TOTAL LIFETIME FITNESS

Visualization - Getting the Most Out of Your Strength Training Part 2

September 24th, 2008 Posted by David Lemberg

Great athletes prepare for their moment by reviewing their routine or action on their mental projection screen. Seeing the activity in their minds – seeing everything clearly, in detail – trains their bodies to perform at the highest level.

Professional athletes know how to visualize. Professional dancers, competitive gymnasts, figure skaters, and competitive platform divers know how to visualize.

Why do they do it? Extensive research and experience have shown that visualization is a powerful form of preparation. Your mind and your body cannot tell the difference between the imagined activity and the real thing. Visualization is your personal virtual reality - always on and always available.

Ben Hogan, one of golf’s greatest champions, often said he’d never hit a stroke until he clearly visualized the flight of the ball and its perfectly placed landing. When teaching professionals and beginners, Hogan always recommended “seeing” the ball hit perfectly.

Free throw–shooting in basketball is all about mental preparation. Many studies – some going back 50 years – have shown that players who practiced shooting perfect free throws in their “mind’s eye” did much better in practice and in game situations than their teammates who hadn’t done the visualizations.

How does this help us in strength training? And why is visualization such a powerful technique? Here’s the answer – Visualization digs a deep neurologic groove and helps your nerve–muscle connections get much smarter, much faster.

Your ability to lift weights and get stronger are not only a function of muscle size. Much more importantly, getting stronger is a function of how many neurologic connections each muscle fiber has. The more neurologic connections it has, the more efficiently a muscle fiber can contract. More efficient contractions equals lifting heavier weight. Visualization builds more neurologic connections quickly.

Of course, strength training is not really about the weight. Strength training is about doing the exercises correctly, using proper form, and developing strength over time. Visualization speeds up this process. As you progress, you’ll notice you’re naturally getting stronger. And, you’re naturally getting more shaped, toned, and ripped. Visualization makes all the difference.

Visualization means picturing the anatomy of the prime mover and the action it’s performing in your mind. While you’re doing the rep, your focus needs to be on the mental picture you’re creating. You see the muscle, see the motion, and see the weight being lifted and returned to the starting position, all under control.

Visualization doesn’t slow you down in any way. You do your visualizations as you’re doing the reps. Get a copy of The Anatomy Coloring Book – a lead-the-field book which has been around for 20 years – and spend an hour learning about your body. The next time you go to the gym you’ll be ready to begin visualizing.

Of course, visualization is a key part of success in doing core exercises and aerobic exercises, too. Once you get your mental machinery running smoothly, visualization naturally becomes part of everything you do, in all facets of your life.