Embodiments described herein provide various examples of synchronizing the playback of a recorded video of a surgical procedure with a live video feed of a user performing the surgical procedure. In one aspect, a system can simultaneously receive a recorded video of a surgical procedure and a live video feed of a user performing the surgical procedure in a training session. More specifically, the recorded video is shown to the user as a training reference, and the surgical procedure includes a set of surgical tasks. The system next simultaneously monitors the playback of a current surgical task in the set of surgical tasks in the recorded video and the live video feed depicting the user performing the current surgical task. Next, the system detects that the end of the current surgical task has been reached during the playback of the recorded video. In response to determining that the user has not completed the current surgical task in the live video feed, the system pauses the playback of the recorded video while awaiting the user to complete the current surgical task.