You must have heard the quote…

Comparison it the thief of joy

Theodore Roosevelt

It is used (rightly) to stop people from constantly comparing themselves to others, especially others that they see on social media and through other highly curated lenses that only show life highlights! I firmly believe that comparing yourself to other people (unless you are in an actual competition) is futile. However that is not that this post is about.

Comparison can be a fantastic thing if you compare the weights you can lift with their equivalent animals!

It sounds weird…

OK it is a little weird but it puts things in real terms and puts things into perspective a little! I often decide that I don’t lift much and “should” be doing better, and it is mainly because I have lost sight of what is a heavy weight and what isn’t. So I have come up with a new system!

My recent PB on the circus dumbbell is 21kg, this is equivalent to a new-born bison, an adult porcupine or an adult clouded leopard!

My Axle bar deadlift max of 120kg is equivalent to a giant panda, a black wildebeest or a small brown bear 😀

My 50kg Log clean and press is equivalent to a medium chimpanzee, a pacific giant octopus or a bullmastiff!

My 140kg trap bar deadlift is equivalent to a small male Asian lion a small adult bottlenose dolphin or a medium sized Sumatran tiger!

And last (for now) but by no means least, my 60kg (per hand) farmers carry was like having a large cheetah, a medium sized sloth bear or a medium sized male wolf in each hand!

I fully intend to continue this method of comparison, it is fun and telling people you could lift a giant panda or a lion is much more interesting than just talking about kgs (or at least it is for people outside of the lifting things up and putting them down again community).

I suppose that in reality lifting a tiger comes with a whole set of difficulties that you don’t actually encounter when you lift a bar with weights on, but in principle I think it is an excellent measurement scheme 😀