The "I Should be Able to..." Curse.

"So based on my front squat and my split jerk, I should be able to clean x amount of weight, right?" As any good coach SHOULD when their athlete starts to say these phrases, they should stop them before they even finish the phrase, "I should..." As a coach, it is our job to improve on removing the "I should" from athelete's vocabulary. Yes there are programs and excel sheets we can plug our max efforts and use a formula to calculate about how much our body can physically handle for technical lifts. In addition there are just "common knowledge" that we often refer to such as, "I should be able to clean more than I Jerk." "I shouldn't be able to Power Snatch more than my squat snatch." ect. However these are all based off "general rule of thumb" We NEED to remember that these equations do not take into consideration our physical make up and how God built us. Here's an example: Should vs. Can (my example) If I look at my number i know my clean is ridiculously light for what my legs "can" handle, but I know that the problem is more psychological as well as technical. I SHOULD be addresses both issues. Rather than focusing on what we think we "should" be able to do, it is more benefical to look at what we can do, what we want to be able to do and do what we NEED to do to get there.