Why Becoming “More” Athlete Will Unlock Confidence

10 years ago, I was the least athletic person you’d probably ever meet. Sure, I went to the gym and trained, but as far as athleticism was concerned, I was truly terrible. I couldn’t even stand on one leg for more than 10 seconds without falling over.

I remember training with my younger brother. The gym where we trained brought in some skipping ropes. Just so you know, my younger brother got ALL the natural athleticism. He’s naturally a good athlete. He possesses a natural athletic frame and can turn his hand to any sport and do ok.

Me on the other hand, well, let’s just say the last time I played football I was voted the worst on the field. I’m not even joking. I got sympathy back pats at the end.

Anyways, my brother grabs the skipping ropes. “here you go” he said.

He starts and begins doing all these crossovers and double unders. You know, like the boxers do.

Not to look like a complete tool I started skipping. Or what I believed to be skipping. I reckon I got about 6 skips before the rope hit my feet. Not too bad considering I can’t even remember skipping, EVER in my life.

My brother turned to me and said; “why are you skipping backwards?”

“Eh? I didn’t even realise I was” — I replied

“Ok, I’ll try again”

This time I tried going forwards. Not a chance was this happening. I couldn’t even muster two together. The rope just kept hitting my feet. It was like I had these huge heavy and clumsy elephant feet that I had no clue what to do with.

Yet for some reason, I could skip backwards. Granted it was no Floyd Mayweather, but it was something. It was then I realised my brain works backwards (lol).

That was 10 years ago. Today I can skip just fine. Nothing special but I’m a lot lighter on my feet.

So, what’s this got to do with anything?

Well, let me tell you.

It wasn’t long after this that I started working with real life clients. My first ever client was a 15-year-old Go-kart racing driver, Matty. I worked with Matty for a good few years. He’s now a professional British GT racing driver.

Here’s the thing with athletes. They are super switched on with their body movements. I call this athletically minded. This is why they are good at sports.

When I started working with Matty I couldn’t understand how everything was so easy to him. It wasn’t until I started working with more people that I realised something.

Most athletes were really easy to train, they possessed this “natural” athletic brain. Movements came naturally so their strength and performance skyrocketed very quickly. Results were almost instantaneous.

Most “non-athletes” however were the opposite. Many couldn’t squat, hip hinge or do even basic human movements. Sure, strength was a factor but the biggest was neurological. The athlete had been using their body for years and years because this was their biggest asset.

So, over this time they had intentionally hard wired their mind-body connection.

This is why many coaches/trainers like to work with athletes. They actually need very little coaching. A half decent training program and the results come fast.

However, I thought differently. Because of my own sucky athleticism, I thought if I could get someone to perform like an athlete what would that do to their life?

Just imagine, a stressed out, low in confidence, 40-year-old mother of three wants to lose a little body fat and feel better.

Over time she destroys her fat loss targets, develops an unheard-of amount of strength and now possesses a good amount of athleticism.

Her confidence is through the roof and she becomes addicted to the process of development. She’s actually excited to find out exactly what her body is capable of and she’s now in the ownership of a strong and athletic physique.

Well this is exactly what I set out to achieve. This was my mission. I wanted to gift people with the blessing of athleticism and allow them to discover the potential their bodies are capable of.

The proceeding years led me to carry on working and learning from athletes, but my main drive was helping the non-athletic population.

From transforming full time busy mothers into strong and confident role models for their kids, to taking overweight and lethargic businesspeople to athletic and mentally sharp leaders in their business.

Lessons learned:

Being athletic can have profound effects on your life. Not only does it change your body, it changes the way you think and feel. It develops a new level of confidence and opens up the belief that your body has an unlimited amount of potential.

This lesson taught me that there’s more to training than bicep curls and crunches. I realised I wanted my body to be strong and athletic. Not for sport but for life. To do things most people can’t.

I can run, jump and bounce around with my kids. If I wanted, I could do a 5k or 10k by just throwing on my trainers and doing it. I can grab at a bar or tree branch and do pull-ups without effort and could easily do 50 push-ups off the belt.

This is not a brag and I’m certainly no athlete. This is to demonstrate the natural levels of ability EVERYONE can attain at any time in their life. I’m 38 and more athletic now than I was in my 20’s and I still want to be like this in my 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.