The mind body connection exists, and a recent study by Bishop’s University proved that mental training significantly improves performance of athletes in training.
Building muscle strength is important to success in athletics. And athletes spend long hours in training in order to build muscle mass and gain strength and endurance.
Now there is a better way. Enter the body mind connection. Using the combined energy of mind and body, athletes can build more strength than by training alone.
The mind body connection does exist, and it can work for you…
Build Muscle Strength Just by Using Your Mind
Sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true claims, we thought. But researchers at Bishop’s University in Quebec recently conducted a study* which indicated that mental training alone could increase muscle strength.
The two-week study took 30 male university athletes and divided them into three groups. The study focused on the hip flexor muscles, since that is one muscle group that can’t be readily exercised in other contexts or with free weights.
One group performed physical training with a hip flexor weight machine; one group mentally practiced hip flexions at increasing amounts of weight; the third group did neither.
At the end of the study, the group doing the physical exercises had increased its strength by 28.3%, which is not surprising.
The group who did nothing not unexpectedly saw almost no difference. But what’s astounding is that the guys who practiced only mentally, saw their physical strength increase by 23.7%!
Do Mind and Body Work Together?
The bottom line of the study is not that we don’t need to exercise. Of course we do. The point is that empowering your mind, in order to influence your body, will enhance your performance!
We were intrigued by how much this mind-body connection can improve performance, so we did some checking around. Hypnosis is one of the most effective and safest ways to get into the Zone.
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* Erin M. Shackell and Lionel G. Standing, “Mind Over Matter: Mental Training Increases Physical Strength,” North American Journal of Psychology, 2007, Vol. 9, No. 1, 189—200.
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