Cherry pick: verb, to choose or take the best or most profitable of (a number of things) especially for one’s own benefit or gain: cherry pick the best routes-–dictionary.com
The point of the programming at my gym is to keep your body guessing to a certain extent. To not focus only on your strengths, nor only on your weaknesses. To work every part of your body, making gains in all areas of fitness.
To cherry pick your wods (workout of the day) is to choose to go the gym only on the days that you like the wod, for whatever reason that might be. Maybe it’s a wod you love because you’re good at it. Maybe it’s a wod you want to try, knowing it will be especially challenging. Maybe the wod focuses on a weakness that you’re working to improve. In any case, you choose to attend class that day because it’s for what you’ve determined is “your own benefit or gain.”
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing…..unless you find yourself consistently cherry picking wods that cater to your strengths. In my opinion, that is taking the easy way out and not at all for your over-all sense of benefit or gain.
Today was a wod that looked especially tough……not one that I wanted to try at all. However, in an effort to get back to some semblance of a routine I have decided to be at the gym Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, rain or shine, come hell or high water, wod that I love, wod that I hate. Today was a day to work…..and to choose to skip the wod would be the worst kind of cherry picking. It might have been for my immediate sense of benefit, but not at all good for the long term.
So I headed to the gym, making bargains along the way about how I would scale or alter the wod to my liking. But when the clock started I made a difficult choice…….use heavier weight than my cherry picking self wanted to lift, not enough to cause injury of course, but enough to really slow me down, challenge me, and make me focus on my form…..and put me further behind on the leader board than my ego likes.
And you know what? It was awful….but in a good way. I did the right thing, and I have more respect for myself for doing the right thing than I would have had I cherry picked.
This applies to other parts of my life. Cooking a healthy meal when the drive-through would be so much faster. Drinking water when that icy-cold Coke looks so very good. Thoroughly cleaning the kitchen instead of cruising through quickly and delaying the inevitable scrubbing it needs. Having a difficult conversation in person rather than sending the seemingly-better, yet ultimately-worse email or text. Doing what I can to set something right (again, in person) with someone with whom I’m in conflict, rather than sweep it under the rug and let the resentment build. Remaining silent in response to an offense, rather than be quick with a snappy comeback (this.is.so.hard for me!).
I do not want to be someone who consistently avoids challenges, going out of my way to avoid conflict, or taking the easy way out when I know that the harder way is the best way.
The hard way is well, hard. But so much more rewarding in the long run isn’t it?
I don’t much like cherries anyway!