Thinking About Competing? Here's Why You SHOULDN'T.

You’ve been squatting, pressing, deadlifting, and benching now for a few weeks - perhaps a few months, even. Maybe you’ve been snatching and clean-and-jerking, too, you crazy cat. Then it happens - you hear about an upcoming meet that’s a few months away, and for the briefest of moments, you actually think that you might sign up for it. “It could be kinda fun,” you find yourself thinking.

But then you mentally pull back a bit. You think, “I think I’ll do a meet at some point - maybe when my squat gets up to Random Weight. Yeah. That sounds good. When I can squat Random Weight and deadlift Other Random Weight, then I’ll sign up.”

Stop. Stop it right now. Your problem is - somewhere along the line - you became an adult. If you were still in kindergarten, your folks would toss you in youth soccer/basketball/volleyball, and two weeks later, you’d play your first game.

Thank goodness. If kindergartners played sports the way we adults often treat lifting, the poor kids would never get to play a game. Instead, they practice for a few weeks, then they play some games . . . and they have a blast.

You will too. Don’t wait until you feel ready. If you wait for that particular ethereal sensation, you’ll never sign up. Once your squat gets up to Random Weight, you’ll tell yourself, “Well, that wasn’t all that impressive, but I’ll sign up when my squat gets to The Next Goal.” This type of thinking runs on forever, and in the meantime, you’ll be missing out on a lot of fun.

Because that’s what happens when you do a meet. Fun. After someone’s first meet, I always hear something like, “That was so much fun! I’ll definitely do another one.” You don’t do your first meet to break world records - you do it to have fun and get some experience, and you then have some numbers to try and beat for your next competition.

If you’re thinking about competing . . . don’t. Not “Don’t compete” but “Don’t think about competing.” Just do it.

The time to compete is Now. Not later. Stop thinking about it. Just sign up. That meet is still a few months off, anyway, so you’ve got plenty of time to train. But sign up today. You won’t regret it.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

P.S.
If you’re still reading at this point, you’re definitely thinking about signing up for a meet, so click here to head over to our events page and check out our veritable smorgasbord of upcoming events. You’ll have a blast no matter which one you choose.

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