Learn the benefits of building low-stakes contests into your fitness routine, according to sports psychologists.
To some members, working out with a friend or in a group class setting seemingly does more harm than good. Chit-chatting with another person mid-set will distract them from their training, compromising their lifting technique, they might say. Or, they’ll end up inadvertently taking a five-minute, rather than 30-second, break in between rounds, they may claim.
Those downsides may hold true, but there is value in exercising with other people — particularly in the form of friendly competition. In fact, engaging in friendly competition, whether it be through a casual tennis match, a race in the pool, or an RPM contest during a cycling class, can give you a notable performance boost.
“Even if they’re not a pro athlete, people like to compete,” says Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D., a mental performance coach and the founder of Peak Performance Sports in Orlando. “When people are competing, it’s more exciting for them. There can be more intensity to the activity…which obviously is going to give you a higher level of workout.”
Of course, the bragging rights or modest trophies that come with winning a competition can motivate you to perform at your peak. But so can internal factors, such as the enjoyment, the sense of pride, and the self-growth you derive from competing, adds Adam Gallenberg, Ph.D., L.P., C.M.P.C., a licensed psychologist, certified mental performance consultant, and director of clinical training at Premier Sport Psychology.
“Group classes or training, where members…have someone on the other end pushing back physically and mentally brings out more of that willingness to lean into challenge,” Gallenberg explains. “When there's a willingness to lean into challenge, to lean into helping ourselves grow and take risks, that's when our performance improves a lot more than when things are [done] on our own.” For instance, seeing your friend bike up a hill as fast as possible will push you to pedal with every bit of your strength. But if you were riding solo, you might take it easy up that incline.
Research backs up this idea, too: Working against a competitor can increase physical effort during both short- and long-duration events, as well as improve attention during physically exerting tasks. Competitiveness can also boost your motivation to practice a sport, according to research published in Frontiers in Psychology. And going head-to-head against an opponent can improve your physical performance regardless of how competitive of a person you are, according to a paper published in The Sport Journal.
To top it off, a bit of rivalry in your movement routine can have mental benefits. When you’re focused on the competition in front of you, you’re also likely to become immersed in the flow of the game — so much so that you’re not paying attention to your quickening heart rate, intensifying muscle fatigue, or breathlessness, says Cohn. In turn, the activity at hand can feel more like an enjoyable pastime and less like an exhausting chore.
But in order to have competition that’s friendly — and consequently advantageous for your performance and well-being — there needs to be a foundation of community and trust, says Gallenberg. Think about a pickleball match. With the right teammates and opponents, you can have an intense game with some mild frustration about an out-of-bounds call or rapid-fire rally, but you won’t go home with a sore ego or resentment toward the other players.
Instead, you’ll feel motivated to become a better version of yourself for the next game. And you’ll encourage others to do the same, which can have a positive influence on people trying the sport for the first time, says Gallenberg. “That trust and a desire to support the people around you is what makes friendly competition one of the driving factors for participation in sport or workout communities,” he adds.
Aside from recreational sports, you can harness the benefits of competition in your group fitness classes. Try to maintain (or beat) your neighbor’s speed on the treadmill, perform two more reps than your friend during a 30-second interval of jump squats, or see who can hold the longest plank in your mat Pilates session. You can also use tech to your advantage, says Gallenberg: Keep tabs on the leaderboard at your next cycling class or compare your running pace with your friends’ on apps like Strava, for example.
Just know that not all forms of competition may feel motivating to you. Some people fear leaderboards or find that tracking metrics is unsupportive, says Gallenberg, while others may feel intimidated by team sports. “Every individual, every athlete, every person that's trying to better themselves in some way, shape, or form is going to have a different reaction to those things,” he notes.
That’s why Gallenberg encourages athletes to first unpack what “friendly competition” means to them. Then, start to identify which activities fit that definition. Ultimately, there’s no right answer; vying for first place in your recreational kickball league can be just as motivating as striving to sprint the fastest during your cycling class, so long as you enjoy the ride.