Written by We all have days when we walk into the gym, put on some good music, start warming up, and then just as we are about to make that first lift, we get hit with a tidal wave of other thoughts; work, partners, home (did I leave the stove on?). Regardless of exactly what you are thinking the end result is the same: less focus on the workout. So how do we block out the seemingly uncountable distractions in our head? Just think of the keyhole.
In the wonderful world of weightlifting (movie rights pending), or any sport for that matter, focus on a singular goal is key. When we start to think too much is when we see declines in performance. It’s a common cue for coaches in skill-based sports to say “Don’t think. Do”, and I have said it myself as well. The keyhole concept is what I tell my athletes that have trouble focusing on the task at hand. Whether life gets in the way, or not. What I tell them is to pretend like you are looking at your goal through a keyhole, you can’t see anything else around. Of course, this is just a fancy way of saying to limit your focus to only one aspect of the task at hand, and there are several ways to do this.
In research done by Makaruk, H. et al., the performance of elite shot putters changed drastically when told to use an external focus of attention as opposed to internal. This is a method that I use often when coaching athletes in skill based sports. It is not only an easy way to maintain focus on the skill to be performed, but to also increase the performance of that skill. In this study for example, swimmers were either told to use internal focus of attention (i.e pull your hand back) or external focus of attention (i.e push the water back, or down). What this means is that athletes were told to either focus on the movement of their body, or the effect of the movement. In all cases, the external focus group performed significantly better.
In order to not only help athletes focus their attention on the task at hand, and perform that task better, think of the keyhole; block everything else out, and focus on what you want to complete.
James
References:
Makaruk, H., Porter, J. M., & Makaruk, B. (2013). Acute effects of attentional focus on shot put performance in elite athletes. Kinesiology, 45(1), 55-62.
