Walk into almost any gym and it’s difficult not to compare yourself to someone else.

Someone is lifting more weight.

Someone is finishing the workout faster.

Someone has pull-ups while you’re still working on ring rows.

Someone makes a movement look effortless that you’ve been battling with for months.

And before long, a perfectly good training session can turn into:

“Why am I not as good as them?”

The problem is, you’re comparing two completely different stories.

You Don't Know Their Starting Point

The person beside you might have been training for eight years.

They might have played competitive sport their entire life.

They could be younger than you, have fewer injuries, more time to train or simply have a body that is particularly well suited to that movement.

Or maybe today’s workout happens to contain all their favourite things.

Meanwhile, you might be six months into training and comparing yourself to someone who has thousands of hours of practice behind them.

That’s not a particularly useful comparison.

CrossFit Makes Comparison Easy

One of the great things about CrossFit is that fitness is measurable.

We record times.

Loads.

Repetitions.

Distances.

Benchmark workouts.

Personal bests.

That allows us to see whether our fitness is actually improving rather than simply relying on how we feel.

But there is an important distinction.

Measurement is useful. Comparison isn't always useful.

The whiteboard gives you information. It doesn't tell you your worth as an athlete.

Finishing 15th in a workout doesn't mean you had a bad training session.

Scaling a workout doesn't mean the people doing RX are getting fitter while you're not.

And somebody lifting more than you doesn't mean your own strength hasn't improved enormously.

Compare Yourself to the Right Person

The most useful person to compare yourself with is the version of you from six or twelve months ago.

Ask better questions.

Can you lift something today that used to intimidate you?

Can you complete more pull-ups?

Has your technique improved?

Can you maintain a pace that used to force you to stop?

Do you recover more quickly between efforts?

Are you moving with more confidence?

Are you turning up more consistently?

Can you now do something that you genuinely couldn't do before?

Those are much better measures of progress.

Sometimes the improvement is obvious — your deadlift has gone up 20kg.

Sometimes it's subtle.

You use the same weight but it feels lighter.

You finish a workout and recover in two minutes instead of ten.

You don't need the modification you needed last year.

You walk into the gym and no longer feel nervous about what is written on the board.

That all counts.

Other People Can Still Make You Better

This doesn't mean you should completely ignore everyone around you.

Training with fitter people can be incredibly motivating.

Someone else's performance can show you what might eventually be possible.

A person slightly ahead of you can give you someone to chase during a workout.

And seeing another member finally get their first pull-up, muscle-up or big lift can inspire you to keep working on your own.

That's one of the best things about training in a community.

The key is to use other people as inspiration rather than judgement.

There is a big difference between:

"I'd love to be able to do that one day."

and:

"I should already be able to do that."

One creates motivation.

The other can make progress feel like failure.

Fitness Isn't a Race

There will always be someone stronger.

There will always be someone faster.

There will always be someone with better gymnastics, a bigger engine or a prettier squat.

Even the best athletes in the world can find somebody who beats them at something.

So if your definition of success requires you to be better than everyone around you, you're going to have a frustrating time.

Instead, keep asking:

Am I becoming more capable than I used to be?

If the answer is yes, you're heading in the right direction.

Your fitness journey doesn't need to look like anybody else's.

Use the people around you to push you, encourage you and show you what's possible.

But when it comes to measuring your progress?

You vs. you is the comparison that matters most.