We have a competitive weightlifting team and powerlifting team here at Marble Strength. We compete regularly throughout the year and set a calendar for our athletes to keep them on track to hitting their goals.
Competing is one of the best ways to hold you accountable and motivate you to keep training and stay healthy.
If you’ve ever participated in a competition, you know that it can be an exhilarating experience. You’re forced to push yourself beyond your comfort zone, which is an essential ingredient for any great achievement. How can signing up for a Competition speed up the process of you reaching your goals and how can participating sharpen your skills or performance?
Competition heightens performance.
Competition can be a great motivator. In fact, research shows that people who have a competitive nature are more likely to achieve their goals than those who don’t. So instead of feeling intimidated by the competition, embrace it and use it to your advantage! Just make sure you’re competing with yourself first—for example, looking up the top competitors and saying to yourself, “I can’t do this…” is not what signing up for a competition is all about. You are signing up for the motivation to achieve something you otherwise haven’t been able to achieve or maybe even just to set up a friendly rivalry between yourself and friends.
This is especially true in strength sports such as Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting. It is just you vs. the bar. Stepping on the stage at a local competition can be terrifying, but I assure you not stepping on that stage is worse for your mental health. It’s important to exercise our mental toughness as well as our physical toughness and hey! If you walk away with a medal and a couple of PRs, then it will all be worth it!
Competition gives you an immediate community of people who share your passion.
One of the best things about signing up for a competition is that you can find a community of people who share your passion. You can connect with others who are in the same boat as you, inspiring and encouraging each other along the way.
A lot of times, people think that they’re alone in their goals and how long it will take to achieve them. When someone else has gone through what you’re going through and succeeded, they become an inspiration to keep you motivated while also providing valuable tips on how to succeed faster or better.
Competition keeps you accountable.
If you’re participating in a competition, it’s likely that you’re doing so because of a goal you want to achieve. If that’s true, then your competition will help keep you on track and motivated to reach your goal faster. For example, if one of your goals is lose weight, then signing up for a competition that has weight classes, such as weightlifting or powerlifting, could keep you accountable by helping motivate you to stick with the diet and exercise plan needed for losing those pounds(or kilos depending on what you’re competing in).
When you put something on the Calendar it makes it real. It gives the goal a date and makes it more meaningful. It will also allow you to plan your training/nutrition around that very specific goal. That date is coming and you better be ready! No excuses!
Competition helps you gain confidence.
One of the biggest benefits of competition is that it helps us become more confident in ourselves.
When you compete for the first time the goal for everybody should just be to show up and do your best. No matter the outcome, you showed up and you did the work. The goal of the first competition is to feel out whether you enjoy this particular sport or not. (most people love it)
You ever wonder why people enjoy horror movies? We love to be scared and anxious. It helps us to feel alive and we chase after more. Competing can be terrifying and nerve racking, but once you step out on stage and realize it’s just (insert sport here) you can leave feeling accomplished! You have showed up on the day and did the best you could and that’s all you can really ask for.
It’s easy to get caught up worrying about how others perceive our abilities and skills, but in reality that’s just our own insecurities and believe me everyone experiences those thoughts. Even the most elite athletes have doubts. It’s all part of the process.
We have a few competitions coming up that we would love for everyone to be a part of. The Marble Strength Iron Classic for Powerlifting and the Freehold Spring Lift Off for Olympic Weightlifting.
There will always be options and things to shoot for. Signing up for a Competition may just be the thing you need to get started and push you to achieve what you thought was impossible. If you are unsure on what or how to go about it, let us know and we can surely help you out!
