Heavy metal lyrics inspiring gymmen to peak performance

Does heavy metal hold the secret to good gymnastics?

The Penn State's men's gymnastics team think so.

Along with a good diet of pasta, Brandon Stephaniak said he enjoys listening to music in order to get him ready for a meet.

"I listen to heavy songs, hard rock," Stephaniak said. "I listen to Kiss. When we are in the gym the radio is always playing."

It is lyrics like, "You can live in a dream and your life will pass you by. Every day that you hesitate, you're never changin' the hands of fate. You can fight tonight," from Kiss' "Black Diamond" that motivate Stephaniak. Although it seems unusual, it's working for Stephaniak -- his is currently ranked third in the nation of pommel horse.

Ron Roeder said he has slightly different tastes than Stephaniak in both pre-game food and pre-game music.

He said he uses deli sandwiches and a CD player pumping Led Zeppelin to climb that "Stairway to Heaven" to good gymnastics.

"I've always listened to them all my life," Roeder said. "It really gets you going."

But it took some convincing to get Led Zeppelin played at the meets and practices, Roeder said.

At the meets, Jepson said he is only trying to please the fans with his music choices.

But at the Feb. 21 meet against Ohio State, Roeder and his accomplice Ted Johnson were finally able to convince the people who play the music at the meets to include Led Zeppelin and Oasis in the usual mix of easy listening music.

The meet opened to the tune of Led Zeppelin's "Hey, Hey What Can I do?" And the men's gymnastics team posted their highest score of the season.

However, the team remains skeptical about the connection between the two.

Roeder said he would really like to believe in some sort of a cosmic link between Led Zeppelin and the team's good performance, but he just isn't that superstitious.

Saliski said he believes listening to Rage Against the Machine and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in his Walkman before he performs helps him get psyched up.

"Since I'm a specialist on the vault, I need something that gives me a lot of energy," Saliski said.

Johnson said while he enjoys hard rock, he also likes to listen to alternative Christian rock before meets. Bands like Jars of Clay put him into good spirits before meets because they remind him of his home in Portland, Ore.

Although Johnson was an instigator in getting the Led Zeppelin music played at the meet, he said the music put them in a good mood during the meet but it was not the sole cause of their win.

It may seem unusual that so many individuals on a team like the same form of music. But Stephaniak has a theory.

"We listen to hard rock in the gym because it's hard to listen to things like dance music while working out," he said. "Hard rock has more of a heavy groove to it."