Starting Strength Coach
You know I have all the respect in the world for you, but this comment is just asinine. I could gain 100# and not approach your numbers.Originally Posted by Jordan Feigenbaum
Member
And, surely, other people could gain 100 Lbs and not approach yours. You're a well above average athlete are you not? (Based on SVJ). Your example may not apply to the OP just as Jordan doesn't necessarily apply to you.
Starting Strength Coach
The numbers I put up are within the normal range for someone not genetically gifted but trains with a strength specialization for several years. Jordan's numbers are other-wordly. There is a world of difference between pulling 500# and pulling 700#.
Standing Vertical Jump is an indicator of athletic potential, much in the same way being obese is an indicator of heart disease. They are not perfect and there isn't a straight correlation between vertical jump and athletic potential. If there was a professional sport that pit old, short, white guys against each other to see who jumped the highest, I'd probably be okay. That said, I'm very much a one trick pony with respect to athletic potential. I can jump pretty high, but I have an atrocious reaction time, I am very poor at recreating movement patterns with any degree of accuracy, I have clumsy foot work, I have small hands and small feet, and, overall, about 1000 other small issues that prevent me from being anything more than a recreational athlete.
I have aged into competition though as I benefit heavily from the rapid decline of everyone else. As everyone around me, my age, else gets older, fatter, and weaker, I am getting older, fatter, and stronger. I've staved off decline long enough to be competitive in my age group now. It's really nothing to be proud of.
Member
Fair points, Sir. I have never trained with a strength specialization and forgot to consider it. But, if you could get a bit heavier Jordan wouldn't be completely wrong would he?. Of course, if a medical condition prevents you eating that's different.
Sporting ability is a strange thing isn't it. I can't jump for toffee but did decently in several sports by being fairly good at recreating movement patterns and understanding team tactics. I'd still give my left nut to be explosive as well though.
I like your comment about Masters competition
Starting Strength Coach
I don't think I have the genetic potential to match Jordan, Austin, or any number of Starting Strength Coaches. The open workout during the SSCAC each year is a depressing, humiliating experience. I go from being one of the Alpha Dogs in my local gym to being the scrawny guy in the corner waiting until the land mammals move away from the squat racks to go graze elsewhere. Of course, being heavier would help, because I am fairly limited in how much stronger I could get with my insectlike frame.
I'm glad you made mention of the SVJ, because it brings up an important point about how it is an indicator, not a guarantee, of athletic potential. If it meant everything, Jameson Konz would have been the greatest football player that ever lived. His pre-draft measurables were some of the most impressive physical feats I've ever witnessed. At 6'2" or 6'3" and 240#, he ran a 4.3 40yd, jumped 46", and had a blistering three cone and shuttle drill. That said, probably no one knows who he is because he was a shitty football player by pro standards. Tim Tebow is another freakish athlete, but had, and has, a poor ability to recreate movement patterns.
Even at my advanced age, I can't play catch with my kids without deliberately thinking through the patterns to throw a baseball as if I were coaching myself. It's exhausting to have been playing baseball my entire life and I still haven't become natural at throwing a curve ball. I can throw one, but I have to think about the process several times to actually throw a decent curve, or else there is no telling where it is going to go.
Member
Will, you're definitely not well below average athlete in terms of athletic potential. I'm not sure why your so committed to that idea of yourself, either. Jordan had fairly similar numbers when he was an underweight 181#er.
BuckFifty
Presumably Will's standards are a hell of a lot higher than most people's. From the numbers posted, one could hardly reconcile them with anything resembling an "inferior genetic profile". I've spent enough time on these boards to know what reasonable expectations are among the lesser-gifted, and this still strikes me as obviously above average. I mean, shit, if it isn't, then my sorry narrow ass is irrevocably doomed to the lowest rungs on the ladder of mediocrity. That, or maybe it's high time I improve my own standards?
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