From consistency to execution, there are many moving parts to keep a successful, active lifestyle. The arguments for which is the secret ingredient for success vary as much as the approaches. In truth, there is only one virtue upon which every other one is stacked successfully, or unsuccessfully.
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The value of focus goes beyond your safety. It applies in the broad sense to your goal setting, true, but in the gym, it affects the quality of your performance. Without focus, you have nothing else.
It’s a matter of Safety.
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As a matter of safety, focus in the gym is the difference between a workout that really kicks your butt and one that breaks you. With a variety of competencies and even more workout styles, gyms are a high potential for injury. You have to not only be aware of your own movements but those of others.
Common self-injuries include but are not limited to strains from poor technique, or smashed body parts (fingers) from misjudging weights. Many a finger is made purple when a little focus would have gone a long way to prevent it being smashed.
If that weren’t enough, you must always be aware of goofballs doing silly things (intentional or not) and serious lifters moving through ranges of motion.
If I had a dime for every time a gym rat walked into a space that appeared clear, only to find themselves getting kicked or tripped because there was someone doing burpees there. Head’s up; people are moving and they may not see you coming.
As a rule of thumb with safety, if your head is out of the game, head to the locker room, then home. You are a walking recipe for injury.
It’s about your goals.
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Where a distracted focus can have an immediate impact on your pain threshold, a poor focus can impact the overall arch of your goals.
Set a smart goal, but keep that goal front of mind when planning every workout. In fact, keep it front of mind as much outside the gym as inside. Goals you only focus on when working out will be the goal you struggle to achieve.
Your results will be not just a combination of your gym activities, but also your kitchen activities, your socialization activities, your shopping… you get the idea.
Focus on your goals extends to your whole life. The more intense your focus, the better your results.
It’s how you perform.
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Beyond safety and results, focus is the intensity that pushes you to do more during a workout. Focus keeps your mind on proper movement, but it also drives that movement harder.
If focus were a dial on your head, you’d be served to crank it into the red. That is unless you simply want to give only what is necessary.
The great thing about focus is that it becomes the solid platform upon which you can launch whatever efforts you see fit to deploy. With intense focus, the gym world is your oyster.
Your goal should be to do whatever is necessary to keep your focus as tight as possible. Get good rest, breathe, hydrate, eat well, even meditate. Do whatever it takes to master focus.
You can own it all.