General Training Info One Key to Endurance Performance May Be Subliminal Visual Cues
Positive subliminal visual cues — words, pictures and symbols unidentifiable in your consciousness — have been shown to improve performance in endurance athletes. Based on research from the University of Kent and Bangor University, athletes presented with positive cues were able to cycle significantly longer to exhaustion than those shown negative or neutral cues.
The positive subliminal cues included the words ACTION, GO, LIVELY and ENERGY, and happy faces. Negative cues were STOP, TOIL, SLEEP and TIRED, and sad faces. The words and faces appeared on digital screens in front of the athletes for less than .02 seconds, and were also surrounded by other images, making them unrecognizable to the athletes’ conscious.