Visualization is important and often underutilized skill for athletes. The University of Chicago conducted a study by Dr. Biasiotto in 2014 on the effectiveness of visualization. The results were amazing.
The study was undertaken by having students take a series of free throws. The percentage of made free throws were recorded. The test subjects were then split into 3 groups and asked to perform three separate tasks over a 30 day period.
Group A was instructed not to touch a basketball for 30 days, no practicing or playing basketball.
Group B practiced shooting free throws for a half hour a day for 30.
Group C was instructed to come to the gym for 30 days and receive proper instruction. They spent a half hour with their eyes closed, simply visualizing hitting every free-throw without ever touching a ball.
After the 30 days all three groups were asked to come back and take the same number of free-throws they had in the beginning of the study.
Group A did not practice at all and showed no improvement
Group B practiced every day and showed a 24% improvement.
Group C, the group that only simply visualized successful free-throws, achieved a 23% improvement without ever touch a basketball.
The measurable improvement in group C that only visualized the exercise was effectively the same as the group who had physically practiced.
If you were to ask Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn about visualization, they would tell you that before they take their run they visualize success.
Why wouldn’t you visualize you skiing the perfect run in your mind’s eye before your run?
Spend a few minutes each and every day. Visualize yourself skiing with perfect technique.