How Visualisation Can Unlock New Strength and Maximise Your Performance
When strongman Mitchell Hooper set up to complete a Flintstone Barbell – a behind-the-neck overhead press using two giant rocks – in the qualifying rounds of the 2022 World’s Strongest Man, he was slightly apprehensive. He’d never attempted the move before, and as the day went on, that feeling came up again and again and again. ‘I’d never, ever done any of those events before,’ he says. ‘I’d never practised them, never even seen some of them – never pulled a truck or even worn the harness. And then there’s this moment where the crowd goes quiet as the bar’s on my shoulders, and then someone screams, “Don’t fuck it up!”’
Hooper made the lift, but the whole experience left him feeling unprepared. He went on to finish eighth overall in the finals – then went home and turned to a training technique that’s been helping elite athletes succeed for decades.
Sportsmen (and women) have probably been picturing themselves running flawless races and hoisting trophies overhead for as long as competition has been a thing, but using visualisation as a deliberate training aid seems to be a more recent innovation. As with so many performance enhancers – legal and otherwise – Soviet coaches were early experimenters, using hypnotherapy as early as the 1960s and reportedly carrying out studies into the technique’s efficacy during the 1980 Winter Olympics. Cus D’Amato encouraged a young Mike Tyson to visualise full fights against fighters such as Muhammad Ali – talking him through round-by-round dismantlings of the all-time greats as a confidence-building exercise. More recently, Chris Froome worked out his own version of the technique during his training for the Tour De France.
‘I figured out that if I could go and see specific parts of the route that I knew would be critical to winning the race overall, I could spend the next few weeks or however long until the race actually started just replaying in my mind exactly what those roads looked like, where the steep bits were and so on,’ says the four-time champ. ‘So then I could visualise what I’d do on race day, simulate the effort I’d put in when other people started to struggle and I would know, okay, when I hit that point, no matter how my legs are feeling, I’m going to just open up the gas. And then when it came to the day, and that point in the race,
it just felt like I was on autopilot – I almost didn’t even feel my legs. Nine times out of 10, it went exactly the way I pictured it.’
But if you’re not facing down the Alpe d’Huez or a straight right from Larry Holmes, could visualisation help your finishing on the five-a-side pitch or on the home straight of your local parkrun? And what about if you never stray closer to competition than checking what the chap before you used on the lat pull-down? Time to open your mind…
To start with, it’s probably helpful to make a distinction between the different types of visualisation, and what they’re useful for. Some athletes – such as Froome and Hooper – use the process to prepare for challenging moments that are likely to come up in competition, whether that means a tough climb or a tougher crowd. Others use it to make sure they hit the field ready to give their best.
‘I got to a point with rugby where I just wasn’t enjoying that period before games, because I was so nervous about the possibilities of things that could happen,’ says Leicester Tigers full back Anthony Watson. ‘But I’d always kind of visualised how I wanted games to go, so I started working with a psychologist called Don McPherson. One of the first things he did was create an MP3 for me that guided me through how I wanted my body to feel, and how I wanted to think about the game. I loved how free it made me feel afterwards – I didn’t spend any unnecessary time worrying about the game after that, I had this dedicated period to concentrate on what I wanted to do, and then beyond that it was like I was just back to living my life again.’
Other athletes, such as world champion bull rider Kody Lostroh, use visualisation to practise movements that are too difficult or dangerous to repeat frequently in training. ‘The inherent danger of the sport and the wear and tear on a rider’s body make it impractical to get on a large quantity of bulls every day – so visualisation helps pick up the slack,’ says Lostroh. ‘A rider cannot think his way through a ride – the conscious mind is too slow. So when I learned how to focus the visualisation down to a very vivid, consistent task, it was a major part of my winning a world championship.’
For athletes in less extreme sports, of course, picturing more mundane moments can still help to stifle pre-race jitters. ‘With athletes preparing for their first race, talking them through what to expect in detail can help calm their nerves,’ says running coach James Rodgers. So being ready for the absolute basics, like thinking about where and how you’re going to warm up, or even where to park the car, might help – but so can a more in-depth approach, as Rodgers explains. ‘If you visualise the course, terrain and other runners, the actual race or workout situation feels familiar and less daunting.’
