Chloe Brennan Lift Your Limits: The Athlete Mindset Tools Behind Confidence, Change and Self-Belief
She Who Dares, Wins.Show Notes
In this episode of She Who Dares Wins, Michelle sits down with Chloe Brennan – two-time World’s Strongest Woman (u73kg), England’s Strongest Woman, coach, and founder of Lift Your Limits – to explore what really sits behind strength, success, and daring to change your life.
Chloe shares how she walked away from a “perfect” academic path in psychology, pivoted into learning disability nursing, and then again into elite strongwoman competition and holistic strength coaching. She opens up about therapy, hypnotherapy, and the “not good enough” complex that drove her, as well as the identity crisis that hit after she’d ticked off all her biggest goals.
You’ll hear Chloe and Michelle dig into: Why going against expectations was the first real act of daring in Chloe’s life How sport exposed deep-rooted beliefs about not being good enough What hypnotherapy actually is (and isn’t) – and why high-performing athletes love it Identity, external validation, and what happens when you’ve achieved “everything” The pressure to stay in one box – athlete, creator, or coach – and how to let yourself be all of you This is a conversation for anyone standing at a crossroads, feeling they “should” stay where they are, but knowing there’s more.
Key Takeaways Going against expectations is often the first brave step – leaving psychology for nursing was Chloe’s first real act of owning her life. Performance problems are usually mindset problems – most athletes Chloe works with hit the same beliefs: “I’m not good enough”, fear of failure, and perfectionism. Hypnotherapy isn’t mind control – it’s about self-efficacy, rewiring limiting beliefs, and using evidence of who you already are. Identity is fluid, not fixed – you don’t have to choose between being an athlete, a creator, or a coach. You’re allowed to be all of it. Success without inner work can feel empty – Chloe hit podiums and world records and still felt flat until she faced the deeper stuff in therapy. External validation isn’t evil, just incomplete – it feels good, but it can’t replace self-acceptance. Backing yourself is a dare – confidence doesn’t mean no doubt; it means moving with the doubt anyway.
Timestamps 0:00:00 – Introducing Chloe and the “She Who Dares Wins” question: how she’s dared and won 0:01:30 – Leaving a “perfect” psychology path for disability nursing and owning her first big pivot 0:03:40 – Discovering strongwoman through trampolining injuries, powerlifting and an accidental first comp 0:08:40 – From nurse to full-time strength coach and building a holistic coaching business 0:09:50 – Hypnotherapy explained: busting myths and how it transforms athlete mindsets 0:15:55 – Titles, world records and still not feeling “enough” – when success doesn’t fix the emptiness 0:18:12 – Therapy, triggers, and realizing sport was carrying a deep “not good enough” story 0:25:05 – Identity, parts integration, and letting “athlete Chloe” and “human Chloe” coexist 0:31:16 – Purpose, presence and Alan Watts – questioning the obsession with “getting somewhere” 0:38:53 – Friendship, boundaries and letting people (and followers) go when they’re not your people 0:46:39 – January pivot: saying she was “done” competing to finding her way back to strongwoman 0:52:26 – Athletes, businesswomen and mindset: why Chloe’s work goes far beyond the gym 0:56:57 – Chloe’s dare for women: back yourself, acknowledge your wins, and do it even when you doubt yourself
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