How I Use My iPhone’s Focus Modes to Stop Getting Distracted at the Gym

There’s a stereotype that phone-obsessed gym rats hog the equipment while they “sit there and scroll.” Excuse me, I am record my sets And cut out my workout videos and, uh, scrolling through Reddit, and yeah, I kind of got sucked into TikTok? And there’s a work email, shit, it could wait until after but I’m really curious what it says. Just a second while I open it…

Yes, I’m not the only one who can get a little distracted during a workout. You probably do too. So I’ve always loved this tip from powerlifting coach Claire Zai about focusing on your phone when you’re training.

How Your Phone Can Actually Help You Focus During a Workout

Your phone probably has a focus mode feature. I’ll demonstrate with my iPhone, but Android has it too. (Look for “modes” in your control panel). Create a fitness mode and set the appropriate triggers or just keep it available to activate manually when you work out. Here’s more information on setting up focus modes on iOS.

With a focus mode, you can:

• Only have certain apps on your home screen (you will of course choose the ones related to fitness)

• Silencing notifications from work or social apps (you will receive these notifications when you leave focus)

• Create a wallpaper with something useful or inspiring, like a list of your goals or a motivational quote.

• Add widgets that will be useful during your workout

Credit: Beth Skwarecki

Here is an example above. I have a widget that lets me start my most common Apple Watch workouts, one for my recent YouTube Music playlists, and one for commonly used interval timers. I also have icons for some of my commonly used fitness apps and a calculator for when I need to find percentages for certain workouts. I chose a photo of weights for my wallpaper to remind me that I’m in fitness mode.

Credit: Beth Skwarecki

Here’s another one I used that’s a little more inspiring. I had a list of goals on the cover of my training journal; the lock screen here has a digital version. On the home screen, above the apps, I have a Countdown app widget that tells me how many days I have left until my next big competition.

You can trigger fitness mode to turn on every time you start a workout, or at a certain time or place, such as when you arrive at the gym. Or you can just start it from Control Center (swipe up from the top right corner of your phone) and tell your phone to keep it on for an hour, for the duration of your current calendar event, or until you turn it off. And now you have everything you need to get your workout done, without the distractions.