But visualisation can also be used to rehearse specific movements that athletes are trying to improve, or to fine-tune their technique, and this is where the evidence that it’s actually doing something useful has been strongest for longest. One of the most-cited studies in the field, for example, focused on a small group of basketball players who were told to mentally rehearse the process of taking free throws – showing marked improvements afterwards. More conclusively, a 2007 study found that tennis players who visualised returning serves as well as practising the movement in real life improved more than a control group who only put in time on the court. So why does this happen – and what’s actually going on in the body while you’re visualising?
‘Research has shown that mental imagery of a specific movement produces more efficient firing patterns in your neurons,’ says neurologist Thompson Maesaka. ‘When you imagine movement, an area of the brain known as the supplementary motor cortex talks with the cerebellum to preemptively plan ahead for the movement, and that preparation allows for better muscle synergies and more synchronisation of the prime movers.’
This also means that visualisation can work to help you to retain, or possibly even gain, strength. In a 2004 study, for instance, volunteers were taught to perfect ‘mental contractions’ of the flexor muscles in their elbows, and, after 12 weeks of training, saw a decent increase in strength. It’s also possible to use visualisation for injury rehab. A 2014 study immobilised participants’ hands and wrists to make their muscles (mildly) atrophy, but half were told to form ‘mental imagery’ of strong muscular contractions every week and lost significantly less strength than the control group.
So: prepares you for events? Check. Lets you gain strength outside the gym, work through injury and maybe even improve your three-pointers? Check, check and check. If there’s a downside to visualisation, it might be that you can never quite imagine everything that might happen.
‘Modern pitching involves too many variables to accurately visualise every scenario, and over-reliance on mental rehearsal can lead to overthinking at the plate,’ says Thomas Summers, a kinesiologist who trains MLB players at training centre Summers Method Performance. ‘True preparation comes from real practice, not imagined outcomes, and there’s a risk of spending more time visualising success than actually working toward it. Visualisation without concrete action can waste time that would be better spent on just doing the work.’
It’s also probably a good idea to heed Prussian field marshal Helmuth von Moltke’s reminder that no plan survives contact with the enemy – or at least, the other five-a-side team – and make sure whatever you’re visualising isn’t all flowers and rainbows. ‘Long-distance running involves a lot of discomfort management at certain points, and in the past that’s led me to cut time trials short,’ says running coach Rodgers. ‘Now, I take a few minutes before training to visualise my route or my run, including the moments when I know it’s going to feel really tough: that’s what helps me finish strong.’
Ultimately, and as with so many things, the best approach probably depends on your goals, your life situation and how much time you can devote to all this stuff in the first place. If you’re injured, immobilised or can’t devote as much time to the gym as you’d like, visualisation might be the best way to keep yourself in the game until things change. If you’re looking for a little extra edge in your lifts or your next competition, it might be a better use of your time than yet another night looking for something to watch on Netflix. For Hooper, it was just what he needed to come back stronger and win World’s Strongest Man 2023. ‘You aren’t going to feel like you’re at full strength every day,’ he says. ‘But mentally, if you can be on your game all the time, which I think is possible, then you can have a very high level of consistency – and that’s what matters over the long term.’ Okay, maybe strength isn’t all in the mind – but if getting your head straight can help you pull a truck, it’s got to be worth a try.
Athlete Approved Visualisation Techniques
Your quick-start guide to success with visualisation – no imaginary friends required.
Form an Orderly Cue
‘When I get ready for a big lift, I use one set-up cue and one movement cue,’ says Hooper. ‘I focus on the set-up just as I’m ready to go, but the movement I visualise ahead of time. So in a deadlift, the set-up might be where my feet are in relation to the bar, but the movement cue could be patience off the ground so I don’t lose the position of my back. On a log press, it could be to just squeeze my elbows together as I press to keep them high in the rack position.’
Prepare for the Worst
‘For endurance running, holding a consistent pace is crucial,’ says running coach Rodgers. ‘Visualisation helps me mentally prepare for maintaining that pace throughout – even during the tougher moments.’ If you’re getting ready for a big race, try to check out the toughest sections of the course online, imagine how you’re going to feel during them – and decide ahead of time that you’re going to push through.
Get in the Zone
‘One trick I’ve used with athletes is to measure their heart rate immediately before competition, then get their heart rate to match it exactly during visualisations,’ says Dr Maesaka. ‘This helps the athlete get a more practical “feel” for how the event’s going to be.’ Getting ready for your first Brazilian jiu-jitsu win? Do a few burpees before you run through the game plan in your head – it might just help you perform better under pressure.
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