Effects of Attentional Focusing Strategies on Muscular Power in Older Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different foci of attention on parameters related to maximum muscular power in older women. Using a counterbalanced within-participant design, 23 physically active young-old women (age 59-69) completed a maximum effort cycle ergometer test following three types of verbal instructions. The external instruction (EXF) was designed to focus attention on moving the pedals as fast as possible, internal instruction (INF) directed attention toward moving the legs as fast as possible, and a control condition (CON) was created in which participants were instructed to perform the task to the best of their abilities. Results indicated that the EXF and CON conditions resulted in greater muscular power compared with the INF condition. Results also indicated that directing attention internally hindered muscular power performance in older women, which is consistent with the predictions of the constrained action hypothesis.

Cueing the Youth Athlete During Strength and Conditioning: A Review and Practical Application

“…Current literature has investigated the effects of cueing with trained adults during jumping (8,14,20,31), sprinting (3,18,33,45,58), isometric strength testing (17), and swimming (53). Research with untrained adults has focused on jumping (12,19,29,37,44,59,(61)(62)(63), sprinting (46), agility (43), and power tests (32). Unfortunately, limited research has examined athletic performances in youth, with available literature examining landing (48) and jumping (7) in untrained youths and jumping (39) in trained youths.…”

How to coach: A review of theoretical approaches for the development of a novel coach education framework

“…85,86 The use of internal instructions by coaches is common place in the coaching landscape despite the demonstrated shortfalls of adopting such a practice. 41 Porter et al 87 even demonstrated that 84.6% of elite athletics coaches used an internal focus of attention exclusively.…”

“…24 Six of the 28 studies utilised elite/expert participants resulting in differing conclusions surrounding what is the optimal focus of attention for this population. 39,83 Wulf and Su, 43 Ille et al 42 and Makurak et al 41 all report positive findings relating to the performance benefits for elite athletes to use an external focus of attention in golf, sprinting and shot put respectfully. However, the other three elite participant studies were far from conclusive; Porter and Sims 83 found normal focus of attention more effective than external in sprinters while Stoate and Wulf 39 displayed no significant differences between normal and external foci of attention in swimmers.…”

“…Nineteen of the studies focused on participants in a collegiate setting. 39 Two studies focused on adult sport participants who were not involved in a collegiate setting, 40,41 while only six studies examined participants at an elite level. 42 Furthermore, 16 of the selected studies used a within-participant design, meaning each participant was exposed to each experimental variable using external, internal and control focus of attention groups.…”

An external focusing strategy was beneficial in experienced children but not in novices: The effect of external focus, internal focus, and holistic attention strategies

“…Research in attentional focus in the form of verbal instruction has shown that a body movement-oriented focus, known as an internal focus, is detrimental to performance compared to focus on the effects of movements on the environment, known as external focus ( 5,6 for reviews). This effect is also evident in athletes of various skill levels, including swimmers, 7,8 shot putters, 9 golfers, 10 and boxers and kickboxers. 11 An external focus promotes performance because, according to the constrained action hypothesis, 12–14 it facilitates an automated movement control, whereas internal focus evokes conscious movement control, which disrupts the motor system.…”