The Effects of Holistic, External, and Internal Attentional Focus Instructions on Power and Kinematics of the Hang Power Snatch in Highly Skilled Weightlifters.

Athletes across various sports seek to enhance their power generation and force production by incorporating weightlifting exercises into their training. Therefore, integrating partial weightlifting movements could be sensible due to their simplified execution. Our research aimed to investigate which of four attentional focus strategies (external, internal, holistic, and neutral) would have the greatest impact on performance in terms of power variables for highly experienced weightlifting athletes in a practical training setting. Twelve highly skilled Olympic weightlifters volunteered for the study. They performed 48 single repetitions of the hang power snatch with each of the four attentional focus strategies. Results of the ANOVA did not reveal a significant main effect for maximum velocity, power measurement and displacement. Despite extensive research demonstrating how attentional focus affects performance differently, even among highly skilled populations, the lack of observed effects in our study underscores the challenges of conducting research in applied settings.

Attentional focus strategies in racket sports: A systematic review.

The body of evidence has shown that the external focus of attention (EF) rather than the internal focus of attention (IF) enhances motor skill learning and performance. Within racket sports which require a high level of motor control, anticipation skills, and mental preparedness, effectively directing attention is essential to elicit improvements in athletic performance. The present review aimed to evaluate the scientific evidence concerning the effects of attentional focus instructions on motor learning and performance in racket sports. We systematically reviewed the literature according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The study was registered with the Open Science Framework (osf.io/m4zat). Four electronic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, MEDLINE, and SPORTDiscus) were searched for original research publications. Inclusion criteria were: peer-reviewed journals; healthy and free from injury participants; attentional focus literature specific to the external or internal focus; attentional focus related to motor learning or motor performance; studies included at least one comparator (e.g., different attentional focus group, or control groups with neutral or no specific instruction); publications in which task(s) or skill(s) related to one of the racket sports (tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, or padel). The initial search yielded 2005 studies. Finally, 9 studies were included in the quantitative analysis. Overall, the results indicated that EF benefits the learning and performance of racket sport skills, compared to IF and over control conditions. The findings suggest that coaches and practitioners should consider the adoption of EF to optimize racket skills performance, particularly in novice or low-skilled athletes.

An external focus of attention enhances table tennis backhand stroke accuracy in low-skilled players.

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of internal and external (proximal and distal) attentional focus on table tennis backhand stroke accuracy in low-skilled players. Fifty-one undergraduate physical education (PE) students were randomly assigned to 3 groups: Group G1 (IF) was instructed to focus on the hand holding the paddle, Group G2 (EFP) was instructed to focus on the ball, while Group G3 (EFD) was instructed to focus on targets marked on the tennis table. The experimental groups followed identical instructions except for the instruction about the focus of attention. Participants were asked to score as many points as possible by hitting the ball inside the three smallest targets marked on the tennis table. They were required to do so using a backhand stroke. The practice session consisted of 45 trials in three blocks of backhand (15 trials at each target). A special scoring system was used to determine the accuracy of the strokes. One of the most important findings from the current research was that groups with an external focus of attention revealed significant improvements in accuracy in the post-test, while the group with an internal focus of attention achieved low training effects. No significant difference was observed between G2 (EFP) and G3 (EFD) in the delayed retention test, which indicates that proximal and distal attentional focus had similar effects on table tennis backhand stroke accuracy in low-skilled players.

Effect of Coronavirus 19 on Maintaining Balance in Skilled Athletes.

Preliminary studies have reported that motor control is negatively impacted following an infection of COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on maintaining balance in highly skilled athletes. As part of a larger investigation that was initiated in 2019, twelve professional handball players were recruited to participate in a study that was designed to measure static balance performance. Following the initial pre-test, six participants (body height 184.8 ± 4.7 cm; body weight 85.5 ± 3.3 kg; age 21.3 ± 1.2 years) were infected with COVID-19. The remaining six participants (body height 188.7 ± 2.6 cm; body weight 92.3 ± 3.7 kg; age 26.3 ± 3.3 years) never tested positive for COVID-19 and were presumably not infected with the virus. The experimental design required all the participants to complete an initial balance assessment (pre-test) and a later balance assessment (post-test). To fully analyze our data, we conducted a 2 (condition: COVID, no-COVID) X 2 (test: pre-test, post-test) ANOVA with repeated measures on the second factor. Our analysis revealed that the skilled athletes who contracted COVID-19 had a significant decrease in balance performance from the pre-test that occurred prior to being infected with COVID-19 relative to the post-test that occurred following the COVID-19 infection. Additionally, the skilled athletes who were not infected with COVID-19 did not demonstrate the same deterioration in balance performance in the same period. This study highlights the impact COVID-19 has on static balance performance in a group of highly skilled handball players. Longitudinal studies are needed to fully understand the lasting impacts COVID-19 has on motor behavior.

