Posted on Thursday, 29th July 2010 by Eric Cressey
I came across the abstract for this interesting Australian study the other day: Actual versus perceived lifting ability in healthy young men (18-25 years).
Basically, researchers compared what men under the age of 25 SAID they could lift with what they actually COULD lift when tested. According to the researchers, “One third of subjects were able to accurately self-report their lifting performance, approximately one-third underestimated, and the remaining third overestimated their lifting ability.”
So, out of every three people, we have one person who is pretty even-keeled and honest with himself about his physical abilities.
And, we have another who is either a) intimidated and doesn’t think he can do it or b) lazy and unwilling to “do it.”
Finally,we have everyone’s favorite: the tough guy who talks a big game. These are the guys who sit behind their keyboards claiming to squat 500 pounds - or bench 400, or throw 95mph fastballs. However, nobody every witnesses it. They have big balls on the internet.
How many times have you walked into a commercial gym and seen a 400-pound bench press? I think I’ve seen it once - and the guy weighed about 330 pounds.
How about a legitimate 600-pound squat? I’ve never seen it in a commercial gym, only a few times without a squat-suit in hardcore powerlifting gyms, and only twice college weight rooms in my life.
And, I’m certainly not seeing 95mph fastballs at every high school baseball game. In fact, as I recall reading last year, there are only about eight pitchers in all of Major League Baseball who have consistent 95+mph fastballs. Maybe the rest of the pros need to spend more time on the internet to be able to throw baseballs faster?
However, go on to any internet forum - whether it’s for lifting or pitching - and you’ll come across all this hidden talent that is yearning to be discovered. Sorry, folks, but you’re the 1/3 of people I referenced above. Put up or shut up. I’d actually say that this 33% figure also applies to baseball fathers; about one in three is CONVINCED that his kid is much better than Junior really is.
Finally, as an interesting little aside, ever wonder why nobody ever lies about their deadlift numbers?
I have to assume that it’s because the deadlift is a pretty “yes or no” exercise. You either can or can’t pick something heavy up off the floor. It’s not like a squat or bench press, where you can shorten the range of motion and instantly improve your numbers.
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Tags: Bench Press, Deadlift, Increasing Throwing Velocity, Pro Baseball Pitcher Workout, Throw Baseball Faster, Weight Lifting for Baseball, Weight Lifting Program, Weight Lifting Routine
Posted in Blog | Comments (11)
July 29th, 2010 at 6:53 am
Mr. Cressey,
Completely agree with this article. I see it all the time. Two weeks ago, my barber (yeah, the guy who cuts my hair) was claiming on his FB profile to have squatted 405 lbs. for one w/o a belt. Now let me explain something: he is 150 lbs. wet and just started lifting weights a few months ago. Wonder if he counted it as unracking the bar and putting it back on. And I see it with the bench press too. I see alot of guys claiming to handle 225 like a rolled up newspaper and when you watch them they aren’t even full reps down to the chest, only one-half or one-third reps. Funny you should say that but I DON’T see many guys claiming anything on the deadlift because the majority DON’T deadlift!!! Too hard!!!
July 29th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Mr Cressey,
One of your best articles. The problem is a really do work out in a gym where 400lb bench presses and 600 lb squats are common (Golds Gym East Las Vegas. I’ve never really worked out any where else. It’s kind of scewed my perception. Your website keeps my head on straight. But, none of these guys can throw a 95 MPH fastball, let alone hit one.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:11 am
So true…..
Then there is the omnipresent commercial gym member who
” used” to _______ :
a. (”squat 900 lbs, bench 400 with one arm, deadlift 500 and bench 400 at the same time,” etc.)
but do not anymore since _________
b. (”I am focusing on getting shredded now, , got bored with heavy weights so now I am doing Z60X-which is SO much more intense”, etc.)
commercial gym member.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:30 am
Great stuff! I get this a lot, which is weird considering I’m an Oly lifting coach. You’d think they’d be worried that once they trained with me I might notice?
I had a kid recently tell me, “I want to get my squat up to 405 by the end of the summer.” It was June.
“Ok,” I said, “what do you squat now?” I already knew it was crazy as he was build like a sparrow. But, my curiosity got the better of me.
“About 330.”
“Really?” I said. “Wow, that’s pretty solid for your weight.”
A few days later, I saw him squatting in the rack. First, he loaded the bar to 225 without a warm up … bad sign. He did 2 quarter squats that looked more painful than birthing a child.
I thought, “Yep, that looks about right.” But, he wasn’t done.
He added 25’s to each side to get the bar up to 275. He got under it, walked back, started to go down … and went down! He got buried.
Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt.
It wasn’t surprising, of course. But, he still hasn’t figured out why he hasn’t gotten that 405 squat.
Kids …
July 30th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Top post.
I’m curious where you go to look for the research articles you find interesting/ relevant to your training. There is a huge volume of research out there, anything that might help comb through it better would be appreciated.
Thanks for all the great and insightful posts on such a consistent basis
July 30th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
How many times have you walked into a commercial gym and seen a 400-pound bench press? I think I’ve seen it once - and the guy weighed about 330 pounds.
Yep me too. One guy I seen in all my years in the gym. He was Samoan, 135kgs about 6′1 and he benched out 140kgs for 10 very fast reps - no sweat. Never seen it before and most likely won’t ever see it again.
July 30th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Eric, you’re a smart guy, why are you even wasting precious time/brain cells in forums anyway?!?!
July 31st, 2010 at 5:19 am
Sean, I’ll actually be devoting a full post to this soon.
July 31st, 2010 at 5:19 am
Brock, I’m not! Used to, though.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am
I have a 6′6” 260 lb soon to be junior high school football player. He “squatted” 405 with his team when they tested. Well, he couldn’t complete 3×8 with 135 using correct form in his first workout with me.
For an additional laugh, this high school football team uses “Alabama’s” workout. I love this. They workout 3 days a week. The balance of the workout isn’t that bad. They bench, squat, and clean during the week. Pretty normal right? Each day, they start at 75% then, 80%, then progress to 85%, 90%, 95%, and 100%. Choke yet? It gets better. They are suppose to do 3 reps at each percentage. Yeah, 3 reps for 3 sets at and over 90%. Week in and week out. I’m pretty sure no one has died yet but as expected, there have been a lot of injuries.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
This is notorious for the squat. I can quarter squat over 100 pounds more than I can if I break parallel. I work at a high school and have watched them test our football players. They are looking for them to break parallel, but their definition of parallel must be different from the powerlifting world. Anyway, I just squatted 23,000 kilos and I’m pretty sure I had some in the tank.