If you weren’t competing would you still workout?
Why do you work out or take part in a sport or leisure activity? Is it because you trying to lose weight or bulk up; for health reasons or just to socialise? Maybe it has always been an ever-present aspect of your day to day life since a young age and you just enjoy it. We all have a variety of reasons for wanting or needing to exercise on a regular basis. For a professional athlete however, what is it that will make them feel like they must continue or even want to at the highest level even if they no longer competing? With no plans to stop taking part in national and international competitions anytime soon, we asked Terry Hollands, if you weren’t competing – would you still work out?
‘When I am done with strongman or bodybuilding, I won’t be able to stop training because it’s such a huge part of my life and I enjoy it as well.
I think that’s the thing for most people they start off thinking ‘I must start going to the gym’ and dread the thought of it. But once you start seeing progression and getting to where you want to be and it becomes part of your life, it’s fun.
The week before a competition I completely take the week off, just to let my body recover, you are not going to lose any strength in that week and you’re not going to gain any really. So that week prior to a competition I’m trying to go in as fresh as possible. I am literally like a bear with a sore head, sitting there almost twitching not knowing what to do with myself. It’s part of me now.
If I had never done strongman or bodybuilding then it maybe wouldn’t be, but I had rugby before that and before that it was judo, I’ve always had some sporting thing going on in my life that took up a lot of my time.
I almost need that outlet.
I think that is the difficult thing, as I’m getting older, I’m 40 now, and I’ll continue to train but then it’s trying to find something that I have a goal to work towards, that’s the next thing, maybe I’ll take up bowls or something.
I need a competitive outlet; I feel like the gym does give me that though I’m just competing with myself it gives me that competitive outlet I need.’
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