Time to compete again
It’s going on two years since my last contest and I need the spice that a contest on the horizon adds to life. The last twoish years have been interesting. I lost the desire to compete for awhile. Then a recent health scare made me think that I might never be able to compete again. All along I have worked out, though, and am having more fun than ever experimenting with adding muscle and staying lean at 42.
But it’s time. Time to switch from working out to training again. Time to turn my already mostly clean diet into a training diet. Time to dust off the posing trunks and remember what it feels like to stand under the lights holding a front double biceps pose for the judges. Time to start counting down to contest day. Time to pull out the Pumping Iron DVD and give it another watch.
I contend that competition can help us more mature folks keep our edge, both physically and mentally. (I suspect that the fountain of youth is full of adrenaline.) And I know my kids love that I compete. It is my chance to practice what I preach to them about competition, too; to do your best and have a good time.
Certainly, competing is something that the fat-assed soccer parents that sit on the sidelines and yell at their kids to “Run! Run! Run!” need to do more of. Would likely help them redirect some of that “energy” in a more positive direction. (As if the kids aren’t already giving it their all.)
While I’m at it (ramping up for my July comp, that is), I challenge you to compete…in something, anything that requires you to physically challenge yourself. I promise that if you rise to the occasion and meet the challenge you will emerge as a different person. I’ll bet you even stop yelling as much from the sidelines.
