Comparison. We're all guilty of it.

Regularly we hear athletes comparing themselves with what they used to be able to do, be it a few months ago or after many years. Either scenario, don’t forget that you actually have the potential to be a much stronger, more informed and well rounded athlete than ever before.

Let’s look at two common scenarios below…

COMING BACK AFTER MANY YEARS

Perhaps you are looking back at your younger self, at the times and distances you used to be able to do, wondering if you’ll ever get back there again.

These are the types of conversations we have regularly at SFE with individuals who haven’t trained seriously in 5-10 years or more, individuals who were proficient junior athletes, females who have gone through the menopause or clients who have suffered long term injuries. All examples of people we work with on a regular basis who have now gone on to have successful results after periods of time away from their sports.

Physiologically speaking you are going to be a very different person to what you were 5,10, 20 years ago, whether the differences are obvious in the mirror or not. Be it due to a down-regulation of hormones, a decrease in muscle tissue or simply just being out of condition, we shouldn’t see this as a negative, it’s just fact. But one that should be motivating us to put more specific work into the areas needed.

These physical changes are just a natural progression of life. The positive is that we now live in a world where we have the ability to turn these variables around with the right input.

With quality conversation we can gain a greater understanding around how to train for greater strength, understand our current nutritional requirements, and even align our blood markers alongside improving our overall training capacity.

So don’t let age or time ever be a factor, take empowerment from more understanding, educating yourself and how training more effectively can literally give you the results of your younger self.

COMPARISON AFTER INJURY

When it comes to comparison of a shorter time scale, we regularly see clients rehabbing from injury or after restoring their health, who look back at last season or last year and feel disappointed with where they currently are. However more often than not these individuals are coming from a place where their sole focus was on training volume with little regard for the impact on their body, their health, longevity or mindset…in general disregarding the sustainability of their approach.

If this sounds familiar, try not to compare yourself with the ‘old version’ of you because a lot of the time that older version didn't serve you well. Perhaps you were overtraining, regularly sick or always injured, or maybe even getting away with it. But essentially you're comparing yourself with an unhealthy version.

Although you may have been getting better times or you may have had a slightly different body composition, you might have also pulled up with regular injuries that you couldn’t shake, your numbers started to plateau and you started to go backwards in your training.

So when you look back, don't just look at the good times or numbers etc. Think about the other things that you potentially weren't doing so well. Your recovery was terrible, your nutrition was completely off and you were on the road to burning out because you weren't considering all the variables that make up a sustainable approach.

Once you begin to establish a newer, healthier, more sustainable version of yourself, that will be your new comparison and the standard you aspire to. You numbers will start to come back, they will be consistent and sustainable.

So whether it’s been months or years, before you compare just remember that what we are now looking for is this much more sustainable, healthier, stronger approach. When you look back, just remember that you have the ability to be even better.

STRUGGLING WITH COMPARISON?

THE PROBLEM WITH COMPARING YOURSELF NOW TO ‘BACK THEN’

COMING BACK AFTER MANY YEARS

COMPARISON AFTER INJURY

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