Competition: When Exercise Becomes Sport

Anyone can “do CrossFit” on their own. Burpees, clean and jerks, and kettlebell swings are not merely the domain of the advanced athletic training centers such as CrossFit affiliate gyms. Anyone can do them in their own garage. So, then why would anyone want to train at a CrossFit facility? Two reasons: Expert coaching and competition.

Most people will admit, irregardless of their background in sports or fitness that they try harder when they are competing against their own personal bests and against others.

“Competition implies having a sense of rivalry and of striving to do one’s best, as well as to outdo another.” (Dictionary.com) Group training at a CrossFit affiliate gym succeeds in pushing people to do their best. Exercise becomes sport.

“The combination of competition and camaraderie with measured workouts turns a handful of exercises into a sport in which you’re trying to beat your own previous performances as well as be the top for any given workout of the day. In other words, you can’t help but be
motivated.” - Bill Strahan, CrossFit Plano member since 2007

As a coach, I have worked with hundreds of athletes who are looking to take their training to the next level, and I’ve heard a common theme expressed from the majority of them. After their first or second group session, they are surprised at how much harder they push themselves in the workout. The intensity that only competition can produce creates an edge in their training and helps keep it fresh.

When you approach your fitness training as sport you will undoubtedly adopt the mindset needed to win and strive closer to your genetic potential day by day. Don’t settle for the easy way and continue to be average.

“We suffer during training to improve ourselves physically and psychologically, and we measure those improvements on mountains, on frozen waterfalls, in burning buildings, facing cunning adversaries, on the battlefield, on the mat and in the cage.”- Mark Twight