{"id":12978,"date":"2018-02-14T09:17:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T17:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=12978"},"modified":"2018-02-14T09:17:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T17:17:48","slug":"vlog-mental-imagery-powerful-mental-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/vlog-mental-imagery-powerful-mental-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Vlog: Mental Imagery is Your Most Powerful Mental Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As I noted in my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/olympians-know-the-power-of-imagery\/\">most recent blog post<\/a>, Olympians use imagery as a tool to help them prepare themselves mentally to perform their best. In my ninth of 12 vlog segments devoted to athletes and coaches, I describe what mental imagery is (here\u2019s a hint: It\u2019s not just picturing yourself performing in your mind\u2019s eye). I also explain why mental imagery is such a valuable tool (here\u2019s another hint: It triggers your muscle memory just as if you were actually performing in your sport). I call mental imagery the Swiss Army Knife of mental training because it provides so many different benefits to you in your sport efforts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get better technically and tactically (you fool your body into thinking that it\u2019s actually performing in your sport,<\/li>\n<li>Gain confidence (successful images and feelings help you believe in yourself),<\/li>\n<li>Adjust your physical intensity (if you get nervous in real competitions, you\u2019ll get nervous in your imagery and can then calm yourself down),<\/li>\n<li>Improve your focus in training and competitions (imagery takes consistent concentration which will helps you focus better in real life),<\/li>\n<li>Prepare for specific competitions (you can imagine yourself performing your best in the days leading up to the competition).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A key point I want to emphasize is that, like any form of sport training, mental imagery will only be beneficial if you use it consistently. This means making a commitment to incorporating imagery into your training\/practice efforts and your pre-competitive preparations. Additionally, you should approach your imagery away from your sport the same way you do your physical conditioning. <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12843 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Atomic-logo.jpg\" alt=\"Atomic\" width=\"183\" height=\"72\" \/>What makes your conditioning program effective is that it\u2019s structured and consistent. I see imagery as \u201cconditioning for the mind,\u201d meaning you should develop an imagery program away from your sport that is also structured and consistent. Such an imagery program involves scheduling and engaging in imagery several times a week (see below for how to do that).<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about how you can use imagery to maximize your sports performances, watch <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/LzUCgwULzgc\">Prime Sport vlog segment #9<\/a> or watch <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/a7VIQ-2HFZg\">Prime Ski Racing vlog segment #9<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To learn even more about how you can use mental imagery to maximize your performances, I\u2019ve provided below a few tools for you alpine ski racers to use to help you make imagery a regular part of your overall athlete development program. See below links to my downloadable Prime Ski Racing Mental Imagery workbook which provides information about imagery and how you can develop an off-snow imagery program. You will also find links to mp3 audio files that you can download to your phones in which I guide you through imagery sessions for training and SL\/GS and SG\/DH races.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorprimeperformance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Prime-Ski-Racing-101-Race-Imagery-Program.pdf\">Prime Ski Racing Imagery workbook<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorprimeperformance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Ski-race-training-10-16-17.mp3\">Training<\/a> audio file.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorprimeperformance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prime-Ski-Racing-imagery-SL-GS.mp3\">SL\/GS<\/a> audio file.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorprimeperformance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prime-Ski-Racing-imagery-SG-DH.mp3\">SG\/DH<\/a> audio files.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you\u2019re an athlete in another sport, you can download my\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorprimeperformance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Prime-Sport-101-Sport-Imagery-Program.pdf\">Prime Sport Mental Imagery workbook\u00a0<\/a>and create your own imagery mp3 audio files for your sport.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Want to get your mind in the best shape of your life so you can perform your best when it matters most? Take a look at my latest book,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rowman.com\/ISBN\/9781442277090\/Train-Your-Mind-for-Athletic-Success-Mental-Preparation-to-Achieve-Your-Sports-Goals\"><strong><em>Train Your Mind for Athletic Success<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>: Mental Preparation to Achieve Your Sports Goals\u00a0and at my online courses for\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/prime-ski-racing-online-courses\/\"><strong><em>ski racers<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/prime-sport-online-courses\/\"><strong><em>athletes in other sports<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I noted in my most recent blog post, Olympians use imagery as a tool to help them prepare themselves mentally to perform their best. In my ninth of 12 vlog segments devoted to athletes and coaches, I describe what mental imagery is (here\u2019s a hint: It\u2019s not just picturing yourself performing in your mind\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1553,1552],"tags":[782,266,394,153,155,61,638],"class_list":["post-12978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prime-ski-racing-vlog","category-prime-sport-vlog","tag-athletic-success","tag-imagery","tag-mental-training","tag-ski-racing-2","tag-sport-psychology","tag-sports-2","tag-visualization"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}