Every stage of your workout can be enhanced by engaging the senses. The benefits can be psychological and physiological.

For instance, you’re more likely win at a sport if you wear red. Researchers believe it triggers an in-built mechanism, sharpening, focusing and giving you game.

In the book, the exercise chapter lays out an in-depth sensory guide to getting ready, working out and recovery.

Here are some things you can do to assist your exercise routine:

Listening to your own music, especially stuff that you really enjoy, gives you better performance than music you’re not familiar with.

Intuitively so, fast music does make you run faster. And if you want to keep a slower pace, listen to slower music. You will perform better, be able to run further and get less tired when the music is congruent.

Fast run, fast music
Slow run, slow music

Wear bright garish clothing with geometric patterns

In fact, choose sharp angular shapes in everything you have around you, like your water bottle.

Sharp shapes feel more active and energetic. They’ll
spur you on as, surrounded by them, you’ll begin to
act in accordance with your environment.

Especially someone better than you. We’re evolutionarily wired to up our game so we don’t stand out or drop behind.

Peppermint cools, invigorates and opens up your respiratory capacity.

The scent also works perfectly with the other elements of the sensory prescription too – it smells sharp, clean and crisp.

Exercising in nature helps you reap even more benefit from your efforts. But you don’t have to be out in the real thing to feel the effects. Even a view, image or film works as well.

Try watching a POV film on an iPad , or even your phone while you run or cycle.

Research shows that listening to very slow music for 20-30 minutes after a workout helps you cool down and control the body’s cortisol levels – our fight or flight stress hormone.

A selection of extreme chill-out and natural sounds is prescribed; some examples for starters below. Go to the full playlist on Spotify here

An Ending, An Ascent – Brian Eno

To Heal – Underworld

Kokning – Bjorn Torske

Daydream – Nitin Sawhney

Spring 1 – Max Richter, Vivaldi