This post is pulled from a recent coaching call with my group coaching clients about what to do when your results don’t match what you hoped for. I was walking them through how adaptation actually works, why comparison creeps in, and how quickly we can misinterpret our own progress.
We talked about the space between expectations and results, that uncomfortable middle where it’s easy to assume you failed, when in reality you may simply be early in the process.
This short clip comes from that conversation, where I was reflecting on my own Hyrox race performance and catching myself comparing my six months of training to women who had been doing the sport for years.
Here’s the bigger point that came out of that conversation.
You’re Not Behind, You’re Adapting
I had just finished my second Hyrox race and didn’t hit the time I wanted and within seconds, my brain went straight to comparison. I started thinking about other women in my age group, their performances, their numbers, and questioning why I wasn’t there yet.
It took me a moment to snap out of it and it wasn’t until the next day when I realized how hard I was being on myself. And not to mention how I completely dismissed the fact that I set a new PR from my first Hyrox only two months prior.
So back to the ‘aha moment’… I reminded myself I had been training for this specific style of race for less than six months. Less than six months!
And I was mentally stacking myself up against women who had been doing it for years, some of them professionally… talk about comparison distorting reality, right? It’s brutal and even the best of us fall in that trap sometimes.
We look at where we are, we look at where someone else is and we completely ignore the timeline in between.
The First Round Is About Adaptation
The timeline in between is adaptation…
The first time you change your nutrition.
The first time you lift with intention.
The first time you train toward a specific aesthetic or performance goal.
The first time you decide you’re done starting over.
That isn’t just about a “result”, it’s about the fact that you’re building capacity.
Physiological capacity, mental resilience, skill, consistency, recovery tolerance and confidence under pressure.
The first round is awkward because you’re adapting.
And adaptation doesn’t happen because you want it badly enough. It happens because you stay exposed to the stimulus long enough for your body and brain to adjust.
Most Quit in the Comparison Phase
Here’s what tends to happen: you commit, you work hard, you expect visible change by a certain point…
But when the results don’t match the timeline in your head, comparison creeps in. Someone else looks further along. Someone else seems stronger and leaner, faster.
And instead of asking, “How long have they been at this? What skills have they developed to get them there?” we ask, “What’s wrong with me?”
And we must catch ourselves and interrupt that thought pattern, every time… because change takes time. Real time.
Not two weeks, not one perfect month or perfect workout session…
It takes repeated, intentional and focused effort.
Training block after training block. Exposure after exposure. Sitting in the uncomfortable middle long enough for adaptation to compound.
The women who see meaningful change aren’t necessarily more talented, they just don’t leave before their body has time to catch up to their standards.
So please know, if you’re in that uncomfortable phase right now, the one where you’re working but not yet seeing what you hoped for, the question isn’t whether you’re capable…
The question is whether you’re willing to stay.
Because adaptation rewards the women who don’t quit in the middle.
