The aim of this paper is to find out if Motor imagery can be used to improve performance in sub-elite speed skaters with limited time available for physical ice sessions. Motor imagery (MI) is the cognitive rehearsal of an action without overt motor execution (Guillot et al., 2012), and could be a potential practical method to increase performance despite being short on time. However, there is no research available to see if speed skaters can increase performance using MI. When conducting MI, it´s important to take the physical abilities and experiences into account to establish 'functional equivalence', overlag between imagery and action. Considered that the skating technique is a complex movement using the PETTLEP model MI can be made more physical to achieve higher amounts of functional equivalence. Although theoretical, and more specific research regarding MI and speedskating performance is needed, a set of guidelines for using the PETTLEP model as sub-elite speed skater is constructed.
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