Comparison gets a bad reputation - and in many circumstances, it’s not without reason. Comparison of course being the thief of joy, as the saying goes…
We’re told to not look sideways, not to judge our opening chapters to someone else ending. We know that social media is a highlight reel curated to show you a distorted view of a person’s true reality. We understand intellectually that everyone has different circumstances, upbringings, genetics, responsibilities, and histories.
And yet, we still compare.
We compare how fast they ran, how lean they are, how much they lifted.
We compare who’s “looking good for their age” and who “used to be in great shape”.
We compare the person we are now to the person we once were — often unfairly, and usually without the context of our current reality.
But what if the answer isn’t to abandon comparison completely?
What if the problem isn’t that we compare — but how?
Because comparison, when used in the right context, isn’t a threat…
It’s a tool. A compass. A pacing group. A support group.
The Three Scales of Comparison
Let’s reframe comparison through three strategic layers:
Macro: Population-wide data sets.
Meso: Your context within the community.
Micro: Your close social circle.
Each of these serves a purpose. Each can guide — or mislead — depending on how you choose to use it.
The Macro Scale: A Compass for Health-Span
Most people don’t find national health data particularly motivating.
But maybe they should…
Because while we often chase visible outcomes — the mirror, the scale, the race time — the most meaningful metrics live beneath the surface: cardiovascular capacity, metabolic flexibility, muscle retention, and systemic resilience.
In other words, not just how long we’ll live — but how well.
These are some of the metrics that matter most:
VO₂ max (cardiorespiratory fitness)
Resting heart rate
Waist circumference
HbA1c or fasting glucose
Muscle mass and strength relative to age
They’re not abstract. They’re predictive. And crucially — they’re improvable.
Using the Macro Scale means zooming out. It means asking:
“What does the broader data say about what’s possible — and what’s worth striving for?”
It means actually looking at:
The average decline in fitness with age — and choosing to outperform it
The thresholds of cardiovascular risk — and deciding to stay well beneath them
The percentile charts for fitness and muscle mass — and aiming not to be average, but above it
This is comparison as direction, not judgement. A compass — not a finish line.
Let’s make this real.
While the NHS often sticks to qualitative guidance, we can look to larger European data sources like the Trondheim HUNT Study — a trusted benchmark for VO₂ max, one of the strongest predictors of longevity.
Take a 45-year-old man. Here’s how the fitness categories stack up:
Top 10% (Excellent): ≥ 53.5 ml/kg/min
Top 30% (Very Good): 46.8 – 53.4
Average (30th–70th percentile): 37.5 – 46.7
Bottom 30% (Poor): < 37.5
Now, here’s the key insight:
A VO₂ max of 42 would earn a 45-year-old a “Good” rating. But for a 25-year-old? That same score places them squarely in the “Poor” category.
This is the power of macro-level comparison. Suddenly, your goal isn’t just a vague intention to “get fitter.” It’s a data-driven mission to reverse the biological clock.
You realise that being average for your age might still mean being at risk. So you aim higher — perhaps 47 or above — giving yourself the cardiovascular engine of someone 20 years younger.
Muscle Mass: Defying the Decay
The same logic applies to muscle mass, another powerful predictor of healthy ageing — and an area of growing concern for UK health bodies like the NHS.
Here’s the reality: After age 30, most adults lose 3–8% of muscle mass per decade.
By 60, that adds up…
By 70, it accelerates…
This process — sarcopenia — is strongly linked to frailty, falls, insulin resistance, and poor metabolic health. But again:
Macro comparison turns this from inevitability into opportunity.
It gives you a new benchmark:
Maintain the muscle mass and strength of someone in their 30s
Extend your functional independence
Build insurance against the decades ahead
You’re no longer just lifting for aesthetics or performance. You’re lifting so that you can carry your future.
The Bottom Line
Macro-level comparison isn’t about shame or status.
It’s about strategy.
It tells you what matters. It shows you where you stand. And it gives you a clear direction for where to go next — based not on trends, but on time-tested markers of health-span.
So the next time you wonder if your fitness “counts,” don’t ask how you look.
Ask how long — and how well — you want to live.
Then start training for that.
The Meso Scale: A Pacing Group, Not a Race
At the community level — your gym, your run club, your wider friendship group — comparison becomes relational.
This is where most people feel the sting.
You watch someone cruise through intervals you struggle with. You see someone deadlift twice your bodyweight. You notice how easily they maintain leans, or how often they train, or how fas they recover.
It’s tempting to let this spiral. But here’s the truth: Your Meso-Group is not a leaderboard. It’s a pacing group.
Every gym is a self-selected sample.
The runners who all show up for the speed-work session? Not random.
The lifters who stay members year after year? Not average.
Remember: The people who consistently show up are, by definition, outliers.
So instead of envy, use it as exposure:
To what’s possible in your decade of life.
To what structure and consistency look like over time.
To how others navigate similar challenges — parenting, injuries, stress, illness, aging.
The key is:
Use the group to pull you forward, not to punish yourself for being behind.
Borrow from their structure, not their outcome. Learn from their habits, not their highlight reel.
Because in a good pacing group, you don’t copy the fastest person. You stay close to one just ahead of you — and let them help you find your rhythm.
The Micro Scale: A Support Group, Not a Benchmark
Then there’s the Micro Scale — your close friends, partner, family, maybe your colleagues. Those you spend the vast majority of your time with.
This is the trickiest level. Because it’s also the closest, both in proximity and emotional contact. It’s charged.
We fall into comparing:
Who’s “still slim” vs. who’s “let themselves go”.
Who’s active and outdoorsy vs. who’s tired and sedentary beyond their years.
Who used to be sporty vs. who seems to have given up.
Here’s the hard truth:
Your micro-circle is not a performance reference. It’s your support group.
They don’t need to be fitter than you. They don’t need to train like you. They just need to encourage you, accommodate your choices, and not sabotage your efforts.
Too often, people get discouraged because they’re doing more than anyone around them. They feel weird, disciplined, different — and instead of pride, they feel isolation.
That’s a misread.
You don’t need to compare progress with your partner or friend. You need them to see you, support you, and when possible, walk a little of the path with you.
Even just emotionally.
“I’m not asking you to train like me. I’m asking you to help me keep going.”
That’s the role of the micro scale: not competition, but companionship.
When Comparison Becomes Clarity
If you use the three scales together, here’s what emerges:
Macro gives you your direction — what matters at a health-span level.
Meso gives you your tempo — exposure to practices worth learning.
Micro gives you your connection — the people who keep you grounded and accountable.
Together, they remove the emotional noise from comparison, and replace it with strategy.
Now you’re not just reacting to what others are doing. You’re position yourself wisely across a spectrum of potential influence.
Final Thought
Comparison will always happen. But you can choose what you do with it.
You can let it erode you — or orient you. You can turn away from it completely — or you can reframe it into something useful, something usable.
So ask yourself:
Am I looking at population data to inform what matters long-term?
Am I surrounded by people who challenge me in the right way?
Am I supported by people who care more about my consistency than my pace?
If so, then comparison isn’t weakness. It’s a compass. And you’re already on course.
AK.