Five Life Hacks for Using Headphones During Workouts That Everyone Should Know.
You can do thorough research and choose the highest-rated, best-sounding, and most durable workout headphones—the problem is, once you start sweating, you’ll inevitably discover something about your headphones that’s just not perfect.
Perhaps you share my love for the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 bone conduction headphones, or perhaps you’re looking for noise-canceling headphones and opt for my colleague Beth’s favorite, the Powerbeats Pro 2. But once you put them on, you might notice they don’t stay in place during intense cardio workouts, or the sound isn’t deep enough for weightlifting. Before you toss your chosen headphones aside, consider these small but important tweaks that will improve the sound quality for your next workout.
Find the right size ear tips, then take it one step further.
Standard silicone eartips are designed for average-sized ears, meaning they likely won’t fit you properly. If your earbuds start falling out during your workout, it’s likely a fit issue.
Foam ear tips like these solve two problems at once: they conform to the shape of your ear canal, providing passive noise isolation, and this same seal creates enough friction to keep the earbuds securely in your ears while you’re moving. I recommend checking the brand of your headphones and buying ear tips directly from the manufacturer. For example, Apple lets you buy new ear tips for your AirPods for about $10 .
There are plenty of DIY repair methods online , but if you’re not skilled, they can be more trouble than they’re worth. The adhesive can peel off when you sweat, leaving marks on the earbuds. For $15, you can buy silicone earbud tips ( like these ), which do the job perfectly: they attach to the earbuds and stay in place, and they’re designed to withstand a sweaty run without peeling off.
Of course, you can save time and simply choose in-ear headphones with built-in earhooks. I’m currently writing a detailed review of the open-back Suunto Spark headphones, but I can already recommend their earhooks.
Customize your equalizer to suit your workout.
Most people leave their equalizer at the same settings they use for podcasts or in the office, which can be unsuitable for a workout. A track that sounds perfectly balanced at rest can sound thin and tinny in the middle of an intense interval.
Typically, it’s recommended to slightly boost the bass and raise the treble during a workout to mask ambient noise (traffic, exercise equipment, your own breathing). Everyone has their own preferences, so experiment with the settings before your next workout. Afterward, most companion apps—such as Shokz, Bose, Beats, Jabra, and others—allow you to save these settings as a custom profile so you don’t have to reconfigure them before each workout. If your headphones support saving equalizer profiles, it’s a good idea to create a profile specifically labeled “workout” so you always have it handy.
An additional lifehack, while we’re on the topic of audio: if you use podcasts for simple workouts, try speeding them up slightly, to about 1.25x. It’s a small enough change to make the content sound natural, but a slightly faster speech rate somehow increases your stride rate without forcing you to consciously try to run faster. For me, it’s a cheap and free alternative to a metronome.
Set your headphones to start your workout.
If you have a pair of headphones that you use exclusively for workouts, you can set up your phone to automatically perform certain actions when the headphones are connected. On iPhone, you can find this in the Shortcuts app under Automations. Create a new automation, select Bluetooth as the trigger, select your specific workout headphones (not “any device”), and set it to run when they are connected. You can then add a chain of actions—for example, opening Strava—to trigger the moment your running headphones are connected.
The same trick works for call management. If you don’t want to be interrupted by a phone call while you’re running, create a second automation that turns on Do Not Disturb mode (or a custom Focus mode) when your training headphones are connected, and turns it off when they’re disconnected. This is a great way to truly disconnect and focus on breathing . If you’re worried about missing something urgent, you can still allow calls from select numbers to interrupt Do Not Disturb mode.
Keep them clean, protected and moisture-resistant for longer.
The IPX rating indicates that your headphones can withstand exposure to sweat; it doesn’t guarantee that sweat won’t gradually degrade them over time. If your headphones get very wet (not just sweaty), most manufacturers recommend wiping them with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth. Then, be sure to let them air dry for several hours before using them or putting them back in their case.
In fact, you can extend the life of your earbuds with the case itself. Any soft case is essentially decorative—it won’t protect your gym bag from a water bottle or dumbbells. A durable hard case, like the one for AirPods , is one of the most inexpensive upgrades you can make.
Reroute cables to control sweat flow to the right place.
If you still run with wired headphones—and I know plenty of avid runners who do—then cable routing is crucial. Most people let the wire hang straight down their chest, which means sweat dripping from their collarbone can run down the wire to the headphone jack. This is where corrosion begins, which can ultimately ruin your wired headphones.
Solution: First, loop the cable behind your ears, then let it hang loosely over the back of your head. Gravity will allow sweat to flow down your back instead of pooling near the connector. This will also prevent the cable from hitting your chest with every step, which is a nice bonus.