The Price of Competition

[Taste of Death]

As a lifelong athlete (running, cycling, swimming, resistance training, soccer, rugby, football, baseball, basketball, tennis, surfing, bodysurfing, skiing, snowboarding, judo, tkd, taiji, hsing i and yi quan) who has missed games, seasons, races and many days of training and ended up in the hospital due to various injuries this Ross Enamait article on the price of competition rings true.

http://rosstraining.com/blog/2014/07/30/the-price-of-competition/

[grzegorz]

Thanks for the article.

The more I train the more I think of myself as a someone going surfing or going bowling. For me just enjoying the experiencine is enough and besides which at my age I value my family life over everything else, the idea of going to the gym everyday over seeing my kids is the furthest thing from my mind.

In fact I'm taking a break from training all together. I may come back or I may not but I know either way I'll be happy because in the end I'm training for myself and to improve my life not have something taken away from it.

[Taste of Death]

Absolutely. The older I get the more I prefer the sweet to the bitter.

[gimpster]

These guys knew what they were getting into, especially the PED guzzling needed to reach the top ranks in any weight division. Drug use has always been rife in this particular sport. So have the nasty career ending injuries from over use and too much weight. And the superheavies were the unhealthiest of them all. They looked sick even when competing, they had the roid bloat thing going on big time, along with Mr. Willie on the fritz, etc.

When I did amateur lifting in the 80's I realized real fast unless I did roids, I couldn't make it past state. So I quit. I already saw guys dropping dead in their 40's from roid use. It was a open secret. Everybody appeared shocked when so and so up and died but that's as far as it went.

The weight training and bodybuilding mags all pretended there were no drugs as well. They kept promoting the lie that those million dollar bodies on the front cover were just from hard training. What bullshit.

And if that didn't get them, the over training and the abuse of their joints and back would. It catches up with even the hard core non-drug athlete - look at Dan John's joint problems. You can't keep pushing yourself at competitive levels for very long(this is why athletic careers are so short). Now I'm not talking about some kid who dabbles in a half dozen sports as simple hobbies. But the guy who intends to become either a serious amateur or try for pro. Their bodies take a massive amount of abuse. Good genetics and youth shields them from their folly for a while, but then the bill still comes due.

The sad thing, if they just did powerlifting as a hobby, they could have kept their health, career and family. And they could have been lifting strong into 70's as well like Grimek or some of the other old time strongmen.

[middleway]

It boils down to the life you wish to live IMO. It is easy and safe to sit in an armchair and watch the beauty of the world on National Geographic. Its not easy and not safe to go and experience it in person .

Similarly its easy to watch people train long and hard to accomplish amazing sporting achievements, its not so easy to train until your idols become your rivals.

For me the sacrifice of a few years for a mind full of memories and a soul fulfilled is worth it.

[Taste of Death]

I experience the beauty of the world snowboarding in Tahoe and surfing in Santa Cruz. At 47 years old beating the other guy means less and less to me. Unless he's my younger brother.

[Michael]

Unless he's my younger brother.

Haha, I'm sure he loves you for that, too.

[grzegorz]

Absolutely. The older I get the more I prefer the sweet to the bitter.

I don't mind the bitter, in fact I like the challenge but I just don't have time to train train these days.

When I was in high school it was fairly common to know kids with guns on them, so early on the need to prove myself through fighting was meaningless to me.

When people first walk in a gym they come to learn some self-defense. From there some move on but for me the goal hasn't changed. Competition is good but the more I watch the more I'm convinced what really comes down to is who is the better athlete. I'm not a great athlete, so I'm cool with just watching.

[RobP2]

From a self defence perspective I'd say forget bitter, enjoy your training. Compete against yourself, not the other guy. In terms of SD competition is a nonsense, right? You don't know who you might be in a situation with, you can't train to beat everyone, at some point you have to let go worrying about the other guy and look at yourself instead. Doing long term injury to yourself in pursuit of self defence is dumb

[GrahamB]

From a self defence perspective I'd say forget bitter, enjoy your training. Compete against yourself, not the other guy. In terms of SD competition is a nonsense, right? You don't know who you might be in a situation with, you can't train to beat everyone, at some point you have to let go worrying about the other guy and look at yourself instead. Doing long term injury to yourself in pursuit of self defence is dumb

Rob, are you seriously suggesting that I need to stop hitting myself with this rock to toughen my forehead?

[RobP2]

From a self defence perspective I'd say forget bitter, enjoy your training. Compete against yourself, not the other guy. In terms of SD competition is a nonsense, right? You don't know who you might be in a situation with, you can't train to beat everyone, at some point you have to let go worrying about the other guy and look at yourself instead. Doing long term injury to yourself in pursuit of self defence is dumb

Rob, are you seriously suggesting that I need to stop hitting myself with this rock to toughen my forehead?

No, it's good training for interaction on internet forums

[neijia_boxer]

i think when you get too deep into martial arts and fighting, you lose out on life. i think i was having a real enjoyable experience just playing softball on the company team last year. More to life than just wanting to know how to hurt people, over training with cardio circuits, and training to punch them in the face. Now i am finally getting around to acupuncture school which i always wanted to learn.