Every day we come in the gym and work hard. We sweat, bleed, and sometimes cry. We also compete. Everyday people will look at the white board and decide what their benchmark score is and who they want to compete against. There is nothing wrong with this. A little friendly competition is good for people. Everyone goes a little faster when there is someone working out next to him or her.
However there is such a thing as too much competition. I?ve heard several times in the gym people were upset because they didn?t beat someone in a WOD. In the daily WODs we do at CFB we already have enough to battle. We have to battle the weather inside and out of the gym, the pain of the WOD, and that little voice inside telling you to quit. There is no need to add another opponent.
I had a huge struggle with comparing my performance and myself in workouts to others when I began my fitness journey at Cross
fit Bartlett. Then I noticed as we repeated some benchmark WODs like Murph how much I had improved in a short while. I am better now than I was a year ago. That is our goal, here at Crossfit Bartlett we are striving to make you better not to make you better than the person next to you.
So if you want to get the best performance, look at the WOD on the white board, not the scores on the white board, decide the score you want, and go after it with all you?ve got. You may find that you may reach your goals quicker than you expected and may have to raise your expectations mid-WOD. That, for me at least, is a more satisfying feeling than beating someone else in the gym. ?Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people?- Nido Qubein. Have you ever found yourself being over competitive? Do you measure yourself against other people, or where you were a year ago?
-Chris Kent aka T.I.
Sivan getting ready to squat the world! Click here to check out our Flickr Photostream!
