What Are You Looking At?
Where Are You Looking?
Have you ever noticed where you’re looking when you strength train?
The most common answer, in my experience as a coach—both in person and online—is: down.
Photo by Anete Lusina
Pause for a moment and picture yourself doing a bicep curl.
Are you looking down at the weight, almost at the starting point of the movement?
Or are you looking straight ahead?
You’re probably already picturing it.
So let’s ask a better question:
What happens to your body when your head drops?
What does that do to your posture?
To your shoulder position?
What signal does it send to your core? Your hips? Your feet?
In my experience, when you look straight ahead, your posture becomes more upright, your core naturally engages, and your legs feel more stable. It’s a small shift—but it changes everything upstream and downstream.
Here’s a related (and slightly uncomfortable) question.
Do you work out in front of a mirror?
And if so… are you looking down because you don’t actually want to watch yourself?
Mmm.
What would happen if you stepped away from the mirror? Or used it less? Or used it differently—not to judge, but to observe?
Let’s leave strength training for a moment and talk about walking.
Where are your eyes when you walk?
I often walk with my dog, so I’m frequently looking at her. I’m also walking on uneven or unpredictable surfaces—winter weather, roots, rocks, trails—so it makes sense to check the ground to avoid trips and falls.
But I challenge myself to rely more on my peripheral vision, keeping my head level and posture engaged while still tracking what’s beneath me.
I also remind myself that walking is one of the few chances we have to let our eyes lift—to look out into the distance—especially after hours of close-up work on screens and phones.
There’s also a nervous system layer to this that most people never consider—but that’s a conversation for another day.
As always, I’m not writing to give you a rule to follow.
I’m writing to invite you to notice something you may not have noticed before.
If this sparks a thought—or a disagreement—I’d love to hear from you in the comments or by message.
These small awareness shifts are often where real change begins.