RockiesThe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive-specific (CS) mental imagery (conditional stimulus) and motivational self-talk (ST) on the response times of trained martial artists. A within-subjects and between-subjects pre-posttreatment design was applied with a power sample of more than 200 participants. The results showed that motivational ST, CS imagery, and the interaction of both significantly reduced the response times of trained martial artists. The effect size of each strategy was very large when compared with the control group. The control group, which did not receive any intervention, generally realized slower response times in the second trial.