Mental Visualization

BodySculpting · 02-10-2005, 08:07 PM

Has it worked for any of you? Not just in weigh lifting, but using the technique for other things? Give me your two cents on it.

smeton_yea · 02-10-2005, 08:37 PM

Yes.I love doing Visualization/mental reheasal

i see my goal of 230 ripped muscle alreday acheived.Im 220 exactly and gettign closer and closer .it works peroid

Hoss D · 02-10-2005, 08:40 PM

Like I said in another topic, this is what I do:

I wear a cap on my head so low that I can't see anything going on in front of me. I blast the music through my headphones, and close my eyes. In between sets I imagine blasting through the next set. I see everything that angers me in my life flash into a collage of rage as I feel electricity surge through my limbs. I see the kids that called me fat in middle school and sent me home in tears. I see the people close to me that have died or suffered throughout the years. This is what I do between sets. I don't care about the girls, the TV, or laughing at others.

I am there for me, and I am there to grow.

Some people may think that's funny. They may say I'm a drama queen. But that's what I do, and that's what works. Visualizing moving the weight is half the battle.

juanca · 02-10-2005, 08:43 PM

Damn..........well Said Man!

thats exactly how i am in the gym, EXACTLY.....but i wouldve never been able to write it in such a great manner as yourself...

cheers,
JC

Hoss D · 02-10-2005, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juanca

Damn..........well Said Man!

thats exactly how i am in the gym, EXACTLY.....but i wouldve never been able to write it in such a great manner as yourself...

cheers,
JC

Thanks juanca, good to see another lifter who sees lifting on the mental level as well.

I'm not an english major for nothing

Raider926 · 02-10-2005, 08:48 PM

I feel you on using anger to blast through workouts, Alot of the times I close my eyes while I am doing cardio...

MinisterOfLust · 02-10-2005, 08:49 PM

It is helping me a lot. Especially with my confidence. Chicks etc.

wrestle171 · 02-10-2005, 09:02 PM

hell ya, sometimes (especially on my bicep curls, tricep extensions, and hip sled) ill be resting in between a set and then all of a sudden just get a surge of anger and adrenaline and just take off with the reps. i also like to close my eyes and visualize a match in which i got cheated out of a pin twice from bad calls and then get pinned by some illegal moves. not to mention the ref being on that kids side...god im twitching just thinking about that...

BodySculpting · 02-11-2005, 01:09 PM

Visualazation is not really about emotions.

It takes great detail, time and concentration. What most of you are talking about is agression which, without a doubt, can be an awesome factor contributing to great workouts.

$AJ · 02-11-2005, 01:11 PM

yes; trey the opposite - go do some exercise with a realively light weight. now all the while repeat 'this is heavy, i can't do it'....see how many u do.

mike_d · 02-11-2005, 01:33 PM

I find visualization to be the key to my workouts. I work out at school, so it starts when my final class is ending. I do a broad view of my workout in my head, and visualize what I want to accomplish. Its at this time that I choose 2-3 goals for the day, even if their small ones.

I get out of class and make the long walk to the gym. This is when I start getting pumped. I do more of full-over visualization on the walk, thinking about each excercise I'm going to do and how I'm going to tear through it. I try to remember WHY I'm working out and what my goals are. If its leg day I think about how much I want to lose all that fat around my legs and have rock hard quads! If I'm doing arms I think about flexing in the mirror when I wake up in 6 months and grinning at what I see.

Then I get to the change room. This is when I get really serious. I change quickly and talk to noone. I'm at the gym for a reason and its all business! I obviously know my first workout at this point and I think about my warmup and then my first set. I think how much weight I'm going to use and 'see' myself doing the whole set. This is the key for me. I have to be able to 'see' myself lifting the weight properly. I usually do. After getting changed I do a few quick warmup stretches, then do a warmup set or 2. I take enough time between sets to totally visualize my next set, and watch myself doing it. I try not to rest too much between sets, like 1.5 minutes, 2 minutes tops.

If I'm on a bench or something I tend to look at the ground until I'm ready, sometimes even slightly rocking my body pumping myself for the next set. I try and get in and out of the gym in under an hour, (not including changing/showering). Visualization is key for me.

smeton_yea · 02-11-2005, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BodySculpting

Visualazation is not really about emotions.

It takes great detail, time and concentration. What most of you are talking about is agression which, without a doubt, can be an awesome factor contributing to great workouts.

Agreed! ive been doing visulazation for over a year now.Any tips/Hints to make the picture more clearer<like you are actually watching a movie? more details ? etc?

i find sometimes i draw what i want the fill it in....its working for me

Hoss D · 02-11-2005, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BodySculpting

Visualazation is not really about emotions.

It takes great detail, time and concentration. What most of you are talking about is agression which, without a doubt, can be an awesome factor contributing to great workouts.

It's about whatever the individual chooses it to be about. Look at Arnold, alot of the driving force through his workouts was him envisioning his father and how he felt he had never loved him.

lord_hope · 02-11-2005, 07:26 PM

visualisation works as there is a huge correlation with fantasy and actual behaviour. Mental visualiation causes positive instrinic reinforcement and enhances behaviours that will lead towards your goal. It helps to create new neurological pathways that reinforce behaviours that are needed to acheive the goal. Using vivid emotions and imagination when your imaginating your goal also helps to mentally reinforce it.

also it increases individual self-effiacy as well as possibly provoking the use of mirror neurons in the frontal lobe.

Complex motor tasks are more likely to be carried out successfully with imagination as neurons that wd normally fire when youu actually do the act are shown to sometimes fire even in imagination. SO this helps strength the neural behaviour.