Competition Is Sacred

The ancient Greeks treated competition as a sacred endeavor. Competitive festivals were religious, held in honor of the gods and local heroes, and competitors offered their performances as tribute. More revealing, athletic events were accompanied by artistic competitions, including music, dancing, sculpture, and acting. Mastering any form of art or athletic event requires years of devoted training and practice. To the Greeks, all acts of mastery were worthy of offering to the gods, because there is virtue in struggle, in striving for better. All acts of mastery, those that require careful training and practice to perfect, therefore, are sacred. It was not to prove who was greatest among them in their chosen fields that drove the Greeks to compete, or to win prizes (the only prize was a wreath of leaves): it was to offer in tribute the effort, struggle, and the sacrifice that is required of mastery.

Etymology, the study of the origin of words, has a lot to tell us about the original intention of competition. The word compete is derived from two Latin words: com and petere. Petere means “to seek” or “to strive” and com means “together.” Every type of competition, from career to playwriting to the CrossFit Open, is an act of striving together towards greater human achievement. It is competition that drives the physical, artistic, exploratory, and innovative endeavors that define the greatest in humanity. Examine the history of many inventions (the sewing machine, the lightbulb, and the personal computer) and we find that it was competition with their contemporaries that drove inventors to perfect their designs. Return again to ancient Greece and we find that some of the greatest plays ever written were created for competition: at the Dionysia, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles presented their greatest tragic works. Without competition, some of the tales that have shaped human understanding would never have been created: The Oresteia, The Bacchae, and Oedipus Rex to name a few.

It may be difficult to see the connection between competing as a scaled CrossFitter in the CrossFit Games Open and the race for flight. Competition fuels the elite and the driven, but how does participating in competition impact those of us who have no aspirations to come in on top? Perhaps we won’t be surmounting Mount Everest or putting a man on the moon or writing Antigone (more feats fueled by competition), but we are giving ourselves a critical practice opportunity, one that has ties to every desire and goal we hold, and it is this, as a coach, that I see as the most important benefit of competing.

The Character of Competition

Competition is low-stakes practice at four vital character skills. These skills transfer to the whole of our lives (our careers, relationships, and goals) and are fundamental to achieving any desire.

Character Skill 1: Grit

Grit is the skill of following through. Competitors use competition to create a plan for the following week, season, or year to improve their performance in the future. But creating the plan is only the first step. It is the daily follow through of working on weaknesses, even when results are not apparent (also known as “the process”), that earns results. Grit is a combination of discipline and focus. It is doing what needs to be done when motivation has long left the building.

Character Skill 2: Composure Under Pressure

Composure is non-negotiable for performing well in any arena. We are at our best when we are thoughtful, when we behave with intention, and when we are focused on the task at hand. Think of how valuable it will have been to have practiced remaining composed while we are nervous, upset, or angry going into a work meeting or a difficult conversation with a loved one. Think of how building the skills of mental fortitude and equanimity will benefit our friends and family when they need to lean on us in times of trouble. Under the worst-case scenarios in life, composure under pressure transforms us into a harbor in stormy seas, for ourselves and for others.

Character Skill 3: Resourcefulness and Adaptability

Inevitably, life is going to throw challenges our way. Our ability to be flexible in our plans, to embrace change as a certainty, gives us an advantage in competition, career, and relationships. Think of how it will benefit us to have practiced resourcefulness if we were to lose our homes or our jobs. Think of how adaptability plays a huge role in making ourselves more valuable to the teams we are on (both personal and professional). Going with the flow, determinedly seeking answers and solutions to problems, is a skill worth practicing.

Character Skill 4: Recognizing Our Value

Today we see competitions as a place for the elite to display their prowess. The CrossFit Games Open is the first step on the way to the CrossFit Games, the winners of which are titled The Fittest Man and The Fittest Woman on Earth. For those of us without aspirations to win, those of us who train to be a healthier, better version of ourselves, we may be asking, “What do I have to contribute towards the greatness of humanity?”

Listen, and I will tell you: you have everything to contribute towards the greatness of humanity.

Participating in a competition of this scale is about recognizing that our effort is as valuable as the effort of the fittest athletes we train with. After all, effort is effort. It doesn’t matter if we get 100 reps or 30 reps. The only thing that matters is that we gave everything we had.

We have been told by our coaches that giving our best effort is what is important. Do we understand that our best effort is an honor that we bestow upon our fellow CrossFitters? Much like the Greeks honoring the gods, the effort we give in the Open is a tribute: to ourselves, to our friends, to our coaches, and to our fellow CrossFitters. It is sacred to give full effort to any endeavor, regardless of the results.

You Will Become a Better Human

Imagine now how viewing everything we do as a tribute to what we love focuses us and changes us into more thoughtful humans. If we give our best effort to our relationships, our careers, and our bodies, how does that change our lives? If we treat every one of our interactions and every facet of our work as practice, as a step towards attaining mastery, does our life become richer, more meaningful? If we learn to value those people or movements that drive us to think and work harder, to value our nemeses (another word whose origin is telling: the goddess Nemesis’ purpose was to eradicate the hubris of humans), how does that change our relationship to challenges and struggles outside of the gym?

We can see easily that competition drives human achievement among the elite, but competition has so much more to offer us than simple assessment. It gives us, the regular, wonderful people in the gym with all of the potential in the world, opportunities to practice character skills that transfer to the rest of our lives. Practicing grit, composure, and resourcefulness gives us the ingredients for success in any aspiration we hold. Learning to recognize that it is our effort, not our results, that has value enriches every experience that we have. Competition benefits everyone. It’s time to participate.

Photos courtesy of TJ Danenza.

The post Why the Ancient Greeks Believe Competition Was Sacred appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

American Championships

The U.S. championships were held in Salt Lake City’s Convention Center, the most impressive venue for a nationals’ event that I have ever witnessed. The hall housed three platforms to accommodate the large number of entrants (about 345) in three days. Each platform required a full complement of officials and an extensive amount of electronic equipment to run a high-level competition. The standard of presentation was high enough to approach that of a world championship held not so many years ago.

Also impressive were the warm-up facilities. There were eighteen warm-up platforms, with plenty of room between each to avoid crowding. When I heard that the three platform format would be used, I was immediately curious as to how well such a setup would work. I had seen this decades ago in a small local meet, but never on a national stage.

The answer is that it works very well. The setup was organized by a professional event management firm, and there were a large number of USA officials who kept technical operations running smoothly. For that we should thank Corinne Grotenhuis for the assignment of the officials. I have held this position many times, and I can tell you that it is not an easy one, even with only one platform.

As for the athletes, there were the usual number of fantastic performances. Stand outs were Kendrick Farris and Norik Vardanian in the 94’s and Cain Wilkes in the supers. No U.S. men qualified for the Olympics, though that may change after the Pan-American championships qualifier. However, three women were named to the Olympic team: Morghan King (48 kg), Jenny Arthur (69 kg), and 2012 veteran Sarah Robles (75+). Arthur had qualified for Rio prior to nationals by earning the top cumulative score of any U.S. weightlifter at the 2014 and 2015 world championships, where she finished 14th and eighth.

One of the three platforms at U.S. Nationals. [Photo courtesy of Dresdin Archibald]

Canadian Championships

Two weeks later I was off to the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, BC for the Canadian senior championships. The event was held in the Olympic Oval, and with only one platform in operation. Competition started on Friday to accommodate all 170 lifters, and nearly 100 more had qualified but did not enter.

Like the U.S., Canada has experienced a CrossFit-led membership explosion and subsequent increase in the number of national-level athletes. We also now have a problem in accommodating them all in competitions.

There are a number of solutions to this problem. One is to raise the qualifying totals. This has been done to a certain extent, but lifters trained harder and met the new standard. If we raise them even more another problem develops. The province of Québec would then have most of the athletes, while the smaller provinces would have fewer. Politically, raising the qualifying totals by too much is a nonstarter.

Another solution is to spread the competition over more days. Nationals are always held over the May long weekend, but because of meetings and travel time, people already ask their bosses for an extra day off tacked onto an already long weekend.

That leaves us with the multiple platform option. This would solve both of the above problems, so I was quite interested in how the U.S. Federation ran such events. While we have a problem both in funding and manpower, this is probably the best route, although it will take some forbearance on the part of both federations. Both events had a considerable number of new faces in the officiating ranks. This resulted in a few awkward moments as some were involved in situations they had not faced before. Time will be needed to find and train a new cadre of officials both at a local and national level.

Another result of the rising number of CrossFitters at our national competition is that they exceed the performances of regular weightlifters. I wondered why that might be. The answer is sobering, but CrossFitters might be gifted athletes in the first place. CrossFit training is quite intensive, to the point that only the gifted will survive for long. Those that do might progress in weightlifting at a faster rate. This is only speculation, but some CrossFit Games performances are impressive enough to give that idea credence. Technique, however, is sometimes lacking, as evidenced by the large number of misses at both events.

Canada currently has not qualified anyone for the Olympics, but that may change after the Pan-Ams. We had a number of our athletes pass up the nationals in favor of the Pan-Ams. This no doubt contributed to the estimated 40kg deficit in totals across the board compared to that of the USA winners. The only ones showing parity were the women’s 63kg and the men’s 62kg, where only 4kg separated the Canucks and the Yanks.

U.S. Olympic Team member Jenny Arthur. [Photo courtesy of Breaking Muscle/Bruce Klemens]

Moving Forward

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has big expectations for the USAW. For weightlifting to continue its recent rise in popularity, it is necessary for the U.S. to improve both its athletes and its level of organization. The U.S. has a great presence in the worldwide communication industry, as we’ve seen from the increase of Olympic lifts shown in the media over the past few years. While the videos are usually associated with CrossFit, they expose the snatch and clean and jerk to a wide variety of people. An American world champion would go a long way towards increasing public acceptance of the sport.

The same holds true in Canada, the UK, Australia, and the rest of the Anglosphere. Over the years, the U.S. and Canada have had a greater-than-expected presence on the various IWF committees. Our influence at the administration level must be matched with that on the platform if we are to maintain our position.

Both countries are making progress in the promotion of our sport. New challenges have unfolded, but they are being met in a more optimistic environment. A new generation is taking over, one that I have great faith in. In particular, the new USAW CEO, Phil Andrews, is especially well poised to take on these challenges. Heck, he was even born in my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.

In closing, I would like to thank all of those responsible for the hosting of the U.S. and Canadian national championships. This takes a tremendous amount of work on the part of a usually unsung local committee that gets too little recognition.

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