Building your body takes more than just lifting weights twice per week and eating foods that are high in protein. By visualizing the muscles in your body successfully lifting weight, you can greatly enhance your weight lifting program. According to Total Lifetime Fitness, visualization creates a deep neurological groove and helps your nerve--muscle connections get smarter more quickly. You can tap into this control system and effectively visualize each muscle group moving, thereby making your workouts more effective and building the body through this process.
Step 1
Identify the movement you want to visualize, for instance, pressing 200 pounds on the leg press or bench pressing a heavy weight.
Step 2
Close your eyes and clear your mind. Move to an area where there are no distractions or noises. You need to be able to think freely without distraction.
Step 3
Imagine where the main muscles for each movement are in your body. If you are pressing weight on the leg press, visualize the quadricep muscles attaching below your knees and at the hip. Focus on how these muscles attach across the joints and how they work together to contract with great force.
Step 4
Visualize the muscles responding to your request for power. See them jump into action, tightening quickly, and shortening. In your mind you should see the results of this contraction causing your legs to extend with power and energy. Imagine your legs easily press the weight up and back with full control.
Step 5
Use this imagery to feel powerful and confident. Feel the pleasure and excitement of achieving this goal so easily and enjoy the knowledge that you will grow strong and build your body through this continuous success.
Step 6
Move to the machine, set the weight to the proper setting, and let your mind go back to the visualization you had of your body lifting the weight with ease. Take a deep breath and begin moving the actual weight up from the starting position and then back down to the original position. Keep focusing on the muscle fibers involved, seeing them shorten in your mind as you lift.
Step 7
Practice this process on each and every strength-training exercise you do. Over time, you will find that you do not have to spend much time preparing your mind for each particular movement. Soon, you will find that you can quickly visualize the muscles involved and this will result in greater strength and power. Your success with visualization will yield improvements in your weight lifting; thus, you will be able to build your body more effectively.
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