How to Visualise the Perfect Body
Whether you want a slim toned body or a huge muscular physique lik Arnie, visualisation is where it all starts. When I was training for the 1996 Mr Universe, my brain already believed that I had the physique of a champion and as a result, I already had one hand on the trophy.
What is Visualisation?
The art of visualisation is something that all champions do and without it, it would be very hard to be a winner. Think about the golfer about to hit his final shot onto the green. He has the water in front of him, but he doesn’t see that. What he does see is how this shot will behave – before he’s even hit a ball. The same applies to the footballer who is about to curl a freekick around the wall into the top corner.
As a bodybuilder, I learned to visualise the body that I wanted to own, as if I already owned it. When I looked in a mirror, I saw soething completely different to what was really there. As a result, I was inspired to train harder and I was more strict with my diet. I behaved just like the bodybuilder I craved to be.
The good news is that you don’t have to be a champion to be able to visualise. Anybody can do this!
How Does it Work?
You already know that I love my psychology stuff and many years ago, I read a book called ‘What to Say When You Talk to Yourself” by Shad Helmstetter and that book taught me how the brain consisted of three parts:
1. The first part of the brain looks after all of the automatic stuff – such as keeping me breathing, keeping my heart beating and regulating my body temperature. Without this part of the brain, we would be in big trouble.
2. The second part of the brain is the conscious brain and this is the fellow that looks after our day to day functioning – such as what we are thinking at a given moment, what we feel, smell, taste and see. This part of the brain is basically everything to do with when we are awake.
3. This part of the brain is the subconscious brain and it is like a hard drive, where we store tons of information over the years. I have some good news and bad news about the subconscious brain – it works exactly the same on negative information as it does with positive information.
Basically, if you put good stuff into your subconscious mind, it will produce good results. Unfortunately the opposite also applies. For example, if you believe that you are terrible at remembering people’s names, your subconscious will remember that and the next time that your conscious mind tries to remember somebody’s name, it will receive a signal from the subconscious mind and it will run the program “I can never remember people’s names”. And the result will be – you won’t be able to remember the name that you’re trying to think of.
Whenever I was training for a karate or bodybuilding competition, I tricked my subconscious mind that I was already the best and that I was the winner. It felt a bit weird at first, but eventually, my conscious mind believed everything that I told it and it eventually became true.
Skinny Calves
During my early years as a bodybuilder, I wasn’t happy with my calf muscles. They felt out of proportion to the rest of my legs and I could not get out of my head that my calves looked a bit skinny. In fact, I hid my calves as much as I could by wearing tracksuit bottoms. I trained my calves so hard but they never seemed to grow. Then one day, I heard a story about Arnie talking to Reg Park about having skinny calves. Reg noticed that Arnie had his calves covered up and he told Arnie to wear shorts so that he could see his calves at all times. It felt awkward at first but Arnie’s calf muscles became one of his stand-out attributes. I began visualising myself with huge calves and I talked it into existence. I said to myself often, “My calves are massive and everybody wants to know my secret”. Not long after I began doing this, my calves began to grow.
How Can I Do It?
The answer to this is simple. All you need to do is picture the kind of body that you want. Ignore what you don’t like and visualise what you would like – as if you already have it. If you see yourself in a mirror, before you have a chance to get negative, replace that image with the mental image that you have of yourself. This kind of outlook will cause your brain to believe that you already have the perfect body and it will result in better training and diet habits.
Top Tip:
Here’s a great idea that really works. Look for a picture of the body that you crave in a magazine or newspaper and cut it out. Cut off the head and replace it with a picture of your head. Now stick it on the fridge – or somewhere where you are going to pass it several times per day. Sometimes you’ll look at the picture and sometimes you’ll just pass it – but EVERY time you pass it, your subconscious mind will be absorbing that image. If you don’t believe me, try it! It won’t be long before you will be able to visualise the perfect body.
