How I Use Focus Modes on My IPhone to Avoid Distractions at the Gym
There’s a stereotype of avid gym-goers, obsessed with their phones, who fill up all their equipment, “just sit there and scroll through their phone feed.” Excuse me, I’m recording my sets , cutting up workout videos , and, uh, scrolling through Reddit, and yeah, I got sucked into TikTok somehow? And there’s a work email, damn, maybe I can wait, but I’m really curious what it says. Just a sec, I’ll open it…
Yes, I’m not the only one who gets a little distracted during a workout. You probably do too. That’s why I’ve always loved powerlifting coach Claire Zay’s advice on how to “focus” on your phone during a workout.
How Your Phone Can Help You Focus During a Workout
Your phone likely has a Focus Mode feature. I’ll demonstrate this on my iPhone, but it’s also available on Android. (Look for the “Modes” section in the Control Panel.) Create a fitness mode and either set the appropriate triggers or simply leave it available for manual activation during your workout. You can learn more about setting up Focus Modes on iOS here .
In focus mode you can:
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Your home screen should only have certain apps (of course, you’ll choose the ones related to fitness).
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Turn off notifications from work or social apps (you’ll still receive these notifications when you lose focus).
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Set something useful or inspiring as your wallpaper, like a list of your goals or a motivational quote.
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Add widgets that will be useful during your workout.
Here’s one example, shown above. I have a widget for launching my most frequently used workouts on my Apple Watch, a widget for my latest YouTube Music playlists, and a widget for frequently used interval timers. I also have icons for some frequently used fitness apps and a calculator for when I need to calculate percentages for specific workouts. I chose a photo of dumbbells as my wallpaper to remind myself that I’m in fitness mode.
Here’s another example I used before, a little more inspiring. My training diary cover had a list of goals; the lock screen here shows a digital version. On the home screen, above the apps, I have a widget from the Countdown app, showing how many days remain until my next big competition.
You can activate Fitness Mode whenever you want to start a workout, at a specific time, or in a specific location—for example, upon arriving at the gym. Or you can simply launch it from Control Center (swipe down from the upper-right corner of your phone) and tell your phone to stay on for an hour, for the duration of an ongoing calendar event, or until you turn it off. Now you have everything you need for a distraction-free workout.