Things aren’t always as they appear – especially on the internet.
In the past week, I’ve had three separate conversations with people about some impressive athletic feat they’ve seen on the internet.
They want to know how the person is so good at whatever they’re doing and what it took to get there.
And to be fair, I don’t know.
More often than not, I don’t know the person and I don’t know their background.
But that’s kind of the point.
When we see someone on the internet doing something we think is impressive, we don’t know anything else about them.
It’s possible they’re a genetic anomaly.
It’s possible they sacrificed a lot of other things to get where they are, foregoing things like family and friendships in order to pursue their athletic goals.
It’s possible they’ve been training for 20 years, and you’re seeing the end result of all of that training.
It’s possible they’re on some sort of performance-enhancing drug – even doctor-approved, legal doses of testosterone can really change how someone trains.
It’s possible the video might not even be real – between AI and fake weights, who knows anymore.
Or it might be a combination of all of the above.
We just don’t know.
Which is why we should stop comparing ourselves to other people when we know so little about them.
If you’re a 47-year-old with two teenage kids and a full-time job and you’re fairly new to training, you shouldn’t expect to be hitting the same targets as a 32-year-old on a weekly dose of testosterone who almost made it as a professional athlete.
Hell, we can even use me as an example.
I’m not on any sort of performance-enhancing drugs (other than coffee), and I was never close to being a professional athlete, but I am a 36-year-old single male who works in a gym.
Does that make it easier for me to train?
Yes.
Not even a question.
I can go out to the floor between clients and do some cleans or a few sets of squats.
I can prioritize runs at the beginning of my work day because I don’t have to worry about getting kids off to school – in fact, Teddy actually prefers when I run in the morning.
As a result, I spend a lot more time training than a lot of the people I coach.
Because of course I do.
I just have fewer social responsibilities and more access to equipment.
That doesn’t mean you can’t work hard.
That doesn’t mean you can’t try to improve every year.
That doesn’t mean you can’t be a great runner.
It just means that you should stop beating yourself up because you saw someone do something crazy on social media.
You aren’t that person.
You’re you.
Hold yourself to your standard.
Not someone else’s.