Mind Over Muscle
Did you know that the types of cues you use with your athletes can have a SIGNIFICANT effect on how they perform? Of course you did. But I bet you didn’t know that the mind-muscle connection is known as attentional focus. Take something like training the almighty bench press…External focus is when you have your athletes think about exerting force through a performance movement…”shove your opponent away from you”. Internal focus is when you instruct the athlete to “puff the chest out, engage the pecs”. Both are effective but have VERY different training results.
So, this show has me really jazzed. PhD Student Rachel Larson is here to discuss internal and external focus in training. If you are doing any kind of performance training, this applies to you. How you think about moving a load or achieving a lift can depend on your focus. Meaning, if you are thinking about how the muscles should be working together you’ve got an internal focus. If you’re thinking about a metaphor for the task you’re performing, like in a bench press you’re thinking about shoving away an opponent, you’re thinking externally. The exciting thing is that there is some VERY compelling research pointing to one being more advantageous. Larson is on the cutting edge of this research and she is here to share with us.
EMPOWER YOUR PERFORMANCE.
Look into Rachel Larson’s on Facebook (personal and professional page), IG @rlarson_11, or email her at Rachel.Larson11@ASU.edu.
SOURCES
Tagged: ASU / External Focus / Internal Focus / mental / Muscle Contraction / Muscle Potentiation / Potential / Power / Rachel Larson / Research / sports psychology / Strength / volleyball
AUTHOR
John
John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and Fuse Move. He is also creator of the online training phenomena, Johnnie WOD. He is a 9 year veteran of the NFL. John was drafted with the 97th pick in 1999 NFL Draft and went on to be a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, appearing in 3 NFC Championship games, and for starter for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. He was a four year lettermen while playing football at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1998. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes and Military. He travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition for Power Athlete. You can catch up with John as his personal blog on training, food and life, Talk To Me Johnnie and at Power Athlete.
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