Imagery

[d0gz|song]

I'm curious, does anyone use mental imagery to improve their fencing? Can you describe how you apply these techniques to fencing? Thx in advance!

[Peach]

I cultivate a mental image of myself not being a complete doofus on the strip. This only occasionally works.

[135711]

yes absolutely, and visualize all your bouts before your drop off to sleep, you can go over all your points, gains and losses, especially the points you lost, then reinforce your good points by going over those many many times. then when you get back to the salle and you're sparring partner tries the same trick, you pull out the new thing that you worked out, and you've shown him that you've done something, the first time it may not work but try several times, then when you see that it works, refine it.

[Mo]

Originally posted by Peach
I cultivate a mental image of myself not being a complete doofus on the strip. This only occasionally works.

Peach,
I've seen you fence. You are not even close to a doofus. As a person very near your age I envy your courage, I am just too chicken to start. (not admitting to being above or below your age)
You never know whose role model you are, don't skew the image.

[Aoife]

yes absolutely, and visualize all your bouts before your drop off to sleep, you can go over all your points, gains and losses, especially the points you lost, then reinforce your good points by going over those many many times. then when you get back to the salle and you're sparring partner tries the same trick, you pull out the new thing that you worked out, and you've shown him that you've done something, the first time it may not work but try several times, then when you see that it works, refine it

I do that! Thank God it's not just me being strange

(it does lead to an unhealhty amount of fencing-based dreams though )

[Mo]

One of my kids was injured and I had to spend some time sitting in a doc's office. I was reading a magazine and there was a fascinating article on imaging or visualizing.

In the last Summer O's one of the US women divers, (she ended up winning the gold,) was plagued with an ankle injury that kept her from diving for six months. She was diving again for only two weeks before the Olympics. She spent hours and hours visualizing each dive and it worked for her.

Another guy, I believe he was a shot putter, had an injury and could not practice and he too spent hours a day visualizing his sport including "shot putting" in every stadium he had ever been in before. He too improved.

It seems like you cannot win without using some form of visualization techniques. The sport has to be going on in your head most of the time. My kids discuss how to beat people and practice it in their heads often.

The article said that your brain does the action just like when it is moving, so essentially you are indeed practicing while visualizing (of course not working the muscles but you are teaching the brain to do the action).
Just have to make sure you have the right picture in your mind.

[Boo Boo]

I don't do enough visualisation :-(.

Visualisation can include:
- visualising yourself at a venue before a competition and going through routine things like plugging in to a spool and testing etc. (helps to get rid of nerves and anxieties).
- visualising fencing people that either you know you have to fence (later in a DE draw or someone you fence in competition regularly) or someone that you normally loose to (think of the best person in your national/international circuit).

Try to visualise a "perfect fight" against whoever you are fencing: visualise winning 15:0 in a DE fight - for everything they do, you have the perfect answer.

This may not be hugely realistic, but you are mentally rehearsing fencing them (so you are mentally prepared next time you fence them) and you are working on your comfidence (which is a really big thing in fencing).

Boo

[Peach]

Originally posted by Mo
<snip>
I am just too chicken to start. (not admitting to being above or below your age)
You never know whose role model you are, don't skew the image.

Mwaaaahaaahaaa, we'll get you out on that strip yet . . . If you had seen me when I started out, you wouldn't say such nice things. To quote Chesterton, I am the kind of person who believes that "anything worth doing is worth doing badly." He didn't mean it kindly, but I take that as my rallying cry.

Seriously, research has shown that imagery can be as effective as practice in training the proper motor responses. Unless I consciously control it, my tendency is to use imagery negatively--I see myself messing up--so I have to counteract that by simply imagining myself in a correct stance and moving correctly. I've been working hard on proper form lately.

[135711]

I STill Won't Fence Saber! mwahaha!!!

with the visualization thing, you can sort of bust a gord if you try to visualize too much, suppliment the visualizations with slight hand movements, but not too much, what you'll do is strengthen the mind, by strengthening the brain. The brain being an organ, not a muscle, doesn't flex ]


advance! retreat! Mooooove those feet!
[sister soldier]

[haggis]

Good use of imagery definitely works and you can use it when you can't train. Most people can't train as much as they would like but you can practice imagery almost anywhere (try to avoid it when doing things like driving, sitting exams, carying out brain surgery, etc.). However it is very important that the images you use are correct. Picturing yourself doing a particular move isn't going to be beneficial if the image is one of you doing the move badly.

One useful technique is to picture a very good fencer who has some similarities to you (same hand, same weapon, similar build) doing a move that you want to learn/improve. First, visualise the fencer doing the move in a fight situation - try to make it as realistic as possible by including as much detail as possible (opponent, clothing, surroundings, sounds, etc.). Next visualise the same move by the fencer but visualised from his/her view point (see the opponent's movements, actions/reactions, try to feel how the move feels to your visualised good fecncer, which muscles are used and the effort involved). Finally, reconstruct the first visualisation with you replacing the good fencer and the move still works just as well as before. All this information supplied to your brain prepares it to produce the thought processes necessary to repeat the move on the piste in way that it recognises and understands. Suddenly my attacks are a thing of explosive beauty rather than an imitation of a drowning man reaching for the shore.

Not that simple but a very useful mental training method.

[a517dogg]

remember some date or tournement that you fenced really well at and creamed everybody.

[Style]

The only problem with my imagery is that it isn't quite competition legal. Something to do with capes and masks and sharp, fancy rapiers.

Damn, if only I really was Zorro!