Motivation, Focus, and Exercise.

• What should one focus on while exercising?
• Should your focus change depending on the kind of exercise?
• Why is focusing so important?

When working with clients, I often have to remind them to focus on the exercise and stop talking to me during their set.

Why?
Talking throughout the workout can make the workout seem to go by faster, but there is evidence that your time spent exercising will be more effective if you focus on the task at hand.

This is more of an issue with resistance training, because with cardiovascular training, they need their mouth to breath, so talking usually stops!

Resistance Training and Focus

When strength training, the more you focus on the exercise, the more effective the exercise will be.  You will also have better form and control, creating a safer environment.

Next time you are strength training, have someone gently touch the muscle you are focused on.  Do you feel that?  Their touch provides kinesthetic feedback that allows you to increase your attention to the muscle, which now feels like it is working harder.

You can achieve a similar effect by focusing on the muscle, imagining it contracting, and focusing on the sensations your body is feeling.

Not only will this make your workouts more productive, but it will also insure that you are learning and retaining the information.

Having a trainer is no excuse!  Everyone should be mentally engaged in their workouts! It’s your body, your health, and your responsibility.  While working with a trainer can be great for leadership and empowerment, ultimately, you will need to retain the information for when you are on your own or later in life.  Being mentally engaged with each exercise will ensure the shelf life of your investment.

(Honestly, in 9 years of training, the client’s who get the best results are always the ones who can focus themselves consistently.)

It is worth noting, any exercise that involves learning a new technical skill (jump rope, agility exercises, Olympic lifting, sport specific drills, etc) is going to take your full mental and physical concentration; therefore, it should precede resistance and cardio training, and your focus should be completely on the task at hand.

Cardio Exercise and Focus

What about cardio?  Where should your focus be once you have a skill down, like running, and don’t have to think much about the repetitive motion?

It is possible to “zone out”, get in the moment, and just relax by both focusing right in front of you, and/or off into the horizon when running outside.

It is helpful to try both, and I know both work for me, although I have found that you can really zone out by tuning out everything but your breathing and the ground 5 feet ahead of you.  (Just be careful when running outside!)

Try both “zooming in” and “zooming out” and see what helps you get into a rhythm without thinking too much.  It’s natural to zoom in and out occasionally (especially when there are other attractive runners going by), but keep bringing your focus back to the horizon or 5 feet in front of you. With practice, you will be able to keep it there.

When using the treadmill, many people cover the time and speed with a towel to avoid checking every 10 seconds!  Are we there yet!?!?  This is a good trick for beginners, but I think it is worthwhile to try and use discipline to control your gaze.  There are always going to be distractions in life, better to learn how to deal with them since avoiding them is usually not an option.

Another trick is listening to music or watching tv.  I think this can be helpful, especially in the beginning but it shouldn’t be a crutch.  “I forgot my ipod” isn’t an excuse for missing a workout.  Seriously.  Lame.

Also, if you are reading a book doing cardio, your body better look and feel perfect.  Low intensity cardio is ok for maintaining exercise goals and recovery from intense workouts, but horrible for achieving new fitness goals.

Using headphones will, obviously, make it harder to hear traffic or other people if you are outside.  So be careful!

Not so obviously, it will also prevent you from hearing your own breath, which is very important feedback.

My sister claimed to be “a horrible runner”, but with my advice she stopped listening to her ipod and realized that she was taking short fast breaths.  She started taking long, deep breaths, her mind and body relaxed, and she started running longer and faster.  (She has since completed her 1^st marathon, not bad for a “horrible runner”.)

Cardio Exercise, Focus and Breathing

Focusing on your breath is a great way to stay in the moment, relax, and avoid distractions.

Remember, you energy follows your focus and your body follows your mind; keeping your mind relaxed and focused on the breath will help your body stay relaxed, even when you are working HARD.

When you start finding your groove with good focus, you will finish your run and think “Wow, that went by fast” even if you ran for a longer time.  Coupled with the runners high, which consists of “happy chemicals” that are released after cardio, and you are on your way to getting hooked on exercise.

Exercise, Expectations, and the Present Moment

In general, the key principle to remember is that energy follows focus.  So focus on the breath, take it one stride at a time, and be in the moment; avoid checking your stop watch every thirty seconds or thinking about how many miles you “must to run today”.  This will prevent you from getting into a rhythm, making your run seem like it lasted forever!

Some days you will think to yourself “I feel great, I am going to run fast” and yet when you start running, it feels like there is no gas in the tank.  Other days, you may feel pretty low energy before your run, but once you get warmed up you start burning up the track.

On either of these days, the key is to a great workout is to go with the flow and stay focused. This is especially true for race day.

Stay in tune with your body, go with the flow, and transcend whatever your expectations were by staying focused on the present; the running will take care of itself.

I would love to hear comments or questions.  How do you stay focused?  Any tricks or tips?

Until next time,

Train smart.

Johnny Fitness