You Must Image it if You Are to Achieve it: the Power of Imagery

By: Melinda Burris Willms

We’ve all heard it before, to the point that it has become a cinematic cliché, a la Rocky Balboa psyching himself up, repeating “No pain, no pain,” repeatedly, through bloated and bleeding lips, verbally transcending the bodily pain he is obviously in to achieve the physical goal before him. While the philosophy may be a cliché in fiction, it is an absolute fact in the life of an athlete: to compete and win, athletes must be tough, not only physically, but also mentally. Here’s the lowdown on how to up your psychological game.

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The Players in the Mental Game

For generations now, the finest athletes in the world have gathered at the triennial world competition known as the Olympics. These athletes spend years perfecting their physical prowess and maintaining their fitness through a strict training program and regimented diet. However, physical preparation is only half the equation. These athletes have also spent equal time  over those years spent in training mastering their mental game: learned from experts in the field, performance coaches and sports psychologists, who teach these competitors how to harness the power of visualization techniques that enable them to drown out all distractions and focus on the performance at hand.[1]

The Science Behind the Method

Scientific research conducted over the last several decades in the form of evidence-based case studies have established the powerful effect mental training in the form of visualization can have on quality of performance.

1. Prestigious sports psychologist, Richard Suinn, was an early advocate of visualization techniques. Beginning his work with Olympic athletes in 1972, Suinn made a study of downhill skiers and discovered that by merely asking them to imagine they were skiing, their brains reacted by sending out electrical signals “comparable to when the athlete was actually skiing, and the muscles reacted similarly as well.”[2]
2. A study led by Exercise Physiologist, Guang Yue, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, involved requesting volunteer participants to imagine they were flexing their biceps as strenuously as they could. Remarkably, following a few weeks of merely “visualizing weight training, the subjects showed a 13.5 percent increase in strength.”[3]
3. Similarly, the University of Chicago conducted a study in which it requested subjects to visualize themselves shooting free throws over a one month period. At the conclusion of the study, participants had increased their shooting average by 23 percent.[4]
4. A French study focused on long jumpers and had the participants not only visualize the jumps but go through the physical motions necessary to perform the jumps. Jumpers who participated in the study improved their performance in competition by 45 percent.[5]

This last study, with the jumpers using imagery as well as physical movement simulating the actual task is in line with the most current neuroscience theory of Functional Equivalence. According to the Functional Equivalence concept, when an individual effectively uses imagery, areas in the brain analogous to those that actually engage when the person is actively participating in the actual task, are activated.

For example, if a hurdler images him or herself clearing a barrier, the parts of the brain that become active when the hurdler actually jumps the hurdle will engage while the hurdler images the event.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham explain:

“It is thought that this activation through imagery can strengthen the neural activity which would occur during execution of the movement and consequently improve motor output and sporting success. This activation of neural areas during imagery can also lead to other physiological responses which are reflective of the actual situation such as increases in heart rate and ventilation frequency, and muscle activity.”[6]

This mental process, often referred to interchangeably as imagery, visualization, or mental rehearsal, has now become standard practice. It is important to note that experts and athletes well-versed in the practice prefer the term imagery and see the use of this descriptive term as an important distinction for two reasons:

1. Because imagery goes beyond the visual to create a comprehensive image that heightens all of the senses, allowing the athlete to experience the sounds, smells, tastes and even the tactile qualities of the competitive environment. Therefore, the term visualization does not do justice to the all-encompassing nature of the true imaging experience.
2. Likewise, mental rehearsal does not properly define the experience. More than a mere rehearsal, imagery is often used as a motivational tool. Take for example, an athlete who has a history of becoming nervous just before competition begins; this athlete could benefit from imaging themselves not flying through pre-competition without anxiety, but instead, realistically imaging themselves feeling the signs of anxiety they normally experience — heart palpitations, sweaty hands, dry mouth, etc., but then image themselves going on to turn in a stellar performance regardless. The lesson the athlete takes away is that these symptoms are something he or she must work through in order to achieve the ultimate goal of peak performance.

“If they can see it, form it, and make it happen, that imagery work is what makes it happen.”

Troy Dumais, a diver who represented the United States on four Olympic teams, in Sidney in 2000, Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012, asserts visualization techniques allow athletes to hone in on the precise moment and the immediate challenge before them. One method often utilized is to focus on breathing to the extent that the noise of the crowds, the intrusion of the television cameras, and the thoughts of what is at stake, and with it, the mounting pressures to succeed, are cast aside.

Interestingly, Dumais likens the process to that of a fine art painting:

“A painter doesn’t know the overall finished painting. They have an idea. If they can see it, form it, and make it happen, that imagery work is what makes it happen. It’s the same thing with diving. If you can see yourself hitting a dive, the chances of you hitting a dive increase greatly.”[7]

How Aspiring Athletes Can Up Their Game

In theory, imagery can be as simple as athletes imagining themselves in their specific arena of competition successful executing a difficult maneuver flawlessly.  To truly take advantage of all that imagery offers, sports psychologists and performance coaches urge athletes to dig deeper, pushing themselves to go beyond imaging the desired outcome to immerse themselves mentally in not only the physical action, but in exploring the sensory perception, experiencing the sights, sounds, and smells, immersing themselves as deeply in the imagery as possible to allow the brain to simulate that response and initiate those physiological responses.

To use imagery effectively, you need an active imagination, concentration, and a drive to improve and succeed.

Notes

1. 1. Rick Maese. “For Olympians, Seeing (in their minds) is Believing (it can happen),” The Washington Post, (July 28, 2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/for-olympians-seeing-in-their-minds-is-believing-it-can-happen/2016/07/28/6966709c-532e-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html?utm_term=.5c44812020a5

[2]. Rick Maese, 1.

[3]. Ibid.

[4]. Ibid.

[5]. Ibid.

[6]. University of Birmingham. “An Introduction to Imagery: Notes for Teachers,” 2010, p. 1, https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/sportex/imagery/Introductiontoimagery-teachersnotes.pdf

[7]. Rick Maese.

Bibliography

Maese, Rick. :For Olympians, Seeing (in their minds) is Believing (it can happen).” The Washington Post, (July 28, 2016). https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/for-olympians-seeing-in-their-minds-is-believing-it-can-happen/2016/07/28/6966709c-532e-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html?utm_term=.5c44812020a5

University of Birmingham. “An Introduction to Imagery: Notes for Teachers.” 2010. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-les/sportex/imagery/Introductiontoimagery-teachersnotes.pdf

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