I’d like to file a formal complaint. This is serious, so I want you to listen…

Some of you are sandbagging, and I don’t like it.

I need to direct my malcontent towards someone, so I am going to choose my pals Ruth and Sean, from CrossFit Intrepid. Yeah, you guys are totally busted. Gant told me all about how you haven’t competed in a weightlifting meet. Gant met them last weekend when he presented at a seminar/workshop, and I met the couple at one of Rip’s barbell seminars at the end of last year.

These two goons have some serious potential in Olympic weightlifting, and would do pretty decently in a meet…yesterday. Apparently they said some hogwash to Gant about “not being good enough” or something. Gant’s response is that you aren’t going to be good enough when you first start competing, but you have to compete in order to get good at competing. Pretty straightforward.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for not competing, but I am not convinced that these two have a valid reason. They were opening a new gym, and things were probably hectic, but Sean snatched 60 or 70 kilos the day I coached him at the barbell seminar…after squatting, pressing, bench pressing, deadlifting, and power cleaning that weekend. The dude has something like a 39 inch vertical (he played division I football) and is pretty damn strong. He would make a HELL of a 94 kg lifter — as in he would qualify for national level stuff pretty fast. And Ruth is a fiery little gal who is pretty strong and explosive.

I told them both right away when I saw them move that they would be good at this sport, and they seemed enthused. We even talked for 15 or 20 minutes about a program they could do when they got home. And the silly bastards never competed! All kidding aside, these are two very nice people, very good athletes, and both pretty damn strong. It is just a bummer to see quality potential wasted. I am sure there are plenty of people just like them — folks that know they will enjoy a competitive endeavor but are for some reason avoiding it.

If you are avoiding competition because you don’t think you are good enough, then you are a Silly Person. The whole point is to test yourself in a competitive environment. I promise that you will enjoy yourself — as long as you set yourself up to do well in that first meet (I will talk more about this tomorrow). If there is a chance that you might be decently competitive in a given weight class, then you have more incentive to get better, but you will never know this without ever competing.

If you think a sport might be fun to compete in, then what the hell are you waiting for? Go online, find a competition, circle the date, and train for it. You’ll thank me later, you buffoon.