My "ugly" kettlebell set

Many people in the Kettlebell Sport community are active online; they post updates on their training, share videos of their latest set, and celebrate new personal bests. This communication can be inspiring and motivating to other lifters – but it can also lead lifters to constantly compare their results to that of their lifting peers. Let me remind you: the internet is not real life.

People post the training sets and results that make themselves look good. They post a set when they want to celebrate an achievement. Of course they post the clip where their lifting appears flawless. No one is going to post their “ugly” sets. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but keep that in mind when your Facebook newsfeed is flooded with stories of people’s success and you start wondering why you aren’t feeling successful every single day. Most days are NOT personal records, amazing feats of strength, or rainbows and butterflies.

I’ll take myself for an example. If I post a video of myself lifting, I either post an example of myself with a light bell, or a short clip of my set showing my “good side” where my technique looks perfect. The reality is that my sets rarely look perfect, especially towards the end. Take the following video for instance. I posted a clip of the beginning of this 8-minute Snatch set with the 20kg a while ago, where my technique looked great. Well, here is the last minute or so on my left (weaker) side. Keep watching… it’s not pretty at the end. I had to struggle to get my reps during this set – and it wasn’t even 10 minutes long.

Training days are just that – training. Technique isn’t always going to look great when you are pushing yourself. Some days are about getting to the reps, not executing each rep perfectly. Not every set has to be a new personal best.

Same thing when you relate this concept to life in general. People post on the internet when they feel amazing and want to share that feeling with everyone, so naturally your Instagram or Facebook feed is filled with new achievements and happy moments. That doesn’t mean everyone else’s life is happy and amazing all the time. There’s nothing wrong with having a bad day – in fact, it’s normal. The internet is an alternate reality, and everyone experiences ups and downs. Experiencing the downs is what allows you to really appreciate the ups when they do come around.

End rant. Thoughts?