> Our findings revealed when participants adopted a dissociative-external focus of attention, they consumed less oxygen, had lower blood lactate, and a lower ra

> Our findings revealed when participants adopted a dissociative-external focus of attention, they consumed less oxygen, had lower blood lactate, and a lower rating of perceived exertion compared with trials completed using an associative attention strategy. The findings of this study demonstrate that running economy is improved and feelings of fatigue are lowest when using a combination of a dissociative-external focus of attention. I’m not sure how certain can we be on where participants actually focused their attention, as it’s hard (impossible?) to measure. Separately from that, I believe the exact location of associative-internal focus matters. For example, the experimenters used this method to trigger associative-internal focus: > the examiner repeated the phrase “Focus on the muscles in your feet” during the running action. I suspect that: — It’s possible to hear this phrase without actually directing the focus anywhere. — Engaging verbal mechanism could actually be counter-productive, if it triggers inner monologue and keeps part of the attention in one’s head so to speak. — Focusing on the muscles in the feet might not be conducive to good running form. Could that focus lead to tensing up of those muscles? I generally attempt to engage the core and keep the extremities relaxed. That said, I don’t have the relevant expertise and am willing to be corrected. Anecdotally, I noticed that external focus of attention sometimes makes physical effort easier in the moment but does not necessarily help maintain good form (unless it’s already well-developed enough to be maintained automatically, which isn’t a given considering participant selection method), while what seems to be referred to as “associative-internal focus of attention” IMO takes some time and effort but, used appropriately, helps maintain good form and aligns with economy over long time periods.