Is Second Place Still a Winner?
by Brian Cannone
If there is something that personal trainers and fitness experts hate to hear it is the phrase “second place is for losers”. They hate this because anyone involved in fitness modeling, bodybuilding shows, and personal training understands that there are so many serious challenges faced and overcome by anyone who works out and strives to have a very strong and toned body.
For example, let’s look at someone who might compete in a bodybuilding show each year. They are competing against a lot of other people, and if they make it all of the way to the finals and then get second place…that is amazing! If anyone could point to this person and say that they are not one of the winners it would be impossible to agree.
Consider too that if you beat anyone in fitness modeling or bodybuilding shows you are instantly a winner, and also consider that if you look better than you have in the past it makes you a winner as well. This means that if you rank lower than second, but still come in higher than you did the year before it indicates that you are certainly winning.
Still not convinced? If you are entering a bodybuilding show, you have all of the statistics, measurements and data from the years before. It is likely that you have reached this moment in competition because you challenged yourself to improve in one or more ways since the last contest. Did you “beat” those numbers? If you are ranking higher than you did before then you certainly did beat the past figures, and you have to take this into serious consideration.
Do you really think of yourself as not winning because one or more other competitors ranked higher? That is not the right attitude and it is quite likely to work to defeat you or reduce your level of personal success. Yes, this might sound like a “pep talk” but if you look at the work you do each day, and how well you were viewed by professional judges or modeling experts it will all show that you are a winner.
One other suggestion we would make is to actually make friends with your competition. There is nothing more encouraging than hearing the people that “beat” you talk about the major challenges that they face to get where they are. This means that you are in the same category as them – a major winner!