Making positive and lasting changes in your life that will affect your health takes time thinking about the “m” word – motivation. But that’s not all.

Believing that you can leap barriers and achieve your goals—also is the ticket to success. And one powerful tool for building self-confidence is visualization, fitness experts say.

This easy technique involves imagining the accomplishment of the changes or goals you're working to achieve. It is a process of "training" purely within the mind.

By visualizing in detail your successful completion  of each step in your get-fit program,  you create, modify, or strengthen brain pathways that are important in coordinating your muscles for the activities,  fitness experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say.

Of course, you're wasting your time if you visualize getting fit in your mind and don't actually start exercising and eating right, the experts add.

Useful in many areas

But visualization is useful in many areas of life—from avoiding anxiety during a stressful situation, to performing well during competition. You also may find it a powerful tool in strength training.

Try these eight ways to visualize success in getting in shape:

•  Identify the goal you want to visualize, such as  walking a golf course or working out in the gym or even at home.

•  Find a comfortable place to sit and relax.

•  Eliminate all distractions—turn off the phone, television, etc.

•  Close your eyes and focus on feeling relaxed. Free your mind of intruding thoughts.

•  Imagine yourself on the golf course, in the gym or on the treadmill in your den. Create a picture in your mind of the place—the sights, sounds, and smells. Imagine a perfect day, warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze. Picture yourself with your favorite golfing or workout friends, talking and laughing. Now visualize yourself starting on your way, passing the golf carts or weight machines, and setting off to walk the whole course or getting in a good workout

•  Take a moment to feel the pleasure and excitement of achieving this goal.

•  Imagine yourself walking from hole to hole, enjoying the sunshine, the views, the fresh air, or working out in the gym, the good company.

•  Visualize yourself finishing the course or workout, and feeling great, both physically and emotionally.

Thinking yourself stronger

These tips aren’t pop psychology. For instance, you can think yourself stronger – literally, say researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, who have studied the effects of visualization on strength training.

For instance, competitive athletes often use visualization to help give them an edge over their opponents. By imagining every aspect of a race or performance, from start to finish, they bring themselves one step closer to making it a reality, the researchers explain. 
 
The clinic's studies suggest this same technique may apply to other people getting fit and strengthening muscles. Dr. Vinoth Ranganathan, a clinic researcher, says he found that people increased their strength by up to 35 percent just visualizing success, possibly because of improvements in the brain’s ability to send signals to the muscles.

''We believe that anyone who has difficulty doing physical exercises can use our mental training method to improve the muscle strength they have lost or maintain the muscle strength they have,'' Ranganathan told the Society for Neuroscience.

Comments on this article? Send them to MyComments.

Nubella News, a division of Marketing Technology Solutions, Inc., offers content intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We encourage our readers to seek prompt medical care for health issues and consult their physicians before starting a new diet, fitness regimen, or medical treatment.