Benefits of competitions

It is well known that we benefit from exercise. How about the challenge of competitions?

In the preparation and participation for competitions we can find enjoyment in the physical improvements and testing our limitations, getting positive effects on mood from the training, being motivated to pursue regular, intensive exercise in order to reach the goals for competitions. Meeting other women weightlifters at the competitions and staying in contact via social media enriches life. In interviews at the World Masters Games in Sydney 2009 competitors aged  56-90 identified five themes, namely enjoyment of challenges, satisfaction with what their bodies are capable of, winning, motivation, and companionship ("Older athletes perceived benefits of competitions")

Competitions and training for competitions provide physical and mental challenges.  One has to deal with doubts or unreasonable expectations and finding a balance. There is the risk of injury, typically measured in number of incidences per 1000 hours of activities in the chosen sport. It is relatively low in weightlifting compared to ball or contact sports or running (Pakkari et al. Active living and injury risk.  Int J Sports Med 2004; 25: 209-216).  Injuries or comorbidities (such as cancer) make it necessary to adjust the training and not being able to achieve what one hoped. However at the competitive level athletes make these adjustments and continue to train.  In the documentary Impossible Dreamers (2016)  a 68 year old swimmer talked about how "something inside her kept her going and going" after a surgery so that she was able to break the world record a year later. An 85 year old sprinter said that "we don't let things stop us from max effort." A 94 year old yoga teacher and dancer said that it is the dance of life inside her, and that she tells her students not to give in to anything but to know that they can recycle their own bodies. 

At competitions we learn how to deal with our nervous system so that we can focus and find a still point that allows us to be at our best. It can be helpful to dedicate our efforts at a competition to something. For example, I wanted to succeed (meaning to participate and do well) at the world masters weightlifting championships for my breast cancer sisters in the world, and as an example that breast cancer need not stop us. There are many women with breast cancer diagnosis who participate in competitions at the highest levels: Sisterhood of breast cancer athletes