Imagined Exercise is Real
By Norah Wickerson
Imagine if you could just imagine that you are exercising or practising an activity and still achieve some of the same benefits as if you were actually physically doing that exercise or activity. Scientists are increasingly proving that when we strongly visualise, and truly imagine that we are carrying out certain exercises or activities regularly, we can actually tone our muscles, and not just delay muscle de-conditioning and muscle atrophy, but may be able to prevent it, and in some cases, even improve muscle strength. This could be invaluable for people suffering from long-standing Fibromyalgia and/or CFS, as well as many other chronic pain and fatigue conditions, which may limit their ability to regularly and energetically exercise physically.
The potential for Imagined Exercise is immense. It can be used by athletes when they are recovering from injury, by people with arthritis who may wait years for hip or knee replacement surgery, and are struggling to keep active because of severe pain, by over-weight and unfit people who are doing minimal exercise every week as well as part of rehabilitation after stroke, heart attack and some surgery which has a long convalescence. It can be used by cancer patients who are too ill from their chemotherapy to exercise as much as they would like. Imagined Exercise can be used by people who are self-isolating and cannot exercise outdoors as well as people who have had lower activity levels during the pandemic or are having a prolonged recovery post Covid infection.
No equipment is needed even if you decide to take up weight-lifting, canoeing or rock-climbing! All that is needed is a good imagination, a quiet space and some designated minutes each day for your Imagined Exercise sessions. Embrace the opportunity to partake in activities that you can only dream of because of your chronic health condition. Let your imagination take you to far-flung places such as trekking through the Amazon Rainforest or swimming the English Channel or you may prefer to stay nearer to home and play football in the park with your grandchildren or join a Nordic Walking group in your local area. Visualise the preparation and planning needed for any of these activities and embrace the process with the passion you would need to do these activities physically. Prepare your body pre and post Imagined Exercise as you should for all physical exercise with good nutrition including a bit more protein and lots of vegetables to help build and repair your muscles and drink plenty of water throughout the day.
The Theory of Imagined Exercise
When we imagine we are carrying out a certain exercise the muscles we are imagining are doing this exercise increase slightly in strength. The more we practise this specific action the more these muscles will increase in strength. Scientists have discovered that even when we have a fractured radius, and our arm is in a cast and collar and cuff for a few weeks, if we regularly imagine we are using this arm ‘normally’ there is less muscle wasting of this injured arm when the cast is removed than in the control group who did not imagine any arm exercises during the period of immobilization of their arm.
· Imagined Exercise will not ‘bulk up’ muscles and give us a six-pack! When we physically exercise energetically some muscle fibres get damaged and our body’s response is to repair them and this gradually bulks up these muscles.
· Imagined Exercise will not burn calories and help you to lose weight but visualizing yourself as fitter, trimmer and healthier as you imagine yourself doing the activities you choose, can help you to start to take on the psyche and self-pride of a well person with ongoing health challenges rather than someone with a chronic pain condition who is not able to exercise physically in the way they would choose.
· Imagined Exercise will not improve your cardio-vascular system in the same way as aerobic exercise but it can be a helpful precursor or adjunct to more energetic physical exercise when your condition allows.
· Imagined Exercise can be carried out from the comfort of your living room with no equipment, no expense, no travel hassles and you can choose the exercise or activity for that day to suit you.
· Imagined Exercise can still lift your mood because you will feel you are at least doing something to try and prevent your muscles de-conditioning even more and it is not dependent on the weather, the season or other limiting factors. If you always fancied galloping on a horse on a beach, training for a marathon or learning the Salsa, now is the time to give it an imaginary go.
Research has shown that the motor cortex in our brain does become more active with regular Imagined Exercise. An increased number of action potentials are passed to our muscles which may cause more muscle fibres to respond when our brain calls upon them at a later time whether that is in an imaginary way again or, more importantly, when this exercise is next performed physically. Try and choose some exercises or activities therefore, that you can also do physically when your condition allows. Easy examples are virtual walking upstairs on your tiptoes, walking quite quickly round your local park or watching a Zumba or other Fitness programme on DVD and joining in where you can physically and then imagine you are doing the more energetic parts whilst standing or sitting in your living room.
Magnetic Imaging has shown increased activity in the area of our brain related to the area of our body where we are performing Imagined Exercise at that time. This demonstrates the building of stronger neuromuscular pathways when we are just imagining we are exercising that specific part of our body letting Imagined Exercise to be easy, effective and endurable.
Gymnasts and athletes commonly use Imagined Exercise as part of Visualisation Techniques to improve their performance. Gymnasts visualise their new complicated balance beam routine hundreds of times before they actually attempt their new routine physically. Their brain has developed strong neuromuscular pathways with the frequent Imagined Exercise and Visualisation Techniques so they are more likely to be successful with the routine because their brain believes they have already performed this new routine successfully hundreds of times. They will have visualised the extra difficult parts in the routine and trained their body physically but also imagined how much correction they need to do to keep their balance on the 4-inch-wide beam which stands a frightening 4 feet from the floor. We can all make good use of our motor cortex and how it helps us to control and co-ordinate muscle movement by doing Imagined Exercise and as much physical exercise as our health allows. With Imagined Exercise we can inspire ourselves with the talent of our Olympic bronze medal gymnasts Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova, and the swimming prowess of Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty and epic diver Tom Daley, even though it is only in our own imagination.
The mind-muscle connection includes the simple act of consciously feeling your muscles are working through their full range of movement. This is also known as attentional focus and the more effectively we can imagine we are activating these muscles the better results we should get. In your Imagined Exercise sessions make sure you take larger strides, walk a bit quicker, swim a bit further, try and push yourself to your imaginary limit. This could be very important in keeping good tone in your arm and shoulder muscles even when they have a severely limited range of movement because of a long-standing rotator cuff injury or adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) both of which are quite common co-existing conditions with Fibromyalgia. By re-gaining and then maintaining good muscle strength and tone in the upper arm and shoulder muscles should help to reduce the chances of recurring shoulder injuries of this nature.
During Imagined Exercise you become your own personal trainer and you need to:
Perceive strong muscle actions with each muscle contraction,
Believe these muscles are contracting as strongly as possible,
Achieve the desired end result of improved muscle tone and strength.
Imagined Exercise may help to control the effects of aging if used regularly. Many people suffer from poor muscle tone and increasing muscle weakness as they get older and if their trunk muscles are left quite weak this can affect their balance, adding to falls, which can affect their confidence in going out alone and reduce their ability to live independently. To understand that our brain is crucially important in the regulation of our muscle strength should fundamentally change how we currently perceive and accept muscle weakness in the elderly as a given. Now we know for sure that Imagined Exercise can activate the same area of our brain as physical exercise it seems sensible that we should be encouraging Imagined Exercise for all ages but particularly the elderly and people with chronic conditions as with very little effort, but a lot of imagination, they may be able to improve their balance and coordination, re-educate their compromised breathing patterns and increase their mobility and general fitness levels.
Imagined Exercise should never be a replacement for physical exercise but it can be a great adjunct when pain, fatigue, injury and general poor health is hindering the ability to exercise physically as much or as often as would be said to be beneficial.
Try and make Imagined Exercise real for you
Norah Wickerson is a Chartered Physiotherapist and qualified Nutritional Advisor who has specialised in treating patients with Fibromyalgia and CFS for 20+ years using her ‘Combination Approach’.
norah.wickerson@gmail.com