The Problem with “I would, but I can’t”

Two main things come to mind when you say, “I would, but I can’t.” The first is simply that I don’t believe you. And, the second is that though I know why you might be saying that, it’s just not true. Period. You just don’t know it yet.

You know who says, “I would but I can’t” in reference to training here? People that haven’t trained here.

Now, I know that logic says that’s not enough to prove them wrong. There could be some self selecting mechanism in our program that weeds out all the people that can’t from the program, leaving only those that can to participate.

The trouble with that is this belief really starts to fall apart when you consider the scope of students that are being successful here. It’s very difficult to understand your position when you say, “I would but I can’t,” after coaching a class with a student who’s missing limbs. It’s tough to take your belief seriously after coaching a morning class with two students who can neither run nor jump because of lifelong degenerative hip issues. Nearly everything Kevin Ogar does, being paralyzed from the waist down, does a pretty thorough job at making “I would, but I can’t” seem ridiculous, as well (i.e. this, this, this, and this)

So, if you’re saying things like “Man, DEUCE looks so great. I would totally train there, but I can’t do that stuff,” one of two things must be true:

1. You don’t know what we do here, or

2. You don’t want to get fit.

Both of these reasons are totally fine. Unlike many of these articles, this isn’t meant to preach what you should and shouldn’t do. My purpose is just to clear the air.

Are we clear?

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach