I Think I can, I Think I can

Visualization can help improve performance, speed recovery from injuries and put you in a winning state of mind -- and body. Here's how

Visualize and get into the right state of mind. John Burgess

By Erika Rasmusson

When I was a senior in high school, I broke my foot in diving practice. It should have been a season-ending injury, but I still was able to train every day. As my teammates spun through the air and sliced into the water, I sat poolside, picturing every flip and twist in my mind. At my coach's command, I also stared at my plaster-encased leg and pictured the broken bone literally fusing together. While it seemed a tad New Age to me at the time, I couldn't argue with success: A month later my cast was off (a week early) and I was able to compete in the last three meets of the season. I even scored a personal best.

That experience taught me what many world-class athletes have long known: Visualization is a powerful technique for improving performance, recovering from injury and hurdling mental blocks. Science backs them up. According to Kenneth Baum, author of The Mental Edge (Perigee) and a sports performance consultant in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., "Research is overwhelmingly showing the reality of micromuscle movement [the subtle firing of muscles during activity] from visualization." Translation: Visualization doesn't just exercise your mind; it also exercises the muscles you use in competition -- and the combination of the two modes is proven to enhance performance more than physical training alone. For example, a study in the journal Behavior Therapy reported that the electrical muscle activity of skiers visualizing a run reflected what occurs during a real-life session on the slopes.

What many athletes, world-class and weekend warriors alike, don't realize is that visualization is a skill -- a skill that, like a free throw or a backhand, needs to be practiced. It's a lesson swimmer Cristina Teuscher, 21, has learned. For Teuscher, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 800-meter freestyle relay, visualization is part of her daily training. "When I'm swimming a set, I think of competing, how I want to feel in the water: high, up," she says. "It's easier to bring out in competition when you practice feeling like that."

Before trying visualization, opt for a success-oriented (not failure-avoidant) goal, says Jack J. Lesyk, director of the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology in Beachwood. A typical failure-avoidant goal is "I hope I don't double-fault on my serve." Success-oriented: "I'm going to ace this serve." The difference? A positive image is more likely to conjure a positive result.

Once you have the right mind-set, your visualization should be realistic, as detailed as possible and multisensory. Envisioning every aspect of your ideal performance -- from what you'll wear to how the venue smells -- will help prepare you for competition.

Yet even with that kind of focus, picturing a perfect performance can be difficult. A common mistake, says Baum, is dissociation -- watching yourself perform rather than simply performing. "If you're watching yourself, you're not making the micromuscle connection between mind and body," he says. "You want to step into the performance as if it's happening now."

Ultimately, though, it comes down to what works for you. Says pro beach volleyball player Liz Masakayan, 34, who began visualizing four years ago, "Whatever comes to my mind and feels comfortable will be most beneficial to me." That can mean practicing the technique three times a day or once a week. Her favorite time is first thing in the morning or during downtime, like waiting in line at a store.

Visualization helped Masakayan regain her competitive mind-set after her sixth knee surgery, in 1995. She was having a hard time dealing with wearing a brace until she pictured its positive aspects. Masakayan visualized how she looked in the brace and how she looked to others. "Our sport is vain," she admits. "It gave me that confidence to think, 'I'm fighting back. It's O.K. for people to see me this way.'"

It's a simple concept: creating an indelible mental image of yourself as a winner. Once you can see your success -- whether it's surviving a Spinning class or winning Olympic gold -- you're that much closer to realizing it.

 
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