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Attentional focus may influence strength development

A recent meta-analysis sought to analyze the research investigating the impact of attentional focus on both acute strength performance and longitudinal strength development.

We’ve written about attentional focus a few times in our research review MASS, discussing how an external focus (focusing on the outcome of a task) can lead to improved acute performance, and an internal focus (focusing on bodily movements or sensations) may improve muscle growth (onetwothree). However, when it comes to strength development, we can’t necessarily assume that promising acute measures (increased strength performance when adopting an external attentional focus) will necessarily lead to improved long-term outcomes (greater strength development). With that in mind, the present meta-analysis sought to analyze the research investigating the impact of attentional focus on both acute strength performance and longitudinal strength development.

The researchers identified seven studies investigating the impact of attentional focus on acute strength measures and three studies investigating the impact of attentional focus on longitudinal strength development that met their inclusion criteria. The study needed to 1) be written in English, 2) investigate the acute or longitudinal impact of an internal versus an external attentional focus on strength, 3) employ a crossover design or between-groups design, and 4) report enough statistical information for the results to be useable in a meta-analysis. Details about the included studies can be seen in Table 1.

Graphic by Kat Whitfield

The meta-analysis on acute strength measures found that an external attentional focus significantly enhanced strength performance (Figure 1A; Standardized Mean Difference [SMD] = 0.34; p < 0.001). Furthermore, it’s worth noting that the effect wasn’t solely driven by the studies assessing the effect of attentional focus on strength measures like handgrip strength or index finger flexion strength. Studies assessing strength using isometric mid-thigh pull or squat and deadlift also found positive effects in favor of an external attentional focus.

For longitudinal strength development, there was an overall positive effect in favor of an external attentional focus. This effect size was quite similar to the effect size for acute strength performance, but it failed to meet the traditional standard for statistical significance (SMD = 0.32; p = 0.11). However, the authors also performed a sub-analysis on measures of lower body strength development, finding a small significant effect in favor of an external attentional focus (SMD = 0.47; p = 0.02).

Graphic by Kat Whitfield

This meta-analysis was useful for two reasons. First, while it’s well-established that an external attentional focus improves acute motor learning and performance in a general sense, most of the research in the area has focused on tasks that are more dependent on coordination (for example, throwing darts or tossing bean bags) than force output. I was aware that several individual studies had identified positive impacts of an external focus on strength performance, but it’s good to have those findings confirmed by a meta-analysis.

Second, and more importantly, this meta-analysis provides some evidence that an external attentional focus during training can improve longitudinal strength development. I’m not particularly concerned that the general analysis of strength measures failed to find a significant effect, and I’m also not particularly impressed that the subanalysis of lower body strength measures did find a significant effect. In both cases, the meta-analyses on longitudinal outcomes only included three studies, so it’s still far too early to make any definitive statements. However, the results were generally positive, suggesting that adopting an external attentional focus during resistance training may not only enhance strength performance acutely, but may also improve rates of strength development over time. Of course, more research is needed to confirm these initial tentative findings.

Note: This article was published in partnership with MASS Research Review. Full versions of Research Spotlight breakdowns are originally published in MASS Research Review. Subscribe to MASS to get a monthly publication with breakdowns of recent exercise and nutrition studies.

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