Hey,
The Fitness Atlantic show now feels like forever ago...
Seeing people rave about having a great day and being happy always is the part someone who runs an event like me likes to hear nice things.
Yet, it is a quote-on-quote "contest" so there will always be a percentage of people who think they should have won or placed higher and they get sour.
I mean the results of the show take over or consume people's lives and they can't handle how to respond to the results. They look for excuses as to why they didn't win and make up reasons.
Winners always say every show they won was the best show ever!
It was AWESOME! Is the common thing to hear but seeing reactions from people who didn't win makes you know you did well putting on a fun and professional show.
Sometimes people say happy stuff but throw something in like a little zinger "I didn't place." and they really don't need to add that. They sometimes announce a next show because again they want a higher placing right away.
Some just tell a story of how hard it was getting ready and how they succeeded.
This stuff isn't easy to handle when you work so hard and get awarded 3rd or 4th place.
People do want to win and think that will be the best accomplishment.
Many people don't realize that year-after-year enjoying the event and using it as a fitness goal for improvement makes the experience different.
I just think some people take the fun out of this...
In the big picture it's not that serious and it isn't completely life-changing. We all go to work the next day. It's a hobby and a really nice produced event on a big stage at a world-class venue.
Recently I listened to a podcast of an interview of Dorian Yates a former Mr Olympia bodybuilder and the interviewer was asking for the deeper reasons Dorian had started entering shows. I was surprised that his response was that he wasn't looking for approval or confidence but only continued because "he thought he could be really good at it."
I thought to myself how interesting that was that Dorian said that because that isn't that common. Many times people become super fit to try and prove to someone or themselves something and use a contest to make a point and think the results change how people will feel about them. Yet at the end of the day win or place lower life is still the same.
It's hard to produce a show of this quality and the goal is always to make as many people happy as possible. Not everyone can have a 1st Place trophy but you can still feel like a winner.
Here are some great posts:
