Athleticism requires body awareness
The word we give to this awareness is Proprioception.
Technically this is the brain receiving feedback from the various receptors in the muscles, tendons, ligaments etc so it can judge the position of one part of the body relative to another.
It is one of the most important of your senses beyond the big 5
As someone who trains, good proprioception will help you feel your lifting technique better.
Joint positions
Weight distribution
Sticking points
And will help you correct them in double quick time.
Faster than any coach or video analysis could hope to.
How do we take advantage of this?
We do at least some of our training with the eyes tight shut.
Or if you don't trust your discipline, blindfolded.
This is best done during the early warm up sets of a movement you are familiar with, the load is low and the reps aren't going anywhere near failure.
Back in my youth, my karate instructor would have us grapple or do kata blindfolded.
It really does force you to upskill.
Many of my Kettlebell Sport guys will have spent time lifting with eyes closed.
From a coaching perspective, it's really interesting to watch people's response to this.
Everyone, without fail lifts better.
But some report the opposite, which is mostly because they felt stressed by being blinded.
Those who felt they lifted worse are potentially those with the most to gain.
Regards
Dave Hedges