You can do all the right research and pick out the highest-reviewed, best-sounding and most durable headphones you can find, yet the moment you start working up a sweat, something about them will feel just a little off. Sometimes the earbuds slowly creep their way out mid-workout, and other times the sound simply doesn't have the depth you want for an intense lift. Before you give up on your favourite pair, it is worth trying a few small, nerdy adjustments that can seriously upgrade your listening experience before your next session.
Some people love the bone-conducting Shokz OpenRun Pro 2, which sells for around $179.95 at Amazon. Others who want noise-cancelling earbuds reach for the popular Powerbeats Pro 2, priced at about $249.00 at Amazon. The open-ear Suunto Spark, meanwhile, comes in at around $179.00. Whichever pair you own, the five hacks below can help just about anyone who works out with headphones.
Get your ear tip size right, then go one step further
Stock silicone tips are built to fit the average ear, which means there is a good chance they are not quite right for you. If your earbuds ever feel like they are working their way loose during a workout, poor fit is almost always the culprit.
Memory foam tips solve two problems at once. They mould to the shape of your ear canal to create a passive noise seal, and that same seal generates enough friction to keep the earbuds locked in place while you move. The smartest approach is to check the brand of your earbuds and buy tips straight from the source. Apple, for instance, sells fresh ear tips for AirPods for around $10.
There are plenty of do-it-yourself fixes floating around online, but unless you are especially handy, they can end up being more hassle than they are worth. The adhesive can lose its grip the moment you actually start sweating, and it may leave residue on the earbud housing. A roughly $15 pair of silicone ear hooks does the same job properly. They clip onto the earbud body and hook around the outer ear, and they are designed to survive a sweaty run without peeling off.
Of course, you can save yourself the trouble and simply choose earbuds that come with a built-in ear hook design. The open-ear Suunto Spark headphones and their ear hook design earn an early recommendation on that front.
Dial in an EQ made specifically for your workout
Most people leave their EQ on whatever setting they use for podcasts or the office, and that is often poorly suited to exercise. A track that sounds perfectly balanced while you are at rest can turn thin and tinny halfway through a hard interval.
The general move for a workout is a mild bass boost with a slight treble lift, so the audio can punch through ambient noise such as traffic, gym equipment and your own breathing. Everyone's preferences are different, so play around with it before your next workout. From there, companion apps from the likes of Shokz, Bose, Beats and Jabra let you save the result as a custom profile, so you are not readjusting it every single session. If your headphones support saved EQ profiles, it is worth setting one up and labelling it "workout" so it is always just one tap away.
Here is a bonus hack while we are on the subject of audio. If you use podcasts to pace easy workouts, try speeding them up slightly to around 1.25x. It is a small enough change that the content still sounds natural, but the very slightly faster speech cadence has a way of nudging your stride turnover up without you consciously trying to run faster. It works like a cheap, free alternative to a metronome app.
Program your headphones to trigger your workout routine
If you have a pair of headphones that you use exclusively for workouts, you can set up your phone to do things automatically the instant those headphones connect. On iPhone, this lives inside the Shortcuts app, under Automation. Create a new automation, choose Bluetooth as the trigger, select your workout headphones specifically rather than "any device", and set it to run whenever they connect. From there you can chain in an action, such as having Strava open automatically the second your running headphones pair.
The same trick works for managing calls. If you don't want a phone call interrupting you mid-run, build a second automation that switches on Do Not Disturb, or a custom Focus, the moment your workout headphones connect, and turns it back off when they disconnect. It is a nice way to genuinely disconnect and focus on your breathing. And if you are worried about missing something urgent, you can still let calls from your favourites break through Do Not Disturb.
Keep them clean, protected and sweat-resistant for longer
IP ratings tell you your earbuds can survive sweat, but they don't promise that sweat won't slowly degrade them over time. If your earbuds ever get properly wet, not just sweaty but fully soaked, most manufacturers recommend wiping them down with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth. After that, be sure to let them air dry for a couple of hours before using them again or putting them back in the case.
Where you can genuinely extend their lifespan is the case itself. Any soft case is basically decorative and does nothing against a water bottle or a dumbbell landing on top of your gym bag. A rugged hard-shell case, like the ones made for AirPods, is one of the cheapest upgrades you can make.
Reroute your cables to control where the sweat actually goes
If you are still running with wired headphones, and plenty of dedicated runners are, cable routing matters more than you might think. Most people let the cord hang straight down the front of the chest, which means the sweat rolling off your collarbone can run straight down the wire toward the connector at the earbud. That connection point is exactly where corrosion begins, and over time it can kill your wired headphones altogether.
The fix is simple. Loop the cable up and behind your ears first, then let it drop down the back of your neck. Gravity then pulls the sweat down your back instead of letting it pool at the jack. As an added bonus, it also stops the cable from bouncing against your chest with every stride.
