The Effect of Attentional Focus Types on Health-Related Physical Fitness Factors Performance in Students

The Purpose of this study was to investigate effect of attentional focus types on health-related physical fitness factors performance in students and interaction between type of attentional focus and physical fitness level. 12 students with a high fitness level and 12 students with low physical fitness with age range of 15- 17 years were selected as sample by using purposive sampling. Subjects were performed musculoskeletal components of health-related physical fitness (sit-ups, sit-and-reach and modified pull-ups) within three day and with distance of one week between the days. In the first day attentional focus instruction was not provided. In the second and third days the subjects randomly and counterbalanced adopted internal or external focus. Data analysis with repeated measures analysis of variance and LSD post hoc was conducted.In high physical fitness group,External focus compared with internal or control cause significantly advantage in tests of sit-ups, sit-and-reach and modified pull-ups. As well as in low physical fitness, External focus compared with internal or control resulted in significantly better performance in tests of sit-and-reach and modified pull-ups (P<0.05). Internal focus compared to control resulted in significantly better performance in modified pull-ups test high physical fitness group (P<0.05). The results showed that external focus instructions is resulted in the lead performance during the assessment musculoskeletal components physical fitness related to health, regardless of the skill level. During the evaluation should also providing internal focus instruction, particularly in people with high physical fitness levels to be avoided.