Effect of internal focus of attention with touching cue on the agonist muscle activity during exercise

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of internal focus of attention with touching cue on agonist muscular activity during the arm curl exercise. Ten healthy males (age, 20-35 years) performed five repetitions of arm curl under three different focus instructions: external focus condition (EXT), where participants were instructed to concentrate on lifting the bar; internal focus condition (INT), where participants were instructed to concentrate on contractions of biceps brachii; and, internal focus and touch condition (INT+T): participants' biceps brachii was lightly touched by the investigator and they were instructed to concentrate on muscle contractions at the touched point. Although the average muscular activities in INT and INT+T were significantly higher than that of EXT (p < .01), no significant difference in muscle activity between INT and INT+T was observed. Further, magnitudes of these effects were small (d < 0.25). These results suggest that internal focus caused by individual's consciousness, as well as a focus attention by touching the agonist area increased the agonist muscle activity during exercise. However, the increase in agonist muscle activity due to focus attention is limited.