Research Hit: From Couch to Ultra Marathon with Mental Imagery

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On first glance I thought the above headline was fascinating. I am a sports person, look into the neuroscience of motivation, and have been in the “motivational” space for nigh on two decades.

On second glance I wondered why such an old technique was grabbing the headlines — mental imagery has been around for decades.

But let’s first get into this recent piece of research because is is fascinating and shows the power of mental techniques. Interesting most of all because it is a scientific analysis and not the usual anecdotal stories that flood the motivational literature.

So what did the researchers from the University of Plymouth find?

First off they first found 31 non-runners who wanted to get fitter and put them through a Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention. A methodology often used in counselling to explore, develop and verbalise their need for change. These were then left to their own devices for 5 months.