Training Habits

The Training Target: A Plan for Purposeful Practice

Rhema Adelaja · National Champion & 4x DUX · November 2026 · 6 min read

You show up to every session, but you feel stuck. This is how you stop going through the motions and start making every repetition count. Learn to set a single, powerful focus for every practice.

You know the feeling. You arrive at training. You do the warm-up. You run through the drills. You put the time in. But when you walk away, you feel nothing. You do not feel better. You do not feel you have improved. It feels like you were just a body in the room, going through the motions while your mind was somewhere else.

I have been there. As a young athlete, I had seasons where I felt completely stuck. I was training harder than ever, but my performance was flat. My coaches told me to work harder, so I did. It did not help. The problem was not my effort. The problem was my focus. I was trying to do everything at once, which meant I was doing nothing well.

From Zombie Reps to Purposeful Practice

We call them 'zombie reps'. You are doing the work, but your brain is not there. You are just repeating a movement. This kind of training does not lead to improvement. It just makes you tired. To get better, your mind has to be as engaged as your body. You need a plan for your attention.

Many athletes think 'focus' means trying harder to concentrate on everything. They try to watch the ball, fix their footwork, keep their shoulders square, and remember the coach's last instruction all at the same time. This is impossible. Your brain cannot focus on five things at once. It leads to mental clutter and frustration. The solution is not to try and focus on more. It is to focus on less.

The Power of a Single Target

For every single training session, you need one target. Not five, not three. Just one. This is your Training Target. It is a single, specific, and small thing you will concentrate on for the entire session. Everything else becomes background noise.

This is not just my opinion. This is a proven method. By giving your brain a single job, you allow it to learn deeply. This is deliberate practice. You turn mindless drills into powerful opportunities for improvement. Instead of 100 zombie reps, you get 100 reps where you are actively building a better habit. You are teaching your body a new, better way to move. This is how you get better, faster.

Choose an External Focus

So what should this target be? Research gives us a clear answer. Your focus should be external, not internal. An internal focus is when you think about your own body parts. For example, "snap my wrist" when shooting a basketball, or "extend my hips" when sprinting. An external focus is when you think about the effect you want to have on something outside your body.

Instead of "snap my wrist", you could focus on "flicking the back of the ball". Instead of "extend my hips", you could focus on "pushing the ground away behind you". Studies consistently show that an external focus improves motor performance and learning more effectively than an internal one. It allows your body to organise itself more naturally to achieve the goal, without you overthinking it.

Use Process Goals, Not Outcome Goals

Your Training Target should also be a process goal. This is a small, controllable action you can perform during a drill. It is not about the final result. Sports psychology breaks goals down into a few types.

Outcome and performance goals have their place in your long-term planning. But in daily training, they create pressure and distraction. You cannot always control whether you win or if the ball goes in. But you can always control your actions. Focusing on process goals during practice is most effective for learning new skills. Your Training Target is your process goal for the day.

How to Set Your Training Target

This system is simple. It requires a few minutes of thought before your session and a moment of reflection after. It is a habit that will change the value you get from every hour you spend training.

Before the Session

First, identify your target. Do not wait until you are at the training ground. Think about it beforehand. Talk to your coach. What is the one thing they keep mentioning to you? Watch a video of your last game. What is one small technical flaw you see? Pick something small. Very small. "Keep my head still when I shoot" is a great target. "Become a better shooter" is not. Write your target down on a piece of athletic tape or in a small notebook. Make it a simple sentence.

During the Session

Your only job now is to focus on that one thing. If your target is "push the ground away", then in every single sprint, that is what you think about. Not your arms. Not your breathing. Just that one cue. Stick the tape with your target on your water bottle. Look at it during every break. This reminds you what your job is for the day.

Your mind will wander. That is normal. When you notice it has drifted, just gently bring it back to your Training Target. Do not get frustrated. The act of noticing and refocusing is a skill in itself. This is how to focus in training. It is not about having perfect, unbroken concentration. It is about the discipline to return to your single point of focus, again and again.

After the Session

Take two minutes to think about it. How did it go? Did you remember to focus on your target? Did it feel different? You are not judging whether you were perfect. You are just checking in on your focus. This small act of reflection helps your brain solidify what it learned. It also helps you decide what to focus on next time. Maybe you continue with the same target for a week. Maybe you move to the next small thing.

The goal is not perfection in the session. The goal is purpose in the session.

You will not fix a major habit in one day. But you will make that habit one percent better. And if you do that every time you train, the improvements will compound. You will stop feeling like you are wasting your time. You will walk away from every session knowing you got better at something specific.

Your next training session is an opportunity. Do not waste it with zombie reps. Go in with a plan for your attention. Before you go, choose your Training Target. Pick one small, external, process-oriented goal. Write it down. Focus on it relentlessly. That is your only job. Start there. That is how you turn practice into progress.