The Truth is in the Before and After

By Sam Wazan

In war, in life, and in training—the truth hides in the contrast. You want to know if what you’re doing matters? Measure before. Measure after. Then stand in the middle and own the result.

That’s how we trained in survival mode back in Beirut. You rationed your energy, your food - I should add that having four siblings overpowers all reasons for rationing even in peaceful time, 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 “strong enough” mean when mortars fell?

In the world of athletic training, we’re not escaping bombs. But we are chasing breakthroughs. And breakthroughs demand proof.

That’s why I’m obsessed with metrics. Because numbers don’t lie. You can’t fake a 20-inch vertical. You can’t Photoshop your 40-yard dash. And you certainly can’t mask effort over time. The tape tells all.

When an athlete comes to me, I don’t 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. That’s the “before.”

Then we train.

Not blindly. Not generically. We prescribe what the body needs—load, resistance, explosion. Real work, real intention. And after 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks… we measure again. That’s the “after.”

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 we’re talking about transformation.

It’s not magic. It’s metrics. It's training with truth in mind.

Parents, coaches, athletes: stop guessing. Stop hoping improvement will “just happen.” Demand proof of gains. That’s the only way to know your investment—of time, money, and sweat—was worth it.

Because if you don’t measure, you don’t know.
And if you don’t know, you’re just surviving.

Train to transform. Measure to prove it.

– Sam Wazan
CEO, Monster Vertical Power
Performance Coach. Speaker. Truth-teller.