You see it all the time: athletes slumped over, heads down, emotions visible all over their faces. Bad body language has become a serious problem for high school and college athletes these days. And while athletes’ body language isn\u2019t always negative, negativity stands out the most.<\/span><\/p>\n Deion Sanders once said, \u201cIf you look good you feel good, if you feel good you play good…\u201d This\u00a0quote is\u00a0a perfect example of the impact body language can have on an athlete.<\/span><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter what the score is, spectators or competitors shouldn\u2019t know who\u2019s in the lead before they look at the scoreboard. Having positive body language helps athletes focus and improve their mental game. Also, an athlete\u2019s mental toughness can be what elevates them from being good to elite.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFake it \u2018til you make it\u201d is a good way for athletes to keep working on their body language and mentality.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Amy Cuddy<\/a>, an expert in body language at Harvard Business School, conducted a study on whether or not people could fake it till they made it. From her research, she found that our bodies can change our minds, which can change our behavior and ultimately modify the outcome. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll kinds of outcomes are determined by nonverbal behaviors,\u201d Cuddy said. \u201cIf you tweak your nonverbal behaviors in simple ways, in a short period of time, it\u2019s going to make you feel more powerful through physiological changes in your body.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In her study, she had people spend two minutes doing what she calls a high-power pose. Then they spent another two minutes doing a low-power pose. A high-power pose, by Cuddy\u2019s definition, is a big, open, expansive stance. An example she refers to is Usain Bolt. When he wins a race, he opens his arms and reaches up to show pride and triumph. An example of a low-power pose is someone curled up, hunched over, looking smaller than they are.<\/span><\/p>\n After each experiment, they were instructed to fill out a survey, and give a saliva sample to see if the <\/span>difference in body language had an impact on their behaviors.<\/p>\n The answer: YES. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cJust doing this before going into a room does change your performance,\u201d Cuddy said. \u201cNot only does it change your hormones, but it actually makes you perform better.”<\/span><\/p>\n To test these findings, Cuddy put each subject’s power poses into action. She had them do two minutes of high and low-power poses before a videotaped job interview. The results prove that the subjects performed better and were more likely to be hired after doing their high-power pose.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you pose like that and then you go in, you\u2019re much more excited about what you\u2019re doing, and that\u2019s what\u2019s coming across,\u201d Cuddy said. \u201cThe content doesn\u2019t matter. What you\u2019re saying doesn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you believe in your idea and you can communicate that, that\u2019s what matters.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0approach proves the science behind body language and how it can help people with their performance. Being a winner is something all athletes strive to be. So, if being a winner is the result you want, and body language can affect outcomes, spend two minutes before a game, practice, match, meet, competition or whatever else, doing a power pose.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read Part 2: Mental Toughness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part 1 of 3 You see it all the time: athletes slumped over, heads down, emotions visible all over their faces. Bad body language has become a serious problem for high school and college athletes these days. And while athletes’ body language isn\u2019t always negative, negativity stands out the most. Deion Sanders once said, \u201cIf … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1299],"tags":[1021,1015,10,1014,1016,54,1019,1013,1018,1023,1017,1020,1022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13803"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15515,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803\/revisions\/15515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nonverbal\u00a0Behavior:\u00a0Look the Part<\/h3>\n
Can Your Body Language Change the Outcome?<\/h3>\n