Stop Comparing Your Training to Everyone Else

We’re all adults here. Seasoned adults, too.

Yet somehow, we still find ourselves looking around the gym and comparing ourselves to everyone else.

Someone can lift a heavier kettlebell.

Someone can do a pull-up.

Someone has better mobility.

Someone learns a movement faster.

And instead of appreciating what our own bodies are capable of doing, we focus on the one thing someone else can do that we can’t.

Here’s what we forget:

Everyone is good at something.

And everyone has weaknesses. We all have our own kryptonite—the movement, skill, or physical quality that simply doesn’t come as easily to us.

That’s okay.

Training Is Practice

This is one of the reasons I don't like thinking of what we do at Bellbar as simply “working out.”

We practice.

Strength training is a collection of skills.

A kettlebell swing is a skill. A deadlift is a skill. A press is a skill. A pull-up is a skill. A Turkish get-up is a skill.

And skills require practice.

Some people will learn certain skills quickly. Others may spend months—or years—working on them.

Your job isn't to be better than the person standing next to you.

Your job is to keep practicing.

Celebrate What You CAN Do

It’s easy to become so focused on the things we haven't accomplished yet that we forget how far we've already come.

Maybe you can't do a pull-up yet—but your deadlift has never been stronger.

Maybe your squat isn't where you want it—but your mobility has dramatically improved.

Maybe someone else is pressing a heavier kettlebell—but there are movements you perform beautifully that they struggle with.

We all bring different bodies, histories, injuries, strengths, weaknesses and experiences into the gym.

Comparing your Chapter 10 to someone else's Chapter 20 doesn't make you better.

Practice does.

So celebrate what you can do.

Keep working on what you can't.

Put your head down and practice.

Because we're not training to prove that we're better than the person next to us.

We're training to become stronger, more capable versions of ourselves.

And that's something we can keep doing at any age.

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