(You know, like these out of shape clients dad's you run into who claim to have run 4.3x 40's back in high school or college.. well, they've been telling themselves they've run 4.3x for 20+ years, so now they actually believe it)
hahaha every fucking day. The most common one is "I used to box" yet in their first class they dont which foot to put forward. lol lol lol. There is so many people like that, they say the same thing over and over until it becomes truth to them. hahaha soooo true. This made me lmao because I often wonder if other people who train athletes had to experience this shit as much.
ya man it happened to me all the time.. I knew dad's who used to squat 800+ lb in their hayday, fat guys who used to run 4.2's, weaklings who claim 10' broad jumps, all in front of their kids/other athletes.
I used to have a huge problem with all the athletes coming in that would claim to run 4.5s and vert 40 and would always call them out immediately. Now I have them fill out a stat sheet and take it with me to the track when we test. Its alot easier to tell someone they are completely full of shit and get it to sink in when they have just made a fool out of themselves a few seconds earlier. I have had probably less than 10 high school football athletes give me their realistic 40 times when they came in, and a few more than 10 college athletes that are honest, most of whom are smart enough by that age to realize "this guys fixing to test me" . But the majority are waaaay off, some because of their coaches falsifying their own times to them, and some of them because," I jump and run faster than anybody in my school so .... 40 inch vert, 4.3 40yd". Funny how I have yet to have a guy come in that has underestimated his stats. Maybe one day, that would be a nice change of pace for me.
that's a good point right there.. for people i've trained in person, I can only think of 3 or so who gave me their legit stats right off the bat, and these 3 were some of the hardest workers too.. that's why i tell everyone on these forums not to lie to themselves or about their stats, it does something to your brain that inhibits you from making real gains.
I think athletes would make even more gains if you really ruined there stats on pre testing and made them feel inferior haha.. imagine a legit 4.2x 40 kid being told he runs a 4.6x by multiple coaches / facilities.. he'd probably run a 4.0x 40 in a few weeks off shear anger..
When athletes think they are better than they are, then it tricks the brain into actually making less gains, is my theory.. No need to tap into training at a very high emotional/mental level when you "think you are good/better than you are".. something to it.
peace!
