White Sands National Park, NM
Comparison is the Thief of Joy
I was a scrawny, athletic kid in elementary school, so whenever we ran the required mile test, I was thrilled. Scampering around the track during P.E. class felt easy and fun, and I chased that feeling of elation and good-natured competition throughout middle school and eventually high school. By my senior year, I had gotten pretty good at running, making a name for myself on the statewide level and reveling in the competitive spotlight of the track and field leaderboards. Back then, I ran purely for the pleasure of it all with the wind in my face, the burn in my legs, and the feeling of freedom coursing through my bones.
By the time I made the NCAA Division 1 running team in college, I was running an average of 80 miles per week and things became far less enjoyable. Whether I was training for cross country or track season, I tracked every interval, every 400m split, and every calorie that entered my body in order to compete at an extremely high level. This meticulous and calculated lifestyle ruined the way I saw my favorite sport, and a once healthy fitness activity turned into a toxic chore, consuming me.
Around the same time I became fed up with competitive running, fitness apps like Strava and Garmin Connect came along. Recreating the same feeling of obsessive competitiveness I felt on the NCAA team, these apps turned recreational running into a one-upper’s favorite sport. Fitness apps track workouts on GPS, rank performance with other publicly posted runs, and present arbitrary participation trophies for runners with the best stats. They offer calorie tracking modules and heart rate monitors, claiming to reduce the stress of a fitness mogul’s average day, while simultaneously amplifying workout anxiety. A runner’s posted triumphs strokes their ego, but a bad workout or a cumbersome injury leads to a public admission of failure.
Via u/filadendron
Social media has perpetuated a culture of comparison, fueling that lingering feeling of inadequacy. Fitness apps have modeled their platforms in the same way as social media. Exacerbating the fitness world’s already existing feeling of insecurity, fitness apps capitalize on society’s innate competitive spirit and destabilize a delicate balance of empowerment and diminished self-worth.
After years of studying nutrition and fitness, Medium journalist, Sarah Harper MS, RD, says that fitness apps have a hidden dark side. “Just like Instagram, Strava fuels comparison culture, making it easy to look at someone else’s training and feel behind, inadequate, or like you’re simply not good enough.” As the end of the year nears, fitness apps follow in the footsteps of Spotify wrapped, broadcasting an annual recap of skipped training days, debilitating injuries, and runs that ended in exhaustion, frustration, or even tears. While these annual reviews may give a small boost of dopamine for runners who had an exceptional training season, oftentimes, an injury-free, obstacle-free year is impossible, making athletes question everything.
Running Away From Our Problems
The spirit of competition isn’t always a bad thing. It challenges people, motivates them to exceed their own expectations, and increases their determination to succeed. However, leaning into competitive impulses is a slippery slope, especially when it comes to health, fitness, and exercise. Psychology Today emphasizes the proportional need for mental fitness alongside physical fitness. “Sports psychology helps athletes identify and mitigate obstacles, such as perfectionism or fear of failure, and cultivate key traits, such as confidence or concentration.” Most recreational athletes don’t realize they’re getting pulled into a cycle of over-exertion and toxic comparison, neglecting their own fitness journey in order to score a fleeting gold star of approval from a community of strangers.
Post-holiday runners are stuck assessing Strava recaps that claim a 30% performance decrease since last year and weighing the consequences of every Christmas cookie, while their buddies online brag of a record-breaking season and a seemingly unattainable 13% body fat index. With New Year’s resolutions just around the corner, it’s hard for athletes to put their personal fitness goals in perspective, especially with Strava breathing down their necks.
Fitness is supposed to spark a positive reaction, bolstering self-confidence, creating opportunity for achievement, and skyrocketing natural endorphins. It’s always hard to push physical limits, but running should be the simplest and least complicated way to become more fit, yet as fitness apps become more prevalent, perspective becomes quintessential in maintaining well-intentioned balance.
Remaining uninjured, motivated, and happy, every time a runner hits the trail, they embark on a personal journey. Like many personal pathways, a runner’s fitness progress is entirely theirs. A runner’s achievements might be as simple as a speedy mile pace, a new trail discovery, or their unshakable ability to get out and run despite subfreezing temperatures. That alone is something worth celebrating.
Dusty Participation Trophy
Cardio day may not be everyone’s favorite workout of the week, but despite social media pressure, it’s important to take fitness at your own pace. Focus should be on uplifting personal goals instead of indulging in comparison. In the grand scheme of health, knowing your limits is essential and putting yourself first vastly outweighs an entire arsenal of Strava badges. Looking away from the leaderboard and focusing on personal achievements, athletes will finally view their runs like they used to: With freedom in their heart and a spring in their step.
Via u/Dean Derobot