Cherry Picking Workouts

If you conveniently miss workouts that are full of your weaknesses and show up 10 minutes early for WODs stacked with your strengths, then you might be a cherry picker. Does any of this sound familiar?

“I can’t do muscle-ups. I’ll just skip today.”
“Running?! Nope, I’m not going.”
“It’s only Olympic lifts. Meh, I’ll wait and see what the WOD is tomorrow.”
“20-minute AMRAP? Yeah, no.”
“I hate burpees.” (cancels class reservation)

Understandably, you want to stick to the WODs you know you like and are good at. But cherry picking is taking the path of least resistance. If you keep skipping the workouts that are too hard, too easy, too heavy, too light, too short, or too long, you’ll end up with gaps in your training and performance.

Cherry picking your workouts undermines your training.

The problem with cherry picking is that it undermines your training. By only doing what you’re good at, you’re sabotaging your own efforts. The best thing that you can do for your training is to stay consistent.

CrossFit programming is a balance.

CrossFit programming is a broad, comprehensive mix of monostructural movements (like running), gymnastics and weightlifting. If you take one of these elements out of the mix, then it’s no longer balanced.

Don’t just train what you enjoy doing.

What happens when you start to avoid the workouts and movements that you don’t like too much? Your performance plateaus, and you might even get bored with your workout routine.

Train your strengths and your weaknesses.

We all have strengths and weaknesses in the gym. If you cherry pick and avoid your weaknesses altogether, it can slow your progress. Whether a WOD favors your strengths or is full of your least favorite weaknesses, you stand to gain something from your effort.

How to stop cherry picking workouts:

• Scale: Remember that scaling the WOD or any of the movements is always an option. Scaling will continue to improve your skills and fitness gradually. Cherry picking will not.
• Stop Checking The Workout: Another way to stop cherry picking is to stop looking at the workout ahead of time. If you don’t know the WOD, then you can’t talk yourself out of it.
• Show Up: If you do peek at the workout (and aren’t excited about what you see), show up anyway. No matter what ends up on the whiteboard, show up.