A Seismic Shift: When Competition Morphs Exercise Into Training
Healthy competition is good. Why? You will push harder and go to great lengths in order to beat your rivals.
My own mother, known as Mama Dee, is a perfect example. She takes great pride in kicking my butt each month in our Club Performax intra-club exercise effort competition. It is a heated contest often decided on the last day of the month.
It means something, in our minds, to be in that top 20.
The spirit of competition is powerful. It actually represents the very essence of being an aspirational human. When we lose it, we become complacent, stifled and we simply stop growing.
Competition is a driving force that can and should be used to move you further along. It lights a fire, motivates and shuts down a wavering mindset.
As evidenced by my mother, who once eschewed weight training, healthy eating and endurance exercise. But now, just when I think I’ve got her beat, she ramps up her activity and training to another level.
People who compete have a seismic shift in thinking when it comes to working out — they no longer view it as exercise. It becomes training.
It is more than semantics, a training mentality becomes part of your identity. It keeps you in the game and off the sidelines of life.
And it’s not just exercise. It affects your eating, promotes a winning mindset, fosters a healthy environment, and helps you prioritize sleep and recovery. You simply do the necessary small things consistently that move you forward.
People who regularly assign themselves to a competitive mindset push themselves to the next level. They run further than they did before, lift heavier weights than last time, go further in intellectual pursuits, and rise higher to meet their personal goals.
The most important aspect of a competitive mindset is not feeling good after winning but feeling good while pursuing. That is the big payoff. The pursuit gives you that dopamine spike that should be used to replace the bad spikes from things like sugar, scrolling, media, alcohol and drugs.
Through competition, you actually acquire the mental building blocks needed for your next challenges.
My mom’s training mentality drives her month after month to put me in my place….and well, I’m ok with that. Because I know just how beneficial it is for her to compete. It is good for all of us.
If you really want to know how to make resolutions of fitness and healthy habits sustainable this year, get something on your competition calendar. Not necessarily formal or regulated. Just something challenging that drives you to train and doesn’t repel you from exercise.
Stay well, and of strong mind and body.
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For help dialing in resolutions and goals, Rod works with clients in person and virtually at Club Performax:
321-757-6800
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