Effect of Attentional Focus on Jump Exercises in Track and Field Athletes ∼ Countermovement Jump vs. Drop Jump ∼

Furuhashi, Y, Muratomi, K, Hasegawa, T, Yoshida, T, Tanigawa, S, and Maemura, H. Effect of attentional focus on jump exercises in track and field athletes ∼ countermovement jump vs. drop jump ∼. J Strength Cond Res 40(2): 186-190, 2026-The attentional focus strategy (AFS) has been shown to affect countermovement jump (CMJ) and drop jump (DJ). However, the effects of AFS on CMJ and DJ in athletes who are familiar with jumping are expected to differ because of differences in exercise difficulty. This study examined the effects of AFS on CMJ and DJ. Self-assessment of performance and understanding of instructions at each focus of attention were also investigated. Nineteen male collegiate track and field athletes performed 2 trials of CMJ and DJ for each condition. The conditions used were internal focus of attention (INT), external focus of attention, and neutral focus of attention (NEUT). In DJ, reactive strength index and peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) were higher for NEUT than for INT ( p < 0.05), and knee joint flexion displacement was smaller for NEUT than for INT ( p < 0.05). In CMJ, there was no significant difference in jump height or peak vGRF between conditions ( p > 0.05), while knee joint flexion displacement was smaller for NEUT than for INT ( p < 0.05). Countermovement jump was significantly higher than DJ in self-assessment of performance and understanding of instructions. The advantage of NEUT was especially pronounced in DJ than in CMJ. In addition, DJ performance tended to be higher when understanding instructions was high. These results indicate that the AFS was more effective when the difficulty of the exercise task was higher, suggesting that it is important to use instructions that are easily understood by the athlete.