picking a winner

[alfresco]

First the back-story . . .

My wife ran a half marathon last weekend, in preparation for a full one
she plans to do next month. I'm not a big fan of huge crowds or foot
races (I know next to nothing about them) but I went along with her,
both as a show of support and to take some photos. It was limited
to 10,000 people, so that gives you a feel for the size of the event.
And as you can well imagine, with a race of that size you are bound to
attract all types, shapes, and sizes. It's human performance and I'm
always amazed at what the most unlikely of people can do.

After the race got under way, I wondered off and started taking photos,
not paying attention to the runners, just enjoying the park surroundings
and the beautiful day it turned out to be.

So I'm walking along road, people are zooming past me at various speeds,
but one person in particular got my attention. When I saw him run, his
speed and build, I immediately knew I was looking at the winner. I said
to myself, This person will win this race. And he did. When we got back
home and checked the results on our computer, looked at a photo of win-
ner. I was right. That was the guy.

How I knew that, or even surmised that, is a complete and total mystery
to me. Perhaps I was just lucky, looking up at the right time and seeing
him. But I did that with a lot of people, but something told me this guy
was great and was going to win. I'm sure if I was to attend the Boston or
NY Marathon I would not have the same success. Picking a winner by
visuals alone from the cream of the cream is a completely different story.

How does this relate to bodybuilding one might ask . . .

Not always but many times, we make rash, quick, spontaneous, decisions
regarding a person size, their strength, their abilities and potential. And we do
this based upon a single photo or video (typically poor quality) We even have
a forum set up explicitly for that purpose. We are always asking for opinions,
expecting people to judge us without knowing all there is to know before
making a accurate assessment. And you know, I think most of the time I
think our split second, gut reactions turn out to be fairly accurate.

I remember years ago, long before the now popular bodybuilding bulletin
boards, I used to read one of the Usenet forums, misc.fitness.weights.
A member there who I liked to read (many didn't becasue he could be
particularly belligerent if provoked or if you said something he interpreted as
stupid), who I thought was intelligent when it came to weights, and was fairly
successful as a bodybuilder. He predicted years before the event, that Jay
would win the Olympia. Hell, I didn't even know who Jay was so I looked
him up. When I saw his physique, his proportions and shape, I just had
to agree. This guy was going to win the Olympia. So I followed Jay on his
road the Olympia, and his prediction turned out to be true.

I think we all have hunches based up purely visual information. We see people
working out in the gym all the time, and you can sometimes tell, just by looking
at them, if they have what it takes. They just have this "look", I don't have any
other way to explain it. It's an overall quality assessment, the way everything
flows, fits together, it's not any one particular thing. It's sort of like pornography;
I can't define it or explain it, but I know it when I see it. So, if these fortunate
fledgling bodybuilders stick with it (most don't) and do not screw up, sometimes
they actually become a successful. Then you can say I told you so.

Could go on and on but don't want to bore everybody. Some time ago I read an
interesting book by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink. It's about on snap judgment,
gut reactions, intuition (he dislikes that word), or as he prefers, rapid cognition.
Check it out when you get a chance.

 

[JETHRO TULL]

Alfresco, I have had this happen to me as well.

I enjoyed reading that story. Have you ever had this happen in the area of "romance"? Just go ahead and consider the possibilities. Sometimes you just know! lol.

I remember seeing pictures of Jay Cutler early on and thinking "holy shit"..those sweeping quads were so outrageous!