Topic: What percentage of people do you think grossly overestimate their results?

[Andy Dick]

Everytime I go through a forum I'm reading about the guy going from 2 pullups to 10 in a month. Adding two one arm chins in a month. Dips from 5 to 18 in 3 months.

Done right these could be possible.  As what was said earlier someone deconditioned or new to exercise this is very possible.  Also those who may not have spent much time doing the exercise it is possible (maybe a meat head who only benched in the past decided they needed to work back) if the month was periodized right.  A lot factors in when talking body weight exercises.  To go from 2 pull-ups to 10 for 1 set doesnt seem too unrealistic to me.  Some people pick it up quick some dont ability differs for many people.  Also if someone really went to train and increase in these and maybe lost weight at the same time it is doable.

[Matt Erdman]

Some of these people have videos, too. Like a diary. Still it is hard to believe. I know one guy had claimed to be detrained and then set a PR in two weeks. Essentially a 7% increase in strength in two weeks on a 4 day a week plan that didn't even stick to his original outline. Although it would be approximately a 2% increase from his personal best. We are talking about someone who has been training for over 5 years, not a beginner. No taper, just ramp up the intensity and bam, PR. I think some people are fudging these videos.

I've squatted 6 days a week high volume/intensity for one week, deloaded the next week and hit a 10lb PR. The next week week I squatted high volume/intensity 4 days, then deloaded the next for another 10lb PR. Back to back. 20lbs in 4 weeks. My knees couldn't handle going on beyond that, but controlled overtraining is very powerful. I have no problem believing a person can increase a lift by 100lbs in a year without drugs. In my case age, career, and family make it impossible to continue that strenuous of training throughout the year, but a young single guy? Sure.

Having said all that... the internet is full of people who lie about their lifts.

[Owen Duguay]

Jester:  I thought I would give you my opinion.  Briefly stated it is irrevelant what other people do or say.  None of this has any bearing on what you lift or how you lift.   I don't want to start any arguments or create any hard feeling but stop reading other people's miracles.     Instead use the valuable advice on WE forum site.   It will do you a heck of a lot better.   Thank you. 

[John Way]

when some claims they are improving 60lbs or more in a single lift over 12 months and they have claimed to have trained for over 5 yrs, they are either saying they

1) haven't "trained" for "five" years
2) I am taking drugs, most likely steroids

with very few exceptions, maybe a kid who started lifting at 8-10 yo, and/or someone who has put on more than 40lbs bwt, and/or has been injured half their "training" time, I think the above covers most OWLifters. The Bulgars had many a lifter in the 1970-80s who went from top 50-100 world ranking to top 15 in 12 months, guess how?

[Erik Blekeberg]

Unless you do it in competition, it doesn't mean ****

I sort of agree with you. I think some of my non competition PRs are important to me. Let's me know what I can hit.

That said, if people are bragging about their lifts or saying i got here or here. Compete in something. Everyone should compete in some sport.

[Jesster]

Jester:  I thought I would give you my opinion.  Briefly stated it is irrevelant what other people do or say.  None of this has any bearing on what you lift or how you lift.   I don't want to start any arguments or create any hard feeling but stop reading other people's miracles.     Instead use the valuable advice on WE forum site.   It will do you a heck of a lot better.   Thank you.

That is why I came here to begin with, because I was tired of the crap. I wasn't learning anything significant, and I wasn't progressing fast enough. Sometimes, I go back to see if any new ideas pop up. Too often I just wind up annoyed. The one high volume nut I talked about asked a qualified professional what he thought of the idea of training everyday and maxing out your reps all day long for 7 days a week. The guy told him he never heard heard of anyone keeping that up for long without a break, or their body breaking down. The kid ignored it, and now preaches his ways to teenagers on another forum. You wouldn't be surprised to hear that the kid and some of his followers were getting elbow and shoulder problems. Oddly two people dropped like flys, but the cocky kid seems to be making progress. I said before, I think he gets a kick out of lying to his peers.

Some of these people have videos, too. Like a diary. Still it is hard to believe. I know one guy had claimed to be detrained and then set a PR in two weeks. Essentially a 7% increase in strength in two weeks on a 4 day a week plan that didn't even stick to his original outline. Although it would be approximately a 2% increase from his personal best. We are talking about someone who has been training for over 5 years, not a beginner. No taper, just ramp up the intensity and bam, PR. I think some people are fudging these videos.

I've squatted 6 days a week high volume/intensity for one week, deloaded the next week and hit a 10lb PR. The next week week I squatted high volume/intensity 4 days, then deloaded the next for another 10lb PR. Back to back. 20lbs in 4 weeks. My knees couldn't handle going on beyond that, but controlled overtraining is very powerful. I have no problem believing a person can increase a lift by 100lbs in a year without drugs. In my case age, career, and family make it impossible to continue that strenuous of training throughout the year, but a young single guy? Sure.

Having said all that... the internet is full of people who lie about their lifts.

Thanks for sharing. The difference between you and them, however, is that they claim to bust PR's without a deload. Meaning, they ramp up the intensity and volume simultaneously from Monday through Thursday, and hit a PR on Friday. Personally, about 75% of my PR's I can remember, happen after a rest day or a taper. I just set a recent personal record where I added two reps to what was my 2 RM, but my intensity is lowered from M>F, and I rest the weekend. My former 5 RM and 9 RM were up to 6 and 10 reps in the prior weeks, so I knew it was just a matter of time before my old 2 RM fell. It makes sense to me.

[Arden Cogar Jr.]

This is such awesome advice.  Thanks for writing/posting it Owen!!

The older I get, the more I try to internalize.  I simply can't lift what I once did and that's hard to accept, but I see an adjustment in technique as a improvement (like getting the bar to brush at the upper thigh instead of the middle or lower thigh in the clean) as a major accomplishment these days.

So much can be learned here.  I learned so much from reading the thread on the, for lack of a better term, double bar brush, that I've completely rethought about what I want to do with my cleans.

Thanks again to everyone for the time and effort.  Great place to share thoughts.

All the best,
 Arden

Jester:  I thought I would give you my opinion.  Briefly stated it is irrevelant what other people do or say.  None of this has any bearing on what you lift or how you lift.   I don't want to start any arguments or create any hard feeling but stop reading other people's miracles.     Instead use the valuable advice on WE forum site.   It will do you a heck of a lot better.   Thank you.

[Arden Cogar Jr.]

Jesster,
  Up until I found my coach, I had no concept of deloading, planning, or waving.  Instead, I basicly bodybuilded and went full out every session.  The movements were contrived.  The repetitions were high.  The weights were pretty darn high in retrospect.  It got me no where athletically.  Except in a lot of joint pain at a relatively young age.

   The best efforts I've experienced with my foray into proper athletic training has come after the deload, or the purposeful taper.  Body just stores upon the antsy and I go.  It's so awesome.  Again, I wish I would have understood this at an earlier age, but, oh well, it is what it is.

   It may be frustrating to see others making progress that just doesn't make sense.  But I am happy for them for the progress they've made. I'm happy that you recently set a 2RM PR.  It came after what I expected was some good thought out training.  Good work.  Keep it up.

All the best,
 Arden