HARLINGEN - For many fitness enthusiasts, a workout isn't the same without the quick beats and rhythms of the latest chart-topping song in their ears, drowning out all other noise at the gym.

At most fitness centers, people at the exercise machines can be seen sporting headphones connected to some type of portable media-playing device.

Cornerstone Fitness manager D.J. Johnson said he's seeing a lot more of that.

"I noticed that there's been a huge increase," Johnson said. "I think maybe it has something to do with the fact that they're getting cheaper and cheaper."

In years past, he would see people with portable CD players, but now those have almost become obsolete in gyms as people are buying MP3, or digital audio, players, including iPods and Zunes.

Some media players also have capabilities to display music videos, movies, television shows, audio books and photos.

For Harlingen resident Bob Chavez, 43, his MP3 player is an essential part of his workout regimen, he said.

"It really helps me to focus," said Chavez, a member at Valley Baptist Health and Fitness Center.

Chavez has been a member of the center for about a year and a half, but has long been an avid tennis player, he said.

He already had his music player before he enrolled at the gym, but would only use it at tennis tournaments between matches.

Now, he uses it five days a week when he goes to the gym.

"Well, it just kind of gets your adrenaline going and it kind of pumps me up," Chavez said. "It's hard to describe."

Ashton De La Cruz, 18, said the few times he's left his iPod at home he couldn't work out as well as when he had it with him.

"It kind of motivates me," De La Cruz, a member at Cornerstone Fitness, said. "It helps me get a natural rhythm."

The music also helps him focus on his workout and block out distractions, he said.

De La Cruz has worked out for six years and uses a small, clip-on music player built for durability that has even survived having a weight dropped on it, he said.

De La Cruz lifts weights four to five days a week, and listens to rock music, he said.

Silverstein, Senses Fail and A Day to Remember are a few bands on his workout play list, he said.

"It's just basically what you like and whatever gets your blood pumping," De La Cruz said. "Some people listen to rap or rock, and some people listen to orchestra music and that helps them."

Chavez works out five days a week in the morning, and said he listens to different genres of music depending on the type of workout he's doing.

When he's lifting weights, he prefers to listen to rock or heavy metal, and prefers lighter and more upbeat music, such as industrial or techno, for cardiovascular workouts, he said.

"I've even been into some Rihanna songs lately - I don't know why," Chavez said. "Some of her songs are fast and upbeat and short, none of these 20-minutes songs."

Chavez said he prefers his cardiovascular workout songs to be more than 140 beats per minute, which also helps him keep a steady pace on the elliptical machine.

He said he always has his iPod when he's working out and will make the 10-minute drive back home to pick it up if he forgets it - even if he's almost at the gym.

"I really have to have it, otherwise it throws my whole workout off," he said.