear loop to make a customized fit.

See more:
12 Ways to Think Yourself Slim

To help combat hearing loss, the 60/60 rule is a popular mantra to follow: Don't listen to music above 60 percent of max volume and limit music-listening sessions to 60 minutes. Look for noise-cancelling headphones--they block outside noises so you don't have to crank up the volume as much to hear your music.

More from SELF:

20 Superfoods for Weight Loss
Yoga Moves for Flat Abs
38 Antiaging Foods
Gwyneth Paltrow's Arm and Ab Workout

Photo Credit: Courtesy of ZippEarz