POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES IN THE WORLD OF COMPETITION by Danijela Crevar
www.danijelacrevar.com

(Author of the Book "Where Your Mind Goes The Body Will Follow")

World of competition in body-building and fitness require a life of dedication, mental and physical strength, time, focus, energy, money.

Danijela Crevar

You love the way you feel and look, you enjoy every minute of this wonderful and magical sport which shapes your body as a peace of art. You came to the point where you want to take your look to next level. Is it still just a lifestyle which works wonders for you? Or is there something more in it for you, like taking the center stage amongst other great shaped athletes?

I came to idea to write this article in hope that I will be able to help many of you who needs to make a decision regarding expending a lifestyle into something bigger-competition.

In life there is always positive vs. negative. The same you can expect if you enter in the world of competition. So, let’s take a look at positives of competition:

1)  Attention – by competing you will get more attention then if you just exercise regularly at the gym. You will be noticed and admired by many fans of this beautiful sport. They will cheer for you; they will know for you, they will see you as a role model and idol. It is the most wonderful feeling that you can get. Felling of exception.

2)  Titles and Money Prize – wining the top places in the sport can mean better and bigger money prices. Placing in the top of competition brings awards and titles.

3)  Prestige – competing against each other competitors get a chance to prestige. It is like a driving force for competitors, it is motivation that keeps them going from one competition to another.

4)  Fame – competition gives an excellent exposure. It brings fame. It defines you as someone special, unique, recognized amongst many. If you are successful in the world of competition you get great base of fans.

5)  Fantastic experience – competition can be a life experience. It can develop great friendships between competitors. Competitions are held all around the world and by competing you get to travel a lot. So you increase more beautiful experiences. Experience which could be shared with many. Learning how to compete and what it takes to compete is valuable experience.

6)  Satisfaction – for some athletes competition brings satisfaction. That satisfaction can come in a form of winning the championship, for some earning the pro status, for some it could be money price and for the others satisfaction will come as they just show up in competition. Moral satisfaction is very important to competitors and if they get it on one competition, certainly they will look forward to next.

7)  Positive attitude – competition can make your mind stronger and more powerful. It can increase your confidence and positive attitude. If you are going to compete you must exercise your attitude, too. Once you get on stage your body and mind should say: “I am number one”, “I am the best”, and “I am ready for this moment”. This is positive attitude and confidence in what you have to show and bring to the competition stage. The same positive attitude that you have on competition stage you can have in other areas of your life, too.

8)  Discipline – competition require preparation. You won’t be able to prepare for competition if you are not disciplined. Disciplining yourself by exercising regularly, respecting and following the dieting plan you will make a new excellent habit which could be carried on in other areas of your life, too.

9)  Ambitious – competitors are usually more ambitious then others. Being ambitious in sport and competition scene can mean that you could be ambitious in your life, too. There are not many athletes who can say that they are not going for the top places and they don’t care how they place. Competitors are like warriors. As soon as they set their foot on the stage they want to win, they want to be better then their rivals.

10) Self improvement – deciding to compete you will need to workout more and diet more. The results of that are that you will get more attractive well shaped and beautiful body, which will be admired by many. Competition brings improvement in your physical look.

After reviewing some positives of competing in body-building and fitness, let’s talk about negatives:

Danijela Crevar

1)  No gymnastic background for competing in fitness – this could be one of the setbacks but it can be overcome. You can always higher gymnastic and dance coach to train you and help choreographing your routine. How far you can go with it, it’s up to you. Those ladies who have some gymnastic background can sometimes place higher.

2)  5-6 judges brings a decision about your placement – sometimes is hard to please the criterions of the judges. And it could be painful emotionally to except the placement and critics you can get. Very often the criterions can vary from one competition to another. In one competition athletes are asked to show more muscle, in other competition athletes could be asked to show more tone of the body. Sometimes it can happen that the judges place the athlete’s one place and the fans obviously don’t agree with that. Remember it is up to you when you enter the world of competition who you are going to please – yourself and look the way you want or the judges and look the way they ask you to look like. Many times it is not only the winner the one who wins at the front of judges. Winner could be the one who wins over fans.

3)  Expenses of competing – when you are competing your expenses will automatically raise. Make sure you can handle it. To prepare for competition you will need to eat healthier and better quality food, sometimes use supplements, get a suits or costumes for competition, maybe higher personal trainer and nutritionist, travel to the location of competition. On the beginning of competition career many athletes invest more then they get back. Unfortunately competition money prizes in body building and fitness are not as big as in other sports.

4)  Disappointment – Athlete can think of himself that he has the best form ever and come to compete with a confidence. But he gets placed under his expectations. What happened then, is that he can get disappoint. Remember, it is only one competition and it will be many more for athletes to get another chance. The most important for athletes is to never give up and keep believing.

5)  Stress – competition preparation could be stressful. Athletes could be under stress, because they are dieting for a weeks or months. If they have regular work and try to fit workouts and posing in their schedule can be stressful. Well, stress could be avoided by organizing yourself better, rest and relax as much as you can.

6)  Dieting – we all know already that how we look depends more on how we eat then how much we exercise. To get ready for competition athletes must diet 10-12 weeks before they step on stage. It is not easy and it takes sacrifices. Your family and friend can eat whatever they want, but you won’t be able to do the same. You will be dieting in order to get a competition form. In every negative there is some positive. So, on the end of these sacrifices the positive is lean and shaped body of the athlete.

7)  Injury – Hard training, not enough rest, over trained body of athletes can easily get injured. Balance is the best, but to get to the point where you feel and have balance in your rest and training you need to focus, concentrate and plan.

Those were the positives and negatives of being a competitor. I personally always found more positives then negatives and I enjoyed and loved every moment of being on the stage. It is all state of mind how to look at those negatives and transform into positives. If you are passionate as I am about this wonderful sport, do not let negative challenges stop you. Achieve your dreams, competitions could take you places where you never been before. Good luck on the competition scene...

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