Recently I started exercising in person with strangers I meet on the internet (mostly runs and bike rides). Remarkably I have noticed that my running performance is significantly better when training with others above my skill level compared to when I run alone.<p>After some research I ended up discovering the “Köhler effect” . In the context of fitness, this phenomenon is quite interesting:<p>This paper found that less capable fitness partners improved their plank time by about 24% when paired with a more capable partner
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51539278_Buddy_Up_The_Kohler_Effect_Applied_to_Health_Games" rel="nofollow">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51539278_Buddy_Up_T...</a><p>Another paper found that swimmers swim faster in a group setting vs. in an individual setting
<a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00956611/document" rel="nofollow">https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00956611/document</a><p>This meta analysis of 13 studies around Köhler effect concluded the effect is likely a function of evidential value and not p-hacking
<a href="https://academic.oup.com/abm/article/55/6/543/5919674" rel="nofollow">https://academic.oup.com/abm/article/55/6/543/5919674</a>