February 2008
Banish Low Energy Days
Think it. Become It - How to use visualisation to improve your sporting performance and determination.
By Jeremy Martin, Co-Founder For Goodness Shakes
We all do it sub-consciously. We fantasise, role-play and daydream - visualising ourselves playing out all sorts of scenarios. Learning to visualise consciously can open up a surprising new world of physical possibilities to all who do sport - some of which can lead to dramatic consequences.
At the University of Chicago, three groups of students were selected to test their free-throwing ability to shoot basketballs through hoops. The first group were told to practice 1 hour a day for 30 days. The second group were told to sit in the gym but only visualise themselves free-throwing balls, no physical practice was allowed. The third group (the control group) were asked not to touch a ball or think about it.
On the 30th day, each group was assessed for their free-throwing skills. The control group went first, setting the benchmark. The first group, those asked to practice, scored 24% more hoops than the control group. No surprise there.
Here’s the clincher. The group that were asked to visualise themselves scoring hoops were 23% better than the control group - scoring just 1% fewer points than those who had practiced.
The brain doesn’t differentiate between an imagined event or a real one - the mind controls the body. “I think, therefore I am.” Or as the latest Heineken ad goes, ‘get the head right and the rest will follow’.
Try a little test....Close your eyes for 15 minutes and visualise yourself juggling 3 balls. You’ll be surprisingly better at juggling for the first time than someone also starting off from scratch. More on visualisation techniques later. |
Rehearsing your performance again and again in your mind, is a technique sportsmen use. With only a little training, you can focus your mind on the smallest of performance detail – from mastering the perfect swimming dive to scoring a tricky penalty shot. When world class Marathon runners say they’re mentally very well prepared, chances are they’ve already rehearsed the run in their minds.
Visualisation has also been proven to do much more. It can improve healing and post-sport recovery. Athletes who visualise themselves recovering after a race heal faster than athletes who don’t.
Believe it or not, visualisation can build muscle. In a not too dissimilar study to the one above, Manchester University tested muscle growth in two groups of individuals. The first group trained using weights to encourage muscle growth. The second group visualised their muscles growing. In final tests, the visualising group got over 50% of the muscle growth achieved by the weight training group.
Even if you’ve not consciously sat down and tried to visualise your performance, there'll have been times when you experienced the benefits. If you’ve felt stronger, more agile and strangely confident after watching a Bruce Lee film, that’s visualisation at work. Images – either projected or static (as found in a magazine) offer useful sources of visualisation. They are an easy way for the mind to absorb and ‘feel’ the image. You might have come across an image of a muscular torso or a high performance athlete that has aroused a renewed sense of vigour and determination. If you’re in need of some motivation before the gym, get stuck into a film like ‘300’ or pull-out a photo of a great body with your head stuck on it!
How can you learn to visualise and improve your performance? It takes just a little daily practice and some quiet space...
1. Get yourself in a relaxed state.Count up to 10 ‘in’ breaths (and start again). Gradually steady your breathing and clear your mind of clutter. If uninvited thoughts enter your mind, just acknowledge them and let them drift by. If you find yourself getting absorb in thoughts, don’t get irritated; just lift yourself out of them and let them vanish. |
2. Gradually visualise yourself standing in sports kit in an empty, white room.Feel how you’re feeling now. If you’re feeling heavy, sad, de-motivated and uninspired allow yourself to be absorbed in those feelings. |
2. Gradually visualise yourself standing in sports kit in an empty, white room.Feel how you’re feeling now. If you’re feeling heavy, sad, de-motivated and uninspired allow yourself to be absorbed in those feelings. |
3. Start scanning from your feet upwards.Do it slowly, ‘feeling’ every part of your body, right down to your hair and muscles. |
4. When you reach your head, stop.Pause. Allow yourself to stand-back and see the whole of yourself. |
5. Now start again, scanning from your head down.This time, superimpose a body change. As you scan down, visualise your shoulders and chest growing a little wider, stronger and more muscular. Continue scanning down, strengthening each part of your body as you’d want it to be it. |
6. When you reach your feet, allow yourself to stand-back.Admire your new shape and strength. |
7. Gradually surround your body with scenery.If you’re a runner, build up a marathon scene. Visualise the crowd, ‘smell’ the tarmac, ‘sense’ your heightened anticipation before the run and ‘stretch’ your muscles. If you’re a gym-goer, gradually build up your gym environment. It’s important to build your environment slowly, engaging all your senses (including touch, smell, taste) in the scene. Absorb yourself fully – make yourself truly present in the scene, as though you’re creating a film with you playing the central character. |
8. Slowly, begin to perform.If you’re a mountain biker, gradually start pedalling – ‘feeling’ both your legs and arms moving as well as visualising the course ahead. Feel yourself effortlessly finding the right line down a singletrack trail in between a line of trees. You can start to bring to mind a complex manoeuvre which you want to rehearse and visualise yourself skilfully navigating it. |
9. Rehearse the movement you want to perfect over and over again.You can even try different movements, ‘feeling’ for the best one. |
10. When you’ve had your practice, gradually ‘draw’ away from the scene.Try not to stop your visualisation suddenly. Practice the routine daily. |
There’s stacks of useful info on the web about visualisation. Here are a few interesting links for further reading:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/sport_psych/a/aa091700a.htm
http://skiingsnowboarding.suite101.com/article.cfm/visualization_in_sport
http://www.itftennis.com/shared/medialibrary/pdf/original/IO_22916_original.PDF
Happy visualisation!
Next newsletter: ‘How To Get Into The Zone for Running”
 Energise Your Workout >> Top breakfast and snack ideas Banish Low Energey Days >> The art of visualisation Gym a Drag? >> Staying in rather than going to the gym? Lean Muscle Mass >> Why you need it and how to get it |
