5 Steps to Improving Confidence in the Gym
Confidence, according to the Oxford dictionary, “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities.”
I like to define it as the degree of certainty we have in ourselves and our abilities. The degree with which you can have certainty can range from 0-100 and on the other side of certainty lies doubt. If you have 60% certainty in your ability to execute a Ring Muscle Up, that means you have 40% doubt about executing that Ring Muscle Up.
The tricky thing about confidence is that it can waver and change depending on the movement or workout you are performing. Unfortunately, it seems many people allow their mood and emotions to change their confidence levels as well. That’s why it’s important to understand the sources of confidence and the difference between confidence and self-esteem (see Sources of Confidence Article and Difference between Confidence and Self-Esteem blogs).
Bethany Smyers hitting a personal best at the 2023 Freedom Games.
In this article, we’re going to go over some actionable steps you can start taking today to improve your confidence within the next week. If you sustain these action steps, it will be confidence that is unshakeable; confidence that you can go into any competition and know you are ready to take on those events.
One side note: a very important aspect of confidence is putting in the time, effort and reps to improve your abilities. This is one of the best ways to build confidence. This is not about just imaging you can Snatch 145 when in reality the highest weight you’ve ever snatched is 105. These mental skills are meant to aid your physical skills and abilities, not supersede them.
5 Steps to Improving and Sustaining Confidence:
Fill Out my Confidence Resume and use the Self-Statements + Evidence to Support them: reflect on really great moments in your athletic career, what others say about you as an athlete and FIND evidence surrounding the accomplishments you have. This resume gives you a chance to remember and reflect on all those things in your past to help you move forward with confidence. You can go back and redo the resume every 3-6 months to see how you are improving
After Every Session write down 3-5 things that went well in training that day. Part of having confidence is what you tell yourself about your experiences. As humans, we love remembering all the things that went wrong or what we could have done better, but we rarely take time to reflect on what went well and how we can continue to do more of that good thing. If you are already tracking your progress in some sort of app, spreadsheet or workout journal, just add what went well straight to that, no need for an entirely new notebook!
Ask yourself these two questions the next time your confidence is not quite where you would like it to be. First, what is it about this movement or workout that is making me feel like I don’t have as much confidence as I would like? Second, what can I do about it (mentally or physically) before I perform.
Reframe your thinking/emotions. This is especially important if you feel nervous. We often mistake nerves as a sign that we aren’t ready to perform (like we don’t have the necessary skills) and unfortunately that can effect confidence. Try reframing nerves to excitement (more on this in another blog) or that it’s your body revving up the engine for the performance you’re about to take part in. If you are having other types of thoughts try saying something along the lines of: one: “I’m noticing that I feel like I’m not ready, but I’ve been putting in the work all season long and have practiced these workouts a few times in preparation for this event.” Or Two: “It’s not true that I’m not good enough to be here, I went through the qualification process just like everyone else and earned a spot. I even finished top 10 in 2 of the 4 qualifier workouts.”
Talk to a third party - often times we get so stuck in one way of thinking and one belief system that it can be difficult to see your performance from other perspectives. Talk to someone who can help you get the answers you need. A coach with data from your training sessions is a great start. They can show you that your 2k row time improved in the last 6 months based on the training data you enter. If your coach just seems to want to hype you up, so if you can ask them or someone else to find cold, hard facts to give you evidence as to why confidence should be in a certain place.
Perspective
Although confidence is built on a foundation of hard work, effort and repetition, it can often boil down to what we tell ourselves. If we PR’d our snatch by 10 pounds last month and are now hitting your old PR consistently in sessions, that’s cause for improved confidence. However, if you tell yourself a 10 pound PR isn’t good enough because your chasing 195 and you’re only at 165, then that PR won’t be “good enough” and your confidence won’t change, in fact it may take a hit. If you aren’t celebrating the fact that you are hitting your old PR consistently, but rather get down on yourself because you don’t feel snappy enough then that won’t improve confidence either.
It’s one thing to achieve something, celebrate and becoming content with where you are. It’s a completely different thing to celebrate, reflect and remember that achievement and use it as fuel to hit your next accomplishment. It’s okay to celebrate tiny wins. That’s what progress is all about. It won’t make you any less fierce of a competitor, in fact, it may make you even more so.
Want to get your hands on a copy of my Confidence Resume to start building your confidence today?
Click the button below to get your FREE resume.
