Effectiveness Of Positive Imagery During Your Workouts

Everyone has different reasons for working out. Maybe you want to lose weight, get stronger, build muscle mass or just train for general health and fitness.

No matter what your goal is at the gym and beyond, and how dedicated you are, though, sometimes you just get those workouts where you can’t get psyched up or motivated, no matter how hard you try. You really want to plonk yourself down in front of some Netflix with some tortilla chips and that terribly unhealthy commercial salsa dip, but you promised yourself that you wouldn't do that.

For some it’s music, either in the car on the way to the gym, or by the use of headphones and a smartphone. Others prefer to psych themselves up before every set and every training session, almost trying to get as angry and aggressive as possible, thriving off this energy. For others, the opposite helps – remaining calm and relaxed and possible even lifting in silence. Some folks don’t even bother about getting motivated at all. For them, the gym is a necessary evil – they get their exercise routines done on their set workout days and times, and don’t really care if their workouts are slow, mundane and unproductive.

Hopefully you don’t fall into this last category. If you do care about your training results and your body, then chances are you’ve experimented with different types of motivation in the past.

Maybe you found that music was the one for you. When you’re preparing for a new attempt at a maximum deadlift or squat, or gearing up to set a personal best on your 5k time, you’ve got that go-to song that you always put on, knowing it’ll get you in the mood to give it your all.

If you thrive off silence and calm, then perhaps you completely zone out, almost going into a meditative state before you train.

Positive imagery is often advised as a way of helping people to keep on track with their goals. One of the most common examples is with those people who are looking to lose weight.

A trainer or coach would ask their client what their ideal physique is. The client would come up with an idea – perhaps a celebrity, a fitness model or even a friend or relative, and then use their mental images of this person as their inspiration. This works great as a method of staying on track while dieting.

When you go to get that little extra treat from the fridge, think about going for dessert or getting extra portions of your main course, you bring this mental image to the front of your brain, and it gives you the motivation to be honest with yourself, stay strict and keep on track toward your goals.

This is a seriously effective tool for many people, and even helps the most haphazard of yoyo dieters make better choices and keep a positive mindset.

Could this work in the gym too? You bet! Here's how.

Implementing Positive Imagery Into Your Workouts

A study that was published in a 2007 edition of the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” found that positive mental imagery did indeed help athletes to perform better and keep on track.

This is just like our dieting scenario – think of something you desire with all your might and really visualize it, and you’re far more likely to give your all to get there. It’s not rocket science, but it’s true. You can forget your pre-workout stimulant supplements, your motivational music and chest-thumping or back-slapping with your buddies, and put all your focus onto positive thinking instead.

The key is to have plenty of mental images to hand, ready for when you need them.

It’s highly likely you already know more or less exactly what you want to look like or achieve at the gym, but be as specific as possible.

This form of mental imagery is most applicable if you’re training for body composition changes. The prime example would be a bodybuilder.

The same goes for people who desire weight loss too. If you’re tired of your jiggly belly, flabby arms and muffin top, instead of focusing on your negatives, think about someone else’s positives. Grab a copy of a fitness magazine, think back to the time you spent trawling the Internet looking at dieting success stories, or look for someone in the gym to stare at while you grind out another 500 meters on the rowing machine. (Just make sure they don’t catch you looking while you’re drenched in sweat, red-faced and with a grimace so fearsome it looks like you’re getting ready to wrestle a bear.)

A positive mental approach and image applies in terms of sports and gym performance

When you are preparing for a sporting event, or in this scenario, attempting a gym personal best, there is a theory surrounding arousal and performance. If your arousal levels are low, you will not be motivated and your athletic performance will suffer as a result. If your arousal levels are high, on the other hand, you won’t be able to concentrate, or properly execute actions that require control, again meaning your performance suffers. Getting the right level of arousal is critical, and this can be achieved through positive mental imagery.

Let’s take the example of a maximum effort deadlift. If you’re demotivated and thinking negatively, one of two things will happen as you attempt that monumentous task –

1. You approach the bar with negative thoughts. How heavy the weight looks, how you’ve never lifted this much before, how much strain your muscles will be under, and how you probably really can't do this. By doing this, you set yourself up for failure.

2. At the other end of the scale, you could still think negatively, but in in aggressive manner. You start hating the barbell. Think about how you missed this weight last time and get angry. You psyche yourself up so much that you can’t focus on your technique and miss the lift — yes, yet again.

Get the perfect arousal level though, by visualizing yourself completing the lift, thinking about how well your training’s been going and remembering videos and pictures of your favorite lifters, and that bar is almost guaranteed to fly up.

It may sound kind of fruity, but having a positive mental approach and using imagery in your workout can give you more of a boost than a dozen double espressos or the world’s strongest pre-workout drink.