Episode #5: What Experts Are Saying About Mental Imagery and Muscle Building

If the Book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill was a wake up call for a generation of entrepreneurs back in the baby boomer era, then "Think and Grow Strong" is a new take on positive thinking that's showing impressive results. So next time you're goal setting, why not give some thought to your body... and how you can get some extra boost just with your mind.

Here's an abridged reference list for follow-up:

The Golf Ball Study:

Woolfolk, R.L., Parrish, M.W. and Murphy, S.M. (1985). The effects of Positive and Negative Imagery on Motor Skill Performance. Cognitive Therapy and research. 9(3): 335-341. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01183852

The Finger & Elbow Flexor Study:

Ranganathan, V.K., Siemionow, V., Liu, J.Z., Sahgal, V. And Yue, G.H. (2004). From mental power to muscle power—gaining strength by using the mind. Neuropsychologia. 42: 944-956. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14998709

Reduce Muscle Wasting & Wrist/Hand Immobilization:

Clark, B.C., Mahato, N.K., Nakazawa, M., Law, T.D. and Thomas, J.S. (2014). The power of the mind: the cortex as a critical determinant of muscle strength/weakness. Journal of Neurophysiology. 112: 3219-3226. http://jn.physiology.org/content/jn/112/12/3219.full.pdf

Ruffino, C., Papaxanthis, C. and Lebon, F. (2017). The influence of imagery capacity in motor performance improvement. Experimental Brain Research. 21st July 2017 (published ahead of print) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00221-017-5039-8

Slimani, M., Tod, D., Chaabene, H., Miarka, B. And Chamari, K. (2016). Effects of Mental Imagery on Muscular Strength in Healthy and Patient Participants: A Systematic Review. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 15: 434-450. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4974856/

Dobkin, B.H. (2016). A rehabilitation-Internet-of-things in the home to augment motor skills and exercise training. Neurorehabilitation and Neural repair. 1-11. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1545968316680490

Lee, Y., Choi, W., Lee, K., Song, C. And Lee, S. (2017). Virtual reality training with three-dimensional video games improves postural balance and lower extremity strength in community-dwelling older adults. Journal of Ageing and Physical Activity. To appear. http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/japa.2015-0271