Just Building Confidence Makes You Safer
Research in criminal psychology has found that violent offenders pick out targets who are perceived to
have less physical ability and lower confidence than others. Violent offenders judge these differences
based on people’s body language and movements. In other words, your facial expressions, how you
walk, your posture, where you focus your gaze, and how you carry yourself are all constantly
communicating to the world “don’t mess with me,” or “I’m an easy target.” The good news is that with
the right training to build confidence, assertiveness, and strong movement patterns, we can shift our
body language from saying “I’m an easy target,” to “don’t mess with me.” We don’t need to become
elite fighters like Bruce Lee, Ronda Rousey, or Connor MacGregor to be safer: a solid first step is just
building confidence through training.
The Evidence
The evidence for these conclusions was first established in academic studies at least forty years ago and
has since been developed and corroborated by a growing body of research. Abbey (1982) demonstrated that sexual assault and other violent offenses are usually conducted against deliberate targets where victims are selected based on visual cues presented in their body language that communicate physical fitness, “ease of attack,” and self-confidence. Later studies have found these body language cues include an imbalanced or disproportional stride length, an imbalanced gait, hunching or slouched posture, eye line (keeping gaze fixed down or away from people), too little or too much movement of the arms, and unbalanced foot placement.
Some Solutions
Our physical readiness and confidence are constantly being assessed by those around us,
even if we don’t want them to. Fortunately, Johnston et al. (2004) demonstrated how, with the proper
training, both males and females can alter these movement patterns and nonverbal indicators,
thereby reducing their perceived “ease of attack.”
At Alpha Krav Maga Boston we aim to build our students’ confidence and mobility toward this end.
Our goal is for students to not only be able to handle themselves should a violent encounter occur,
but also to have confidence and coordination so they are constantly communicating to the world
through their body language: “I’m not someone to mess with.” Other martial arts gyms focus solely
on the techniques of fighting: how to throw strikes, grapple, or defend punches. We build
competencies before a fight occurs (“left of bang”) to reduce our students’ risk.
Take Action
We all want to get more confident, have better coordination, and reduce our risk. We look forward to helping you achieve these goals so that whether you’re leaving a restaurant alone at night or walking to the car after a late evening at the office, you will be telling the world through your body language: "I am not a target."
If you have any questions regarding what you just watched in this video please put them in the comments and I will be sure to reply.
