Cherry-picking: What It Is & Why It’s Terrible

If there was such thing as an uban-fitness-dictionary, the term “cherry-picking,” would be described as the exercise equivalent of fair weather training. An athlete guilty of cherry-picking will avoid potentially frustrating sessions, while opting in for workouts that the athlete would probably describe as “fun” and/or in his/her “wheelhouse.” It’s truly an adversity dodging play. However, the loser in this scenario is always the guilty party.

Coincidentally, attendance was dismal yesterday. The workout was a demanding CrossFit classic, “Nancy.” Overhead squats and a sizable amount of running might not be most folks’ cup of tea. Could this have been a standard case of cherry-picking? If the workout was thirty minutes of Nerf dodgeball, would attendance have been 100%?

Here’s the deal. Not only is cherry-picking workouts cowardly, it’s like going to Spring Training for Major League Mediocrity. It’s practice for being soft. Not that I’m getting all bro-like on you and that this experience needs to be about hardening up. But, heck.. it could be, in a wonderful kind of way.

This isn’t a place to come show off how good you are at some various type of exercise. It never was, either. Remember when you signed up? No one says, “I want to pay a ton of money each month to win workouts against a bunch of strangers.” It’s about improvement, right? Well, chances are the “improvement well” is deepest near our weaknesses. So, tap in, folks. The workouts that make you nervous, roll your eyes, keep your up at night, and/or scare you, are probably the ones you need the most, anyway.

Friends don’t let friends cherry-pick. Plus, I think this type of activity funds terrorism somewhere down the line. OK, that was a joke. But, cherry-picking is bad for your health. Stop that.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach