Exercise or Sport? What is your objective?

Exercise is really good for you. But does every effort at exercise need to turn into a sport? What is the difference between something being exercise and it becoming a sport?

Take any sport. It has someone competing with someone else. A lone Djokovic battling a Nadal, for example, or an eleven-member football team battling another.

But the way the game is played, you are competing. Scores matter. Split seconds matter. You are trying to outdo your competitor, after all, aren't you?

But often, we bring the same competitive nature to our exercise as well. How many reps can you do? How fast can you run? How long can you swim? How much do you bench press?

Let me be clear. It is not necessary at all.

Even if you are competing in a sport, and trust me, I work with enough people who are, competing with someone else on how much you can bench press does not give you any advantage.

Instead, what gives you the advantage is the discipline and consistency of your actions. Most games do not work on the size of your muscles alone.

Ask any sportsperson, and they will quickly tell you that it is a mind-body game.

So then, why bring competition into your exercise? Why do you need to be better than someone else? Instead, spend your time and energy working on what matters to you.

Perhaps your joints are stiff. Perhaps you are not very flexible. Perhaps you start panting as soon as you walk; god forbid, you have to run.

There is little benefit to looking over your shoulder and seeing your neighbour as he pounds the pavement every morning.

So that is what I mean by letting a sport be a sport and exercise be exercise. Don't mix the two. If you exercise the things that are important to you, chances are you will get more competitive in your chosen sport.

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