Visualization

[powerplant42]

I've always heard about visualization in pole vaulting, but I've never heard or read exactly what should be visualized how/when. What is this visualization supposed to help with? Confidence? Self-analysis? What are some ways that it can be used effectively?

[apsully]

Visualization is a really powerful tool within all....um....life, but especially athletics.

For me, I visualize myself completing the perfect vault, everything from walking to the pole tree, the runway, doin my pre jump ticks, the entire runnup with counting, and finally the deed itself.

It's scientifically proven that visualization stimulates the same nerve impulses that are used in the actually physical activity itself. Just reading that, hopefully you can see how visualization is a pretty good thing to do.

As for when to do it, that's up to you. I do it all the time: in the weight room before a heavy set, when im running/sprinting, in the shower, in bed, in teh car (be careful with that one hha), etc... A big one for me is right before i vault. Well, not literally right before, but like, when I'm in the hole or maybe even on deck.

Beyond the science of it, it seems to really help out with confidence and security. If you can picture yourself doing it in a fluid movie like sequence, that means you know what it looks like and it also means, for me at least, that you know exactly what you have to do with your body.

For me, if I cant visualize it, I probably cant do it (concerning vaulting that is). It's a really weird feeling when you're having doubts and you try to visualize. Sometimes when that's happened to me I'd find myself watching me vault in my head and not going up...but it would be on a loop over and over again like a broken record player. It's almost like your head is broken haha. It takes a lot of mental power to really make yourself beable to produce that visualization; you really have to have a lot of positive energy and seriously focus.