The World of Visualization for Athletic Success

by Olivier Poirier-Leroy

Visualization is one of the most common mental skills swimmers use to get better and faster in the pool. 

The way each swimmer uses this tool varies, but every swimmer does it. 

Dreaming about that gold medal finish at the end of the season?

Imagining how hard tomorrow morning’s practice is going to be?

Yup…

You’re using visualization.

Which means…

Instead of doing haphazardly, utilize the full power of visualization to help prepare for competition.

Breaststroke demi-god Adam Peaty, who shouldn’t require an introduction, relied on visualization to perform under pressure. 

For example, in a post on LinkedIn, he described his process for preparing for the stress and nerves of the Rio Olympics:

For the ten months before I even landed in Rio for the Olympics, I mentally rehearsed walking out into the arena by collecting the audio from the previous year's World Championships in Kazan, Russia. 

[The audio] would go from the event announcement, into the outside lanes, and then, finally, lane four… Adam Peaty. 

This would then be followed by a small pause before I would do a 100m Breaststroke Simulation. I would do this once every week at least. 

Eventually, by the time I got to the Olympics, I was already well-prepared for something that I feared and also felt a huge amount of pressure from; walking out in lane four in an Olympic Final!

This approach is powerful as it is simple... 

By repeatedly rehearsing a high-stakes performance, we get the sense of “been there, done that” when it actually happens. 

The result: we get out of our own way mentally to let our body do what has trained for.  

Peaty gets bonus points for using taped audio to bolster the authenticity of the mental rehearsal, allowing it to sink more deeply. 

Visualization is something you are already doing. 

Add some structure…

Add some senses…

And use it to swim fast when it matters most. 

See you in the water,

Olivier