
By the time he turned for the final 50m, he was effectively blind. It is on record that in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, during his signature event, the 200m butterfly, his goggles began to leak. Michael Phelps, the world’s most decorated Olympian, was an early and enthusiastic adopter of visualization techniques. The answer to that question is probably all of them! Certainly, most (if not all) elite athletes use visualization extensively and routinely as part of their preparation for competition. Which successful athletes are using visualization techniques? However, it’s also something you can start working on alone, too.
#VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESS PLUS#
They have in-depth knowledge of the technique plus knowledge of the individual to know which buttons should be pushed to give the biggest benefit. What an athlete should concentrate on is often guided by a sport psychologist or the sportsperson’s personal coach. What’s the weather like, where is the wind coming from, what can you smell, and what can you hear? What does your body experience, and how does it feel to win? So an athlete is encouraged to engage all their senses when going through this exercise. The closer you get to reality, the better. Or it could be far more complex: an entire race or ski run.ĭespite its name, visualization is far more than a purely visual exercise. The action could be a short one: for instance, a tennis shot, golf swing, baseball pitch or football pass. What is visualization?Īt its simplest, visualization is imagining an action or situation in the first person, and seeing it through to a successful outcome. Anything that can give you an edge has to be seized and made part of your training regime, and the importance of psychology cannot be overlooked. Sports have never been more competitive than they are today, and winning margins are becoming ever finer as we reach the upper echelons of human speed, strength, and agility. More and more athletes in all sports are using and crediting visualization with better outcomes and improved success.


Visualization has become a buzzword in sport psychology, and in other aspects of performance, and for good reason.
