The Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Use: a Sports Trainer’s View

My training in classical ballet taught me the benefits of mental visualization. I would mentally “practice” the choreography and imagine the music and how good it felt to be performing for an audience as much as possible. Studio and stage time were so limited that this practice helped me both to cement the choreography in my mind and to avoid attacks of stage fright.



Now experts routinely tell us to tap into the power of our minds to accomplish all kinds of tasks that are eluding us: from losing weight to winning a race to snapping ourselves out of the doldrums.



As it turns out, such mental exercise has a physiological effect and actually changes the way the brain functions. In his book “Magical Running: a Unique Path to Running Fulfillment” sports psychologist and coach to Olympic athletes, Bobby McGee, explains that, by itself, the body uses only what is required. If we give the body a physical task, it will bring up just the energy needed to accomplish it – nothing more.



If you want to outperform you have to trick your body into recruiting more muscle or producing more serotonin or feeling like you can’t eat another bite. It takes practice but once you get going, you will find that success breeds success. Another benefit to practicing mental visualization is that it helps keeps your mind in peak running form.



Tags: mental training, power of the mind, how to outperform