Why you need to compete
At Engineered Bodies, we provide our clients health and fitness programs that enable them to achieve peak physical performance and sustain it for the long term. We educate and encourage they strive for slow and steady evolution (both physically and mentally) since we believe there’s no need to rush for a finish line that doesn’t exist. It sounds great however staying committed to a life-long, self improvement journey is extremely challenging because life, and all it’s complexities gets in the way. How can one stay motivated and committed to themselves? One way is to compete in an event!
The training road to competition is not easy but if you’re able to commit to yourself and the process, there are many positive benefits for competing in an event.
1. YOU’LL LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR MIND
We always encourage our CrossFit clients to get involved and be a part of the CrossFit Open or CanWest Open or compete in local CrossFit competitions. I encourage my weightlifting athletes to compete at local weightlifting competitions as well. We’ll encourage them to compete in a competition that is a number of weeks out so they have time to train appropriately for it because we want them to have a positive experience on event day. Some people really embrace the idea of competing but many do not. I’ll typically hear the following responses:
- I can’t because I think I have to take my kids to wherever, whenever (no time),
- I can’t because I’m too old,
- I can’t because I don’t think I’m strong enough (those people are beasts!),
- I can’t because I don’t think my technique is good enough,
- I can’t because I don’t want to let my teammates down,
The people who say this really believe what they’re saying is true. You might be thinking “oh that’s definitely me” but can you see that the only thing stopping you from committing to competing is YOU? The truth is, these responses are simply excuses and negative talk that you, yourself put into your mind to keep you safe, to keep you in your comfort zone, and to prevent you from experiencing the possibility of failure. It’s that same negative talk that prevents you from experiencing the possible feeling of success too. Thats’ the power of your mind and some people go through their entire lives never being able to control their own mind.
The truth is, it’s not easy to control your mind but the good news is it can be done. Many other people have and continue to be able to overcome those excuses and negative talk with the help of excellent and knowledgeable coaches and teachers and an encouraging and supportive community. When you associate and surround yourself with positive people the effects on your mind are also positive. This is why EB coaches and I always text and message our clients to register for class and come and train. The more you hear others say “hey you’re doing great!” or “your technique has come a long way!” or “you’re looking stronger!” or something else positive like the high-fives at the end of class, or the positive energy of your training partners, your mind starts a transformation and you soon start to believe in yourself and that YOU CAN DO THIS!
Committing to the training process for a competition provides focus as you’re training for something specific. It provides an opportunity for you to work on the most important “muscle” we have: your mind. It doesn’t matter what you’re training, every rep you execute while you train is an opportunity to self-assess and train your mind. What are you saying in your head before you address the bar? What negative thoughts are going through your mind and if you have negative thoughts, can you stop it and replace those negative thoughts with a positive one? What does your mind say when you hit the rep? What do you say and how do you act when you miss? What excuses did you come up with for missing? Can you overcome the miss, refocus your mind, and hit the next one?
It’s extremely challenging and you may get tunnel vision and frustrated but experienced coaches will help you through the process. They have the ability to see what specific technical errors you may be making and provide coaching and feedback so you can correct it. They can also see your energy coach you into taking a longer rest so you can compose yourself so you have a chance to hit the next rep. We’ll always do our best to find ways to you help calm your mind. My coaches and I want nothing but success for our clients and we’ll do everything to assist you in achieving that success.
Committing to training for a competition provides an invaluable opportunity for you to train your mind to become stronger in a safe and controlled environment. When you have a strong mind, you can control your life. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s incredibly empowering when you’re able to control the events that happen in your life and arrange them in an order of priority that YOU dictate.
2. YOUR TECHNIQUE WILL IMPROVE & YOU WILL GET STRONGER
Coaches are a big reason why your technique and strength improves as they know your weaknesses and force you to improve them. They monitor your progress and performance every training session and they create a program specific to your needs so that you can perform the best you can on competition day. A good coach will let you know if your technique is looking good and they’ll coach you if it’s off. A good coach has the ability to come up with ways to communicate with you specifically so you can make the necessary adjustments and improve. Good coaches also have the ability of modifying what’s programmed on that day to make sure you’re successful and gained something positive from the training experience.
Once you commit to training for a competition, your training becomes much more focused as I discussed in part 1. Because of that, you’re more likely to be open to taking coaching cues and feedback thus your technique improves. And, as you become more efficient, you will become stronger. So long as you show up and do the work you will make technical improvements and strength gains.
3. YOU MAKE DEEPER CONNECTIONS WITH YOUR TEAMMATES & COACH
There’s one thing to train regularly in CrossFit classes or weightlifting classes but it’s a completely different training environment and energy when you train alongside others that have committed to training for an upcoming competition. When everyone’s training for a competition, the energy in the gym picks up ten-fold and everyone feeds off one another. Teammates encourage each other and help you get through those tough training sessions. Deeper connections are made between teammates because everyone understands what each person is going through (good or bad) and you all pull through together. Of course you ultimately have to do the work each training session but since you’re all training together, collectively everyone reaps the benefits and improves.
Coaches want nothing but success for you. We will do everything within our scope of practice to ensure everyone of our athletes has a positive experience on competition day.
