High-level athletes have been aware of the mind-body connection for a long time, especially how improving your thoughts and emotions can help heal the body and increase confidence on the playing field. What has (until recently) flown under the radar is that the opposite is also true: body movements can rewire your brain, improving your confidence and success in “everyday” life. This has been suggested by scores of studies that link physical movement or participation in sports to better mental health and higher self-esteem. It’s also the reason why many people use “power poses” in their professional routines.
Combat sports take real-life confidence to the next level
While almost any physical movement is great for raising confidence, I can personally attest to how combat sports take this benefit to new heights.
I always considered myself socially confident, but I wasn’t always physically confident. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, this played out in many of my relationships, especially with men. I had to face this head-on after one particularly painful episode where someone I was dating overstepped his bounds and I froze, feeling like I couldn’t do anything about it.
It was a commitment to never feeling like that again that led me to jiu-jitsu. Beside wonderful physical changes, I discovered that BJJ helped me have deeper, more balanced relationships grounded in the certainty that I can stand up for myself. Turns out, physical confidence brought me emotional confidence. Though the science on how combat sports specifically impact confidence is limited, initial evidence is promising. When studied against team sports, combat sports seem to go further in helping people develop confidence in personal skills, knowledge, and body control. Also, many practitioners of Jiu-Jitsu (like myself) attest to how it helps them get over past trauma—to the point that there are now “trauma-informed” BJJ programs aimed specifically at helping victims of violence recover their sense of confidence and control.
From power poses to long-term power
I see a few key reasons why combat sports are indeed great confidence enhancers:
- There’s natural confidence in knowing you can defend yourself. You may think that facing an attacker may not have much in common with the “lesser” threats and stresses you face in normal life. However, the truth is that our brains aren’t good at distinguishing the physical danger of, say, being attacked by a lion from the social danger of asking your boss for a raise. Strengthening our confidence against the former will naturally spill to the latter.
- Combat sports make you a confident decision-maker. An underrated aspect of BJJ is that it’s as much of a problem-solving challenge as a physical one. It’s not enough to be stronger than your opponent—you must, in a matter of seconds, evaluate their stance and decide the best way to use it against them. Repeatedly engaging with this challenge strengthens your decision muscle. As you learn to trust your quick decisions on the mat, you begin trusting your quick decisions off it.
- Combat sports make confident body language automatic. As great as power poses are, they’re a short-term fix that you must consciously think of. Combat sports, however, require constant powerful stances and movements. After weeks of practice, the body internalizes this powerful way to be in the world–to the point where your friends may remark how much more confidently you’ve been carrying yourself, without you even meaning to do it.
Why I incorporate elements of combat sports into my clients’ workouts
Though I don’t train all my clients in jiu-jitsu or capoeira, I make sure to incorporate elements of each into every workout I design. This is because I don’t only design for better fitness (though the workouts certainly do that)—I also design for long-term confidence. I want all women who train with me to not only feel healthier, but to move more powerfully in whatever life arena they enter—family, business, career, or all of the above.
When I started combat training, I was amazed at how something as simple as physical drills changed how I carried myself in the world. I want everyone I train to experience that transformation.
If you want a fitness routine that trains you to show up powerfully in all aspects of your life, join the Warrior Woman program here.
Told by Caroline Collins
Written by Felipe Diaz-Arango