Can you see it?
My husband Dan will be the first to tell
you that no one knows less about sports then this girl. I don’t know if my Dad was ever really into
sports or if he just gave up with five women in the house and one television. Sadly, the only game that uses a ball I can
honestly say I know all the rules to is kick ball. Despite my absolute confusion on what a “two
point conversion” is (to which sport that applies I am uncertain); I have
always been fascinated by the concept that professional athletes use of
visualization. This week I asked the
question, “Can professional athlete visualization techniques help me on this
journey?” Quite honestly this question
came to me while I was driving into work on Monday morning, thrilled with a 3
pound loss from last week but in a slight mini-unnecessary, yet happening
anyway, panic about this new week. Is my
losing streak about to end? What more
can I do?
Years ago I saw Oprah interview basketball
great Phil Jackson. I was amazed by his
insight, philosophy and discussion about how he led the Bulls and Lakers to so
many championships. I had to Google the exact number and he’s won eleven as a
coach! Even a non-sport enthusiast such
as myself, knows that is amazingly impressive!
Phil talked at great length about how he would make his teams meditate
and use visualization techniques. They
would visualize playing the game, making every basket and working as a team. I thought of his interview this weekend after
my 3 pound post vacation weight loss.
Originally I thought to visualize success
for me would be to see the scale and seeing the number I want to see next
Saturday or actually seeing the magic “goal” number appearing on the
scale. Let’s face it, if you were an
avid “Biggest Loser” watcher you would know that there is often a pattern of a
small or no weight loss following a big loss.
Clearly 3 pounds is not a lot by “Biggest Loser” standards but it made
me nervous going into this new week.
Upon researching more about visualization techniques used by athletes,
the goal isn’t to just
imagine yourself already standing on the podium holding your medal, or in my
case standing on the scale with the magic number appearing, but instead imagine
yourself putting in the work and doing the actions necessary to really get there. There is so much more to this from what I
always thought it was.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle.
When I was 26
years old I created a “picture map”
cutting out pictures from magazines of things I wanted in my life. This original picture map now lives in a
memory box stashed away in a closet. This
picture map was created over 25 years ago and almost everything on there has
come to be. Big things and little
things; it’s incredible! This
visualization is different from that.
It’s more of a mental exercise that conditions your mind and body to act
accordingly in the real world. I’ve learned
that the visualization technique used by athletes for this purpose is a lot
different from manifesting your destiny.
I discovered
several studies about how neuroscience has proven that mental visualization an
athlete uses helps condition new behaviors.
Evidence shows that if we imagine ourselves doing a habit it activates
the same regions of the brain as if we were physically doing it. Research also shows we can mentally rehearse
an activity to make it a habit stronger and faster so it becomes automatic. Several articles talked about how the goal is
for athletes to get into the zone so they perform in a peak state.
Many of you
may already know that Dan is a power lifter and is training to compete in the
World Championship competition. Right now he is
training for a state meet in December to begin his road to qualify. This visualization stuff seemed like
something that would be right up his alley so I asked him questions to see if
he’s ever done this. WOW- his face lit
up and he shared that he’s done this sort of thing for years, going all the way
back to his football days. He went on to
explain that he visualizes a perfect squat, a perfect bench press and a perfect
dead lift, constantly. Driving down the
road it’s on his mind and in the gym while working out. Just like the articles said, he incorporates
all his senses- hearing the judge’s signals, the smell, sounds and feel of the
gym. He does it so many times that when
he steps into the squat rack on heavy squat day, he’s already performed it
perfectly millions of times and his body goes into auto pilot. No thinking- no doubts - just do. He described how he goes into the zone,
too. Often he sees white and time stands
still. He described it as having an out
of body experience.
I am not
seeking to become a world class champion at weight loss, I just want a firm
tush and thinner thighs but I know this skill can help me. I just know it! Dan helped give me ideas on how to apply this
to what I am doing. I put together a
plan of what I started doing this week to incorporate visualization into my
daily routine. Here’s a breakdown. I plan to do this every night right before
falling asleep. Here’s what I started to
do:
Relax – take a
deep breath. Picture myself going to the
gym. Picture myself making healthy food
choices. Picture myself hitting the button
on “myfitnesspal” that I’ve met my calorie goals for the day. I see myself working out, pushing myself,
increasing the weights and increasing the reps I’m doing. I picture myself doing cardio and increasing
the intensity. I have tons of energy and
push myself a little bit further each time.
I picture myself getting thinner, firmer and defined; no saggy skin, no
wiggly thighs. I step on the scale and
see the number going down- down- down.
I feel like
this is yet another tool and idea to apply to help me on my journey. If it works for real athletes on their
performance, why can’t it work for my inner (non-sport knowledgeable) athlete? The power of the brain is something that I
don’t think we’ve even touched the surface on as humans. I believe in the power of prayer and I
believe in the power of our minds. God
created these brilliant minds; it’s time we start to tap into what we are truly
capable of.
Years ago I cut out Oprah’s face and taped
her on my picture map hoping to one day get tickets to see her show on one of
our trips to Chicago to visit Dan’s family.
I tried for years to get tickets but it never worked and then her show
cancelled. I figured this would be a
picture map fail… A few years ago I opened her magazine and she was going on a
speaking tour. In a few months was going
to be in Seattle where we were living. I rushed to get tickets
and got my chance to see her, live and in person!
It was an amazing experience I will never forget. I realized at that moment that the power of
visualizing what you want in life is real.
Our lives are a result of the choices we make, day by day.
Comments