Visualisation and Positivity
Visualisation and positivity are extremely important when you are starting out on your fitness journey, or you're wanting to progress.
All professional athletes visualise winning. It is another important motivational driver. Creating a mental image of something positive and motivating such as winning a race, doing a personal best or crossing the finish line for the first time will provide the edge to push that little bit harder. This can and should be applied to a fitness session, it will help give you the positive edge to create a higher state of mental awareness, achievement and a heightened sense of well-being. This will result in the building of confidence and motivation.
Visualisation is extremely important when you are starting out on your fitness journey. Visualise the success that you will have even if it is in just making those adaptations, knowing that after the session you will be stronger, fitter and healthier. Embrace the fact that you are helping yourself become more balanced and focussed.
When you are training and you are looking forward to an event, think of the race; look into the structure of the race and the course; how many are competing and where your own strengths and weaknesses lie. Run yourself through that course and think about how you will appropriately and efficiently run it. Consider how you will start, ideally holding back on your pace slightly until about 40% into the race and then start to increase your pace, passing all those that have gone out too hard, too quick.
Powering through the watercourse may be using the strength you have gained from all those gruelling strength sessions, and coming in through the finish line 1st, 3rd, 22nd or in a time that you would be more than happy with. Visualise it and it is more likely to happen and replicate itself on the day. It will help you adjust to changes and variations on the day whether it be weather, terrain or other factors. Visualisation is something all athletes do to become successful and it’s something that you can use to help you in other areas of your life outside of fitness too.
Top tips to visualisation
1. Practice the technique
If you find visualising hard then you might need to practice. It quite normal to not find it natural to visualise yourself winning or doing well. With practice, you will be able to visualise better and thus increase your confidence, performance and motivation.
Every time you train, try your best to focus on what you want to achieve, and if for example its completing a race or event eventually then visualise yourself running that event and doing better than you could have imagined, possibly your family on the finish line in excitement over your new PB or impressive result.
2. Positive thoughts
Concentrate on positivity, concentrate on the positive effects of the session and the gains that you going to not only make short term but long term and on race day too. Know that every step you take is a move forward in the right progressive direction.
3. Perspective (Associated and Disassociated)
Visualise yourself running as hard as you can look from your own body, finish line closing in and everyone looking on at you wishing you well and impressed by your achievement. Feel the air move from your mouth, feel the tiredness and fatigue in your body and mind yet know you are strong and capable still to the end. Shift perspective to looking at yourself on the sidelines, how strong and capable you look driving forward to the finish line.
4. Expectations
Over expect. If you have done an adventure race and achieved a 1 hour 34 finish as a PB in the past and you feel with all the additional training you could achieve a 1 hour 29 finish, then visualise running the entirety of the race and at halfway looking at your watch and knowing you are good and on track for sub 1 hour 30, thus far you have run the perfect race, and yet as you progress through the race you can increase your capacity because deep down you know you can get 1 hour 24 minutes.
Positivity
At Elite Outdoor Fitness we facilitate a friendly, positive and supportive environment that is conducive to helping those around us realise their fitness targets. Positively working as one big team is part of our organisational DNA. We all have something positive to give or share to help someone, it is fundamentality what we do and one of EOF core aims. We provide a community to help people maximise their fitness gains, maintaining motivation and increasing confidence.
Becoming fit and healthy helps you have more balance throughout the body and mind. It increases your ability to understand yourself at an emotional, strength and power level. Training is about adapting and changing, it’s about positive changes that make you more efficient, stronger, agile and balanced. Life is hard at times.
Getting into training, developing regular healthy behavioural habits will build strength and resilience in your mental and physical state. This positive investment will help in all aspects of your life and give you more energy.
Putting these techniques into practice for every session that you carry out will ensure they are not as demanding as you think, it will increase your confidence in your own ability and with adding in a positive approach to training at all times will reflect positively to your everyday life.
‘Knowing and believing is actualising’
Nick Grainge
Founder
Elite Outdoor Fitness
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