Competing in bodybuilding is something few people try and even fewer people have an interest in. It takes months of dedication, sacrifice, and good old-fashioned hard work. At the end of all these trials, you step on stage to show off all the work you put in, turn a few times, maybe get a trophy if you are lucky, and then you go home. It is a crazy amount of work for such a short time in the spotlight. However, preparing for the show is what teaches you the most important thing you can gain from it.
Competing in bodybuilding teaches you discipline. Getting ready for a show can take the activity you look forward to most every day— going the gym— and turn it into another daily chore to check off your list. The life of a college student is hard as it is. There are days when school piles up and hours of homework have to get done. On those days, it's easy to think of a hundred excuses not to work out. Deep down, however, you know that everyone has their own set of problems to deal with, and those problems aren't going to stop the guy standing next to you on stage from trying his best to beat you, so you go work out anyway. This self-discipline quickly manifests itself in all the other aspects of your life. You eat the same thing at the same time every day, regardless of how hungry you are or what you may be in the mood for. Food loses a lot of its appeal and quickly becomes just another tool to get you ready to take the stage. The small cheat meals you save as a reward for weeks of hard dieting are few and far between but give you a much greater appreciation for great-tasting food.
Competing in bodybuilding teaches you perseverance. At first, getting ready for a show can be easy. It's months away and you only have to start vaguely counting calories and keeping track of what you eat. Over time, as the big day gets closer, things get stricter. One by one you have to leave behind the foods you used to enjoy eating. Some are harder to let go of than others. By the very end, even water and salt have to be carefully accounted for. Anyone can prep for a show for a few weeks, but only the people who are dedicated and persevere can do it for multiple months in a row. This perseverance is what separates the men and women on the stage from the people in the crowd.
Competing in bodybuilding teaches you that you are always capable of more than you think. Things may get hard— no, things will get hard. And then they will get harder. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, they get even harder! Toward the end, you will have more good days than bad. There will be more days when you think you won’t be able to keep going than you think you can. Every day becomes a victory. One of the biggest things I learned is that you are always capable of conquering the day. Even the very worst days have endings, and the next day is always a fresh start.
All of these lessons, all of this build-up, culminates in one final day. You are backstage for a few hours, on stage for a few minutes, and then it’s over. You go home, and so does everyone else. All the work you put in ends in one giant crescendo, and it's over. You grab some junk food. You celebrate, whether you did as well as you wanted to or not.
Although the work put in is hard, and the time on stage is fleeting, the life lessons that can be taken away from competing in a bodybuilding show are irreplaceable, and are more powerful than any trophy or recognition.
