07/25/2025
The Truth is in the Before and After
July 25, 2025
By Sam Wazan
In war, in life, and in trainingâthe truth hides in the contrast. You want to know if what youâre doing matters? Measure before. Measure after. Then stand in the middle and own the result.
Thatâs how we trained in survival mode back in Beirut. You rationed your energy, your food - okay let me be less dramatic about this, even when times were prosperous, it was a challenge to stop eating to let my four siblings get their share- , your trust. Because every step cost something. So you learned to measure: How far could I run before my lungs gave in? How fast could I get my family to shelter? What did âstrong enoughâ mean when mortars fell?
In the world of athletic training, weâre not escaping bombs. But we are chasing breakthroughs. And breakthroughs demand proof.
Thatâs why Iâm obsessed with metrics. Because numbers donât lie. You canât fake a 20-inch vertical. You canât Photoshop your 40-yard dash. And you certainly canât mask effort over time. The tape tells all.
When an athlete comes to me, I donât want to hear how bad they want it. I want to see it. So we test. We measure jump height, ground contact, sprint splits, max velocity under resistance. Thatâs the âbefore.â
Then we train.
Not blindly. Not generically. We prescribe what the body needsâload, resistance, explosion. Real work, real intention. And after 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks⌠we measure again. Thatâs the âafter.â
And when that vertical jumps by 4 inches?
When the sprint drops by half a second?
When the athlete walks taller, eyes sharper, breath calmer?
Now weâre talking about transformation.
Itâs not magic. Itâs metrics. It's training with truth in mind.
Parents, coaches, athletes: stop guessing. Stop hoping improvement will âjust happen.â Demand proof of gains. Thatâs the only way to know your investmentâof time, money, and sweatâwas worth it.
Because if you donât measure, you donât know.
And if you donât know, youâre just surviving.
Train to transform. Measure to prove it.
â Sam Wazan
Cofounder, Monster Vertical Power & Aris Training, Inc.
Elite Athlete Trainer. Speaker. Truth-teller.dr