There is not only a training to not be bad, there is a training to be better than good.
The dictionary says that training is preparing for the practice of a sport. However, a substantial percentage of people who are physically active (by the way, always too few) do not practice any sport. They go to the gym, work out with a personal trainer, or just do exercise boards at home. And many of them call this type of activity training, even if it does not have any competition or sport as its objective. Shouldn’t they call it something else? For example, just exercise?
The answer is no.
In the first place, dictionaries are what they are for and do not always capture all the nuances of language use, because it is constantly evolving. And secondly, and more importantly, all the people who do some kind of physical activity, even if it is not sports, are training for the most important competition that exists, which is life.
“Life is a constant competition. Life is sport “
There are countless, truly countless times when life tests our physical ability. Because there are always stairs to climb, a purchase to transport or put in the car, or a suitcase to place on our seat on the train or on the plane. Not to mention the races that we sometimes have to give to catch the bus or not to be late for an important personal or professional appointment. Those who live with young children or people with physical disabilities, in addition, almost every day overload their muscles overcoming resistance, retaining or driving. To this long list are added the furniture that must be moved to clean, the cans that we have to open, the stubborn keys that must be turned and so on. And in a separate chapter we must consider all those situations in which we must endure a lot of tension with little rest and, of course, the long list of diseases, mild or serious, that improve or cope better when the body is in shape. The conclusion is clear: life is a constant competition. Life is sport.
“There is not only training to not be bad, there is training to be better than good”
From this perspective, it is still surprising that in the minds of many people, physical activity is something that should only happen when we want to lose weight or as a means of rehabilitation, as if exercising were only a way to correct a problem. Compared to the infinite occasions when mere everyday life poses physical challenges, these two situations, losing weight or rehabilitating, represent a frank minority. Therefore, the habitual sport should be a constant in our life. Because there is not only training to not be bad, there is training to be better than good. And this should be the usual one.
However, as the vast majority of people who start in some type of sports activity have experienced, the benefits of training (now, with all the letters) go beyond the physical, positively affecting our mood and serenity. Work of endorphins or not, when we exercise and overcome our own limits, big or small, we experience vitality and vigor, we connect with our body and, suddenly, even if only for an instant, we feel capable of everything. And at that moment we realize that there is no physical or psychological sensation comparable to feeling that we are crossing our own borders. And it is when we understand that this is, after all, the competition that best explains why we train, which is also the most important in which we are all enrolled: that of improving ourselves.
