You don’t need to be at the top of the SugarWOD leaderboard to be a competitor.
Being an everyday competitor is a mindset that doesn’t involve any other athlete or any specific workout or score. Follow the below steps to develop yourself into an everyday competitor to see positive progress while enjoying the journey!
1. Don’t compete with the clock.
Checking out SugarWOD before your class starts to see what times people are getting in the workout can be good to set some expectation ideas for your workout, but trying to select an exact time you will try to beat will only set you up for feeling unsuccessful or crashing and burning.
2. Choose your own “wins”.
For each workout, select a realistic win that is maintainable yet challenging for yourself. Let’s say the workout has 5 rounds of 10 pullups every round. You know from skill-work time that you can hit sets of 5 a handful of times although it does get challenging. For the workout then, set the goal that you will do sets of 5 no matter what, even if it means taking a little extra rest between sets or slowing down on the other movements.
While your score may not be the fastest time you could pull off, your training will have had some purpose and you will leave feeling more accomplished when you accomplish the goal. Or, if you miss the goal, you have specific feedback on improvements to continue to make.
3. Stay humble.
While this slogan is pretty cliche, it is important to always leave your ego at the door and be realistic and humble with your daily competitor goals. If you are trying to constantly compete head-to-head with certain members (while competition can be great at some points), you will miss out on a lot of growth opportunities. Every workout doesn’t need to be your most-fastest but it does need to be your best.
You choose what your personal, daily best is; select what items you need to check off to achieve that best; and stay focused and ego-free as you work to accomplish it.
By implementing these actions into your everyday training routine, you will be able to maintain making positive progress and stay consistent in your workouts rather than getting burnt out due to unrealistic expectations and feeling unsuccessful everytime you leave the gym!