Confidence is a key component of almost anything that we do. To really get the best out of ourselves we have to feel confident when faced with most tasks. The same applies to sport and exercise at all levels, be that an elite sportsperson, a serious amateur or even someone completely new to exercise. Confidence can encompass all that we do and here we shall begin to explore the various ways we can introduce and maintain confidence when undertaking exercise. The goal in this particular article is using our past experiences to benefit our present and enhance our future experiences within exercise.

Firstly, what exactly is reflective practice? By definition it is a review of a previous performance, where we literally reflect and analyse our own performance in order to better understand our strengths – listing all the good points of that particular performance. We then move on to assessing the poorer points of performance, which provides us with an opportunity to create solutions for our weaknesses surrounding a performance (Bull et al., 1996). The benefits of engaging in reflective practice within professional sport are well established and have been recognised by athletes and sport psychologists alike as a simple and highly effective tool for establishing and maintaining self-confidence. By identifying limitations, those who engage in reflective practice are able to develop solutions to advantageously overcome these problems within performance and further strengthen their own positive behaviours within exercise and sport (Bandura, 2006; Faull & Cropley, 2009).

A problem many people face is not being able to recognise when they are improving or have gained success, regardless of how big or small that success may be. This could be running an extra mile more than yesterday or even increasing the amount of time you spend in the gym by 10 minutes. These are still achievements and need to be treated as such. Reviewing performances at the end of each day is simple and can be as easy as taking 5-10 minutes to yourself and writing down on a sheet of paper what you have done that day. Over time you will start to see your achievements stack up and develop with each review. This provides you with physical evidence of your progress as well how you’re improving. These achievements are ideally kept somewhere you are regularly able to update and see them, E.g. on your bedroom wall or on the fridge/bulletin board. By being able to see these achievements regularly, as well as updating them day-by-day – confidence becomes second nature and is reinforced over time.

Below is a brief example of some of the questions that I have provided to sportspeople, as well as some examples from *sport psychology literature to help develop the use of reflective practice after a performance. These examples can be used as a template to aid the introduction of reflective practice post-exercise.

‘What was the greatest positive/strength of my performance?’

‘How can I achieve these improvements?’ (E.g. Plan training around areas of improvements).

‘What can I do to improve/prepare better for next time?’

*‘What went well?’

‘What did I do to make it go well?’

‘What didn’t go well?’

‘What did I do/didn’t I do that resulted in a poor performance?’

‘What can I do differently/work on?’ (Neil, Cropley, Wilson & Faull, 2013).

Key Point: There are always positives to take from each performance of exercise or any other life activity. Take your time to review your own performances and find the successes in each one to help build your confidence.

Thomas Buck (Research Assistant, Rescon)