S
scorpio
Guest
Note: It doesn't matter how fit you are; if your mind is not into it, your performance will suffer.
Have you ever had one of those days at the gym where things just didn't feel right? Your reps sucked, your performance sucked and you always seemed to stop short of the "zone."
You ate the right things before working out, you weren't tired and you didn't overlap any muscles from previous days, yet things just didn't go the way you wanted them to. Maybe your problem is visualization, or lack thereof.
We've all heard self-motivational speakers talk about visualization and how it made them the people they are today. Setting definite goals you see yourself achieving is fine and dandy, but I am not talking about that kind of visualization. I am talking about the visualization you do before an act, the kind that affects your performance on an immediate level.
visualize victory
The theory is simple: visualize what you are about to do and your performance will increase. Picture hitting a perfect drive or doing an amazing set at the gym and, believe it or not, you will do it better than if you didn't visualize the act beforehand.
According to the AOA (American Optometric Association), researchers have discovered that people use the same areas of the brain when they perform and/or visualize an action in their mind. So there is "some" kind of link between the two things.
How will visualization improve your performance? Depending on what you do, a person's performance will increase by creating a better connection between the mind and body. The mind is, after all, connected to the body. Most actions performed in fitness are not instinctive but rather cognitive, so connecting with what you do is important.
Visualization helps you concentrate on the task at hand at its optimal level. This is especially true in sports because many things can go wrong while performing an act, like a golf swing or a bench press.
When you bench press, your elbows could be too far in front, your back could be arched and you could be unwillingly spreading the weight around your skeletal frame, thus reducing concentration on the muscle at hand. Visualization will help you concentrate on execution so that your performance is perfect.
the fact of the matter is...
Studies conducted by J. Stanos, a professor at Harvard University in 1998, on the matter, have proven a definite link between visualization and performance. A group was taught how to use visualization and a placebo group was taught to just think about an unrelated activity. Those who used visualization before performing their task performed nearly perfectly, while the placebo group was only successful 55% of the time.
historical eviden
Historical evidence also proves that visualization increases performance. For a long time now, Russian, Turkish and Bulgarian power-lifters have been using visualization before lifting heavy weights. Have you ever seen a powerlifter before he lugs a load three times his weight over his head?
They stand over their charge for a minute staring blankly at nothing. They are not wasting time; they are performing the act in their head from start to finish. Bulgarians aren't stronger people by nature, yet they are a superpower in weightlifting. True, they are so good at what they do because they have technique, but they also have the mind-set to back it up, and that's what matters.
Have you seen high jumpers in the Olympics before making a jump? They also visualize their attempts before performing the act, sometimes going as far as telegraphing the whole jump while standing still -- footing, leap and turn -- right then and there on television. In fact, trainers now use visualization on a regular basis around the world. It has become a standard approach to raise performance.
Okay, so how do you do it? I visualize in 3 steps. First I relax, then I concentrate and finally, I visualize the act.
relax max
You have to relax before you can concentrate; I stand still in a place I won't be bothered. When bench pressing, I just sit on the bench. I get a steady breathing rhythm going, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth using my stomach.
Clear your thoughts. There is no point trying to visualize a bench press when you are thinking of the fight you had with your girlfriend the night before. Tuning out ensures you keep your level of concentration even when there are distractions around you. Some people know how to do it, some don't. Just work on it.
visualize your goal
Now comes the most important part. First, start by visualizing yourself sitting (or standing) just as you are, at the moment you start the visualization process. For example, if you are sitting on the bench about to do your chest, see yourself sitting down concentrating about to bench press.
Next, recreate the conditions around you in your mind to the best of your ability, as if you were there at the moment. Try to hear the sounds you will hear -- the clashing of weights in other parts of the gym, the smells you will inhale, the chilly feeling of the bench as it first touches your skin, then the coldness of the bar as you grab it. Picture yourself lying on the bench, about to lift. Envision yourself breathing and feeling pre-set anxiety.
Finally, visualize a perfect repetition -- not a perfect set. Picture lifting the bar; imagine the sensation it will have on your muscles. Imagine slowly lowering it and stopping at the chest, without locking your elbows or resting the bar on your body.
Visualize feeling a perfect burn, a perfect rip and a perfect press as you push the bar up and hold for a second, crunching at the peak, again without locking your elbows. Imagine a perfect set, with all its pain and glory, visualizing each rep one by one, then stop imagining and do it for real. Now you will have a mind to body connection.
After having envisioned a perfect set performed in your mind, your body will have something concrete to fall back on, and this is what improves your performance. It's all about feel.
It would not be correct to call visualization nothing more than a reminder of how to do everything correctly, but it does work on the same premise.
Different muscles can more or less perform the same task, like triceps and interior-lats take some of the workload while bench-pressing if you don't do your chest exercise correctly. Visualization will help you isolate each rep on the muscle at hand.
can you see it?
Visualizing might seem like a chore or something that would take too much time to execute, but rest assured, the act only takes a few seconds. Once you get used to it, visualizing will only take a moment, but the results will definitely show. This applies to many aspects of life, not just working out. Visualization is definitely not a myth. Now you know how to do it too. But here's a quick rundown:
1-- Relaxation
Loosen Breathe (inhale through nose, exhale through mouth) 2-- Concentration Clear your thoughts Tune out (don't let things around you distract you)
3-- Visualization See yourself sitting before the rep See yourself getting in position Feel the outside sensations beforehand (smells, sounds) See yourself doing one full rep
Have you ever had one of those days at the gym where things just didn't feel right? Your reps sucked, your performance sucked and you always seemed to stop short of the "zone."
