For years, we’ve trained our bodies to prepare for competition. The focus was never to be healthy or balanced; it was to be stronger, faster, or better. Our goal was to outperform our opponents, or our own limitations. That kind of performance edge does not come from a balanced approach to fitness. We trained to over-develop those elements of our body that would give us an edge in competition. Stronger legs, shoulders, more endurance or quickness all became the outcome. Training was not an optional element of our lives – it was an expectation. The resulting physical imbalance is complicated by the years of pounding, over-use and injuries we’ve sustained. 

What impact does this have? Aside from the wear and tear on joints, ligaments, and muscles, there is a larger matter of the imbalanced physiology we create by developing our bodies as we do. Bigger bodies creates more force and stress. Faster does too. That becomes problematic in the ending of our competitive careers. The strength and stamina we develop is no longer required to the degree it once was, and yet some form of fitness most definitely is a part of maintaining a quality of life.

As those years of competing come to a close, one key to long-term health and fulfillment is to find ways to bring our bodies back into balance.We need to heal and refocus on different outcomes. How do we take a body that has been subjected to elevated levels of performance and grueling competition and bring things back into balance? We developed the physical condition we did by adapting to specific needs presented by our chosen form of competition. Adaptation to life after competition happens the same way – we create the bodies that we want in order to serve our needs and our expectations for that life. The question is how. 

It’s a great place to start this conversation. 

Questions for discussion: 

• What are some of the challenges and pitfalls of adapting our bodies to post-competitive life? What can go wrong? 
• Is there such a thing as ‘healthy imbalance’ in physical development? 
• What are some of the opportunities inherent in being a former competitive athlete? 
• How should we approach physical fitness differently than non-competitors? 
• How does a career-ending injury impact physical fitness post-competition?