Michael Phelps & The Power of Visualization
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time and Bob Bowman was Phelps’s coach since he was a teenager. Bowan included mental imagery or visualization as a part of Phelps’ mental training.
Bowman instructed Phelps to watch a “mental videotape” of his races every day before he went to sleep and when he woke up in the morning. Phelps would visualize every aspect of swimming a successful race starting from the blocks and culminating in a celebration after the race was won.
Bowman would instruct Phelps to “Put in the videotape” during training sessions to help motivate Phelps to push harder.
Bowman believes that mental imagery helped Phelps develop the habit of success.
“We figured it [imagery] was best to concentrate on these tiny moments of success and build them into mental triggers… It’s more like his habits had taken over. The actual race was just another step in a pattern that started earlier that day and was nothing but victories. Winning became a natural extension.”--Bob Bowman
- Visualize the outcome you want. When you mentally rehearse your performance in your head, make sure you see the event as to how you want it to unfold. If your mental images turn negative, stop the mental tape, rewind and restart then visualize again see the performance you want to see.
- Use all your senses from a first-person perspective. Visualize your sports performance in detail. What would you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste? Feel how your body would feel as you go through the motions of your performance. Try adding in some physical movements that coincide with the visualized images. Feel the excitement of successfully fulfilling your performance goal.
- Practice frequently. Mental rehearsal for athletes is a skill that becomes better with repetition. Practice your visualization or imagery daily.
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