You ate the right things before working out, you weren't tired and you didn't overlap any muscles from previous days, yet things just didn't go the way you wanted them to. Maybe your problem is visualization, or lack thereof.
We've all heard self-motivational speakers talk about visualization and how it made them the people they are today. Setting definite goals you see yourself achieving is fine and dandy, but I am not talking about that kind of visualization. I am talking about the visualization you do before an act, the kind that affects your performance on an immediate level.
visualize victory
The theory is simple: visualize what you are about to do and your performance will increase. Picture hitting a perfect drive or doing an amazing set at the gym and, believe it or not, you will do it better than if you didn't visualize the act beforehand.
According to the AOA (American Optometric Association), researchers have discovered that people use the same areas of the brain when they perform and/or visualize an action in their mind. So there is "some" kind of link between the two things.
How will visualization improve your performance? Depending on what you do, a person's performance will increase by creating a better connection between the mind and body. The mind is, after all, connected to the body. Most actions performed in fitness are not instinctive but rather cognitive, so connecting with what you do is important.
Visualization helps you concentrate on the task at hand at its optimal level. This is especially true in sports because many things can go wrong while performing an act, like a golf swing or a bench press.
When you bench press, your elbows could be too far in front, your back could be arched and you could be unwillingly spreading the weight around your skeletal frame, thus reducing concentration on the muscle at hand. Visualization will help you concentrate on execution so that your performance is perfect.
the fact of the matter is...
Studies conducted by J. Stanos, a professor at Harvard University in 1998, on the matter, have proven a definite link between visualization and performance. A group was taught how to use visualization and a placebo group was taught to just think about an unrelated activity. Those who used visualization before performing their task performed nearly perfectly, while the placebo group was only successful 55% of the time.
historical eviden
Historical evidence also proves that visualization increases performance. For a long time now, Russian, Turkish and Bulgarian power-lifters have been using visualization before lifting heavy weights. Have you ever seen a powerlifter before he lugs a load three times his weight over his head?
They stand over their charge for a minute staring blankly at nothing. They are not wasting time; they are performing the act in their head from start to finish. Bulgarians aren't stronger people by nature, yet they are a superpower in weightlifting. True, they are so good at what they do because they have technique, but they also have the mind-set to back it up, and that's what matters.
Have you seen high jumpers in the Olympics before making a jump? They also visualize their attempts before performing the act, sometimes going as far as telegraphing the whole jump while standing still -- footing, leap and turn -- right then and there on television. In fact, trainers now use visualization on a regular basis around the world. It has become a standard approach to raise performance.
Okay, so how do you do it? I visualize in 3 steps. First I relax, then I concentrate and finally, I visualize the act.
relax max
You have to relax before you can concentrate; I stand still in a place I won't be bothered. When bench pressing, I just sit on the bench. I get a steady breathing rhythm going, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth using my stomach.
Clear your thoughts. There is no point trying to visualize a bench press when you are thinking of the fight you had with your girlfriend the night before. Tuning out ensures you keep your level of concentration even when there are distractions around you. Some people know how to do it, some don't. Just work on it.
visualize your goal
Now comes the most important part. First, start by visualizing yourself sitting (or standing) just as you are, at the moment you start the visualization process. For example, if you are sitting on the bench about to do your chest, see yourself sitting down concentrating about to bench press.
Next, recreate the conditions around you in your mind to the best of your ability, as if you were there at the moment. Try to hear the sounds you will hear -- the clashing of weights in other parts of the gym, the smells you will inhale, the chilly feeling of the bench as it first touches your skin, then the coldness of the bar as you grab it. Picture yourself lying on the bench, about to lift. Envision yourself breathing and feeling pre-set anxiety.
Finally, visualize a perfect repetition -- not a perfect set. Picture lifting the bar; imagine the sensation it will have on your muscles. Imagine slowly lowering it and stopping at the chest, without locking your elbows or resting the bar on your body.
Visualize feeling a perfect burn, a perfect rip and a perfect press as you push the bar up and hold for a second, crunching at the peak, again without locking your elbows. Imagine a perfect set, with all its pain and glory, visualizing each rep one by one, then stop imagining and do it for real. Now you will have a mind to body connection.
After having envisioned a perfect set performed in your mind, your body will have something concrete to fall back on, and this is what improves your performance. It's all about feel.
It would not be correct to call visualization nothing more than a reminder of how to do everything correctly, but it does work on the same premise.
Different muscles can more or less perform the same task, like triceps and interior-lats take some of the workload while bench-pressing if you don't do your chest exercise correctly. Visualization will help you isolate each rep on the muscle at hand.
can you see it?
Visualizing might seem like a chore or something that would take too much time to execute, but rest assured, the act only takes a few seconds. Once you get used to it, visualizing will only take a moment, but the results will definitely show. This applies to many aspects of life, not just working out. Visualization is definitely not a myth. Now you know how to do it too. But here's a quick rundown:
1-- Relaxation
Loosen Breathe (inhale through nose, exhale through mouth) 2-- Concentration Clear your thoughts Tune out (don't let things around you distract you)
3-- Visualization See yourself sitting before the rep See yourself getting in position Feel the outside sensations beforehand (smells, sounds) See yourself doing one full rep
