Between triathlons, Hyrox, Spartan races, marathons, CrossFit comps, bodybuilding, and powerlifting, folks like to spend a lot of time and money to suffer. When you have a fitness competition mindset, your training goes way beyond aesthetics, or isn’t even about long-term health for that matter. This article explores the science behind mental toughness, performance goals, and sustainability in fitness competitions.
Why Fitness Competitions Are More Than Just Looks
Most fitness competitions are designed to be grueling both physically and mentally. And they require very niche training, usually working out for long periods of time, multiple days a week. That being said, training for competitions is neither sustainable long-term, or ideal for body composition, and that’s not the point. These competitions are about testing grit, endurance, and mental toughness as much as they are about physical performance. They push you past comfort and force you to confront your limits, revealing what you’re truly capable of under pressure. The transformation that happens through competitions is largely internal, requiring discipline and focus that carries over into every area of life.
The Psychology Behind Competing
Some people might wonder why people pay to suffer in fitness competitions, but the answer lies in our ancestry. Our bodies and minds are wired for hard, physical demands for survival purposes. Humans had to be constantly moving and lifting things to find food prior to the agricultural revolution. Turns out, there’s something evolutionarily rewarding about being pushed out of your comfort zone.
Fitness competitions mostly rely on extrinsic motivation. Meaning, if you sign up and pay for it, you will do it. This type of extrinsic motivation is very similar to hiring a coach or trainer, which statistically shows more adherence and discipline around consistent workouts compared to those who don’t pay for training.
Fitness competitions also add an element of social identity & achievement. Races like Iron man and Hyrox become social “proof” of self-worth. And just like crossfit, they allow participants to build a community.
Training Mentally vs. Physically
Research shows a strong connection between resilience and performance. Experiencing adversity can improve your ability to succeed in demanding physical and mental challenges. Pushing through the challenge of fitness competitions improves your capacity to handle adversity in everyday life.
Fitness competitions can have a powerful impact on mental health, offering immense value by challenging you to push your body and mind beyond your known limits. However, competitions are not the healthiest thing for your long-term physical health. Living a healthy life means living in a mostly low stress state. Training insane hours and constantly pushing your body to the limit can increase cortisol levels by not allowing enough time for proper recovery. If you’re training for a competition, it’s imperative for you to maximize recovery as much as possible and eat enough, especially protein, or you’ll crash and burn. If you’re wanting to compete with a one and done mentality, it’s OK to push it hard for a short period. If you’re finding yourself becoming addicted to these races, proceed with caution!
That being said, you can’t focus both on your physique and competing at the same time. These goals require opposite conditions to be successful. Getting the body composition you want requires a structured routine with progressive overload, eating enough calories, and recovery to support muscle growth and repair. Competitive training for events like Ironman, Spartan races, or Hyrox, shifts the focus toward endurance and performance under fatigue. That kind of training is extremely demanding on the body and often burns far more energy than you can replace, making it difficult to build or even maintain significant muscle mass. Trying to optimize for both aesthetic physique goals and peak competitive performance usually leads to burnout, stalled progress, or compromised results in both areas.
Cross-Training and Multi-Sport Preparation
The key to successful training for fitness competitions is periodization. It’s impossible to do it all at once, so cycle through dedicated phases that emphasize different training goals based around your competitions. In the off-season, prioritize strength training with progressive overload, hypertrophy, and recovery. When you’re training again, transition into a performance phase centered on performance under fatigue and/or competition-specific skill work.
During competition prep, it’s important to strength train at least once a week to maintain muscle and joint integrity. This will help your body maintain stability and minimize the muscle mass that can potentially be lost, especially if you’re endurance training. Working with a trainer that knows the nuances of the competition you’re signed up for is optimal.
How Many People Keep Going Long-Term?
Although stats aren’t available fot for Hyrox, Spartan, and tough Mudder races, less than 20% of people come back for the same endurance races the next year, which include marathons, ultras, and triathlons. Time, cost, injury risk, and life changes all are factors that contribute to this statistic.
Setting Goals Beyond Aesthetics
One of the most important and arguably most beneficial aspects of competing is the ability to set goals for yourself beyond focusing on looks. The caveat is that you need to figure out a sustainable competition plan and listen to your body and give it what it needs. It’s not unusual for people to quit training at the intensity needed to compete because of injury or increased stress. Remember, your self worth is not attached to competing, how well you do in a competition, or how many you do.
Set process-oriented goals when you’re competing, not outcome-only goals. You don’t have to be the best every time. In fact, in powerlifting some of the best athletes are very strategic during smaller meets by completely skipping the last attempt on deadlift to preserve energy and maximize recovery. Even if you need to drop out of a competition or didn’t place as well as you wanted, reflecting on how well you fueled yourself, allowed yourself to recover, and trained consistently can be a source of pride. If you learned something about yourself and your body, even better. Competitions are ultimately meant to nurture your sense of self, which matters so much more than any PR.
Mental Strength, Motivation, and Sustainable Competition
Fitness competitions are a great tool to increase self-empowerment because you get to work towards something. Having a set training program with set goals through competing can help with motivation and momentum forward with your life in general.
Remember, although competitions can be used as a measurement of physical success at the moment, it doesn’t actually mean too much for long-term physical health. Completing a competition is a huge achievement. Sometimes it’s about nothing more than proving to yourself that you can do it, and for that, we say YES. But if you plan to keep competing, it’s important to understand what can happen when you don’t take extended off-seasons or program properly between events. The physical and mental demands of these competitions are intense, and without adequate recovery, both the body and mind can burn out. Strategic rest and structured training cycles are essential if you want to perform well and stay healthy as a long-term athlete.
Whether you’re preparing for your first event or trying to balance competition training with real life, our coaching at BarpathFitness.com helps you build strength, resilience, and longevity so you can keep showing up without breaking down.
Want to learn more? Listen to episode 251 of the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend Podcast: The Fitness Competition Mindset: Training Beyond Aesthetics
References:
Neumann, R. J. (2021). The impact of physical fitness on resilience to modern life [Article]. PMC. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-021-01338-9
