Gym Competition
Some people, by nature, are competitive. These people often compete even when there are no competitions. How much money they earn compared to their peers, how nice of a car they drive compared to other people at the office, etc. This type of personality trait oftentimes transcends it’s way into the fitness world. Sometimes a gym workout can turn into a gym competition.
As far as gym competition goes in the fitness world, I personally don’t cater to it, nor do I even think about it. I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for a very long time, and frankly, I’m not overly concerned about who else is doing Austin personal training. That is not meant as a slight to anyone, or any gym. The bottom line is that I’m simply far more interested in running my gym that I founded 8 years ago, my 20 year old personal training company, reading the latest medical journals from Harvard’s school of Medicine, working with my clients, etc, etc, than worrying about what methods or theories other Austin personal trainers are incorporating.
I have noticed, however, plenty of people who don’t work in the industry, who have competitive tendencies in the gym when it comes to poundages and reps, as well as the physiques of others as compared with their own. Gym competition can be a very real thing. It’s one thing to try and out lift your workout partner, or a familiar friendly face in the gym all in the name of fun, but to be vocal and boastful, arrogant and condescending to others in an effort to get validation in the gym for your efforts, is quite another. That’s simply bad etiquette and it isn’t tolerated at my facility for a moment.
Gyms are strange and mystical places in a sense, as they can be intimidating to the new and uninitiated, and later, to that same person, become a source of confidence, mental strength, and great pride.
Every gym has plenty of different personalities, from the competitive, to the meek. Whether you’re a seasoned gym rat, a professional athlete, a fitness enthusiast, or just beginning your fitness journey, there’s almost always going to be some self manufactured competition between yourself and whomever you think possess an ideal which you feel you lack. Ultimately, however, the biggest and most ruthless competitor you have, the one that has the ability to dismantle all you have worked for, or worked yourself mentally up for, is yourself.
Unless you make your living competing against others in power lifting or bodybuilding, worry about the one thing that you can control. That’s yourself and the only way you’ll make progress is to focus in on what you’re doing, as opposed to catering to a gym competition. It makes no difference what the other people around you are doing, as that has no effect on you whatsoever. Stay the course by consistently giving all of your effort, and in time, others may be looking at you as their new benchmark.
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Andy
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