[Reinforcing the mind-muscle connection: Mental Imagery as a tool for strength enhancement in athletes]

Motor imagery (MI), the mental representation of an action without intention to physical execution, activates neural networks largely overlapping with those involved in actual motor performance. While MI has long been used as an adjunct to physical training, its potential to induce corticomotor plasticity and optimize elite performance remains insufficiently understood. Bridging fundamental neuroscience and applied sport science, we investigated how MI reshapes perception-action coupling and supports force enhancement, inter-skill transfer, and neuromuscular efficiency in high-level athletes. Our findings demonstrate that MI can induce measurable cortico-muscular connectivity changes, prime the central nervous system, and improve force production when integrated into resistance training. In field-based studies with elite CrossFit athletes, MI enhanced power performance and enabled performance gains to transfer across distinct yet biomechanically related tasks. Furthermore, we show that MI's effects are magnified when applied concomitantly with physical practice or when combined with non-invasive peripheral stimulation techniques (e.g. tendon vibration, transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation). We propose MI as an active endogenous neuromodulation strategy, moving beyond its classical role as a cognitive training tool. By integrating MI with multimodal interventions, we aim to develop new neuromotor reprogramming paradigms prompting corticomotor remapping to facilitate elite sports performance and neurorehabilitation. Our approach positions MI at the crossroads of motor control, applied neurophysiology, and sports science to delineate original perspectives regarding how perception-action networks adapt to achieve elite performance.