“A healthy athlete is an oxymoron.”
I love this quote from Vern Gambetta – a track and field coach who, despite training athletes himself, acknowledges that the pursuit of athletic success often demands more than the body can tolerate.
According to research, the average career span of an elite athlete varies by sport. In team sports, athletes often retire around 31.8 years, while in individual sports, the average retirement age is approximately 27.7 years. The most common reasons for retirement? Injury or the inability to physically compete at the required level.
And yet, many people still turn to sport as their primary method for staying healthy long-term.
How many people do you know who say, “Oh, I just run/play football/[insert sport here] to stay fit,” but spend more time injured than they do actually participating?
That drive to compete often mutes what our bodies are telling us and pushes us beyond what we can tolerate.
We turn the competition inward. That’s why I love the gym – it creates space for internal competition. You’re still striving, still progressing, but the only metric is you. The rival you’re chasing is the person you were yesterday, not someone else.
Whether it’s mastering a chin-up, lifting a little heavier, or showing up more consistently than you did last week, the focus shifts to personal improvement, not external comparison.
And unlike the brief spikes of external competition, this kind of pursuit is one that supports your long-term health.
While I appreciate those of us engaging in sport later in life aren’t doing so at an elite level and therefore the demands aren’t the same, in the same vein we don’t have the level of physical tolerance of preparedness that these athletes have. So applying the same competitive mindset – without the same foundation – often leads to burnout or injury.
Recreational sport can be part of a healthy lifestyle. But it’s best used as a way to express the fitness you’ve built in the gym – not as the method by which you build it.