Brilliant Basics

Focus and imagery are two skills essential in the gymnast’s toolbox which need to be enhanced as they move through the competitive pathway particularly.

Focus is the ability to focus to block out distractions and maintain their concentration on the task at hand, whilst imagery means using all of your senses (e.g., see, feel, hear, taste, smell) to rehearse your sport in your mind.

What makes imagery so effective is that a gymnast can imagine themselves doing a skill which will cause their brain to interpret those images and fire the muscles in her body as if they are actually doing the skill in that moment.

This is a huge opportunity to maximise upon for gymnasts. Research shows us that training imagery, can actually alter the neural pathways in your brain.