Motor Learning of Complex Tasks with Augmented Feedback: Modality-Dependent Effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of feedback modalities in the motor learning of complex tasks. METHODS: This study examined sixty-one male university students randomised to three groups: group Verbal (VER) = 20 (body height 178.6 ± 4.3 cm, body mass 81.3 ± 3.7 kg, age 20.3 ± 1.2 years), group Visual (VIS) = 21 (body height 179 ± 4.6 cm, body mass 82 ± 3.4 kg, age 20.3 ± 1.2 years), and group Verbal-Visual (VER&VIS) = 20 (body height 178.6 ± 4.3 cm, body mass 81.3 ± 3.7 kg, age 20.3 ± 1.2 years). The duration of the experiment was 6 months. Training sessions were performed three times per week (on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). The participants were instructed to perform a vertical jump with an arm swing (with forward and upward motion). During the jump, the participants pulled their knees up to their chests and grabbed their lower legs. The jump was completed with a half-squat landing, with arms positioned sideward. The jumping performance was rated by three gymnastic judges on a scale from 1 to 10. RESULTS: A Tukey post hoc test revealed that in the post-test, a significant difference in the quality of performance was found between the Verbal group concerning errors combined with visual feedback on how to correct them (VER&VIS), the Verbal group concerning errors (VER), and the Visual group with visual feedback on the correctness of task performance (VIS). The ratings observed in the post-test were significantly higher in group VER&VIS than in groups VER and VIS (9%; p < 0.01 and 15%; p < 0.001, respectively). All judges' ratings observed in group VER&VIS and VIS decreased insignificantly, but in group VER the ratings improved insignificantly. CONCLUSION: Providing verbal feedback combined with visual feedback on how to correct errors made in performing vertical jumps proved more effective than the provision of verbal feedback only or visual feedback only.

The effects of combining focus of attention and autonomy support on shot accuracy in the penalty kick.

The penalty kick is of great importance in the sport of soccer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test predictions of the OPTIMAL theory and identify key attentional and motivational factors that impact the accuracy of the penalty kick. The following six groups of moderately skilled participants performed penalty kicks following instructions that directed their focus of attention or impacted their autonomy support: external focus with autonomy support (EF/AS), external focus alone (EF), internal focus with autonomy support (IF/AS), internal focus alone (IF), autonomy support alone (AS) and control (C) groups. The analysis showed that the EF/AS group demonstrated better kicking accuracy relatively to the IF/AS, IF and C groups, but there were no significant differences between the EF/AS and EF or AS groups. Interestingly, the EF/AS group showed higher self-efficacy compared to the EF, IF/AS, IF and C groups. The finding suggest that a combination of attentional and motivational factors may produce benefits in motor performance.

The effect of programed physical activity measured with levels of body balance maintenance.

Background The aim of the research was an evaluation of 2 training programs covering the same standard physical activity in the initial stage (warm-up) and the main (motor exercises) as well as a separate end part in Program A of stretching and in Programme B of vibration training designed to improve the level of body balance. Material and Methods We tested 40 randomly chosen students of the Academy of Physical Education and Sport in Gdansk, subsequently divided into two 20-person groups: C (average age 21.3±1.2), and E (average age 21.8±1.1). The training of body balance was conducted for 8 weeks: we used in Group C Program A and in group E Program B. The evaluation of body balance was done 3 times: at the beginning, at midway point, and at the end of the experiment. The stabilographic tests with posture-graphical method and the task of 1-leg balance standing with eyes closed was used. Results It was found that in the first examination both groups did not significantly differ in terms of the tested parameters of balance. During the training process we obtained increased time of maintaining balance on 1 leg. This difference was significant between tests 1 and 2 both for Group C (p=0.0002) and for E (p=0.0034), while between the tests 2 and 3 in Group E (p=0.0213) only. Conclusions The training Program B is more effective to maintain balance on 1 leg when compared to Program A.

Benefits of bandwidth feedback in learning a complex gymnastic skill.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of two different frequencies of feedback during the process of learning a complex gymnastic skill, the round-off salto backward tucked. Thirty male acrobats participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to two groups: B - bandwidth feedback (n=15) or C - 100% feedback (n=15). Group B was provided with error information regarding the key elements of movement techniques only (bandwidth feedback). Our research demonstrates the advantage of augmented feedback information related to errors in the key elements. Information about errors in the key elements during learning a complex gymnastic skill prevents the gymnast from becoming overwhelmed, which promotes better motor control. These results provide support for the generalisation of bandwidth feedback principles to a complex task. Our research shows that the guidance hypothesis can also be tested in practical settings for a complex movement task.