Even after many years working in the field of mental performance
I am still in awe of the extraordinary power of the mind. Certainly the one
thing that seems to unite elite sports performers, no matter what their chosen
sport is, is that they all possess unusually
vivid imaginations. It is what allows them to see, hear and feel things that us
mere mortals are not able to that sets them apart in a competitive situation.
One way of exploiting a powerful imagination is to use
mental rehearsal techniques essentially to train the mind and body to perform
skills successfully. When we imagine performing a skill, we actually fire up an
almost identical pattern of neural response to when we are actually performing
the skill itself. When Rory Mcllroy is lining up a golf shot, he mentally
rehearses it by using all of his senses to imagine the look, sound and feeling
of the shot in his mind before actually playing the shot. As he imagines it, he
fires up the required neurons and muscles that are involved in the shot,
effectively programming it in to his mental computer. The more vividly he imagines the shot, the
better the programming is.
One study carried out in Cleveland, Ohio compared people who
went to the gym with people who imagined being at the gym and having a virtual
workout. The participants who actually
went to the gym over a 3 month period increased their muscle mass by an average
of 30%. Interestingly, the participants who only did the virtual workout and
lifted no weights at all, still managed to increase their muscle mass by an
average 13.5%.
So if you want that six pack before you go away for your
summer holidays, all you have to do is use a little imagination!
Andy Barton
Performance consultant
No comments:
Post a Comment