Alright, so we’ve all been told (or have told ourselves) to focus during our workouts and/or lifts. The thing is – what does that really mean? And, more importantly, does it truly have any effect … or should we just let our mind wander during sessions?
Valid questions. This study, however, will make you think differently about the power of focus!
Focus: The Growth Factor
In 2009, researchers set out to discover the impact of “attentional focus” on a group of individuals who didn’t regularly work out. Attentional focus is where a person’s concentration is during a lift, or muscle contraction. Is it on what you’re going to have for dinner, or on the specific muscle you’re contracting?
Now, there are two types of focus: internal and external. An internal focus on your workout may be something like “Focus on squeezing your biceps as you curl up,” while an external focus may be, “Imagine the weight lifting toward you.”
Notice the subtle difference? Interestingly, the researchers found that this very subtle difference caused a significant difference in muscle growth results!
Researchers found that during lat pulldowns, the participants who were encouraged to internally focus on pulling, ” … with their back, instead of with their arms, by adducting the scapulae and concentrating on the tension in the back musculature.”
The result was a 20% increase in muscle activity in their lats … simply by focusing on them.
Other studies have shown similar results. Specifically, one involving two groups of men who were training 3 times per week were doing the same exercises (barbell curl and leg extension). Researchers told one group to “squeeze the muscle” during each rep, while the other were told to “get the weight up.”
The result? Those who were told to focus on “squeezing their muscle” saw a 12 percent increase in the size of their biceps – almost double the group who were told to simply “get the weight up.”
This illustrates the power behind mind-body connection during lifting, and how our focus can cause more muscle fibers to activate.
The only caveat to an internal, muscle-based focus in when, say, you’re lifting close to your one-rep max: then it may actually be beneficial to simply focus on lifting the weight. However, we’re not one-rep maxing everyday, so we want to focus with the intent of building and maintaining form.
Here’s how.
How-To: Internal Focus
The key here is to know that your focus doesn’t have to be perfect during every rep. We’ve all experienced our mind wandering during lifts, or other movements we’ve done a few times over. What you want to do is to try to treat this focus as a sort of meditation: each time your mind wanders, come back to the muscle and squeeze. Rise and repeat.
Remember that you want to focus on the contraction. Alternatively, if you’re doing eccentric work (lowering slowly and focusing on the extension) you want to put your attention onto the muscle that is under tension. Focus less on the weight, and imagine/feel the muscle.
Keeping this in mind, hit up the full-body dumbbell workout below I recently shared, focusing on each muscle group as you work it. Then, hit up my 8-Week Hypertrophy Program, FREE to subscribers on the Primal Fit app! (grab a 14-day FREE trial here)
