Are Cherries Bad For You?

Early in my fitness life I fell into a trap…

A trap that’s easy to get into and hard to get out of.

A trap I didn’t even realize I was in.

I spent months, even years, in this state of mind that I’ve seen all too often in my career. Looking back, I wish I had someone to tell me 1) what I was doing wrong and 2) how to get out!

So what is this devastating trap?

Let’s call it Cherry-Picking…

Cherry-Picking (in the workout World) is defined as only picking the workouts that you are good at to participate in – leaving the ones we are not so good at in a dark cave of archived workouts.

I see this often with harder and more taxing movements such as running during conditioning portions of a workout and the ever so illusive overhead squat.

You might be thinking, “What’s wrong with Cherry-Picking? I’m going to do what I’m good at and that’s that!”

The is not as in-your-face as you may think, but after seeing this happen with myself, friends, and athletes alike; the issue is real…

Workouts become monotonous (aka boring) –> leading to less frequency –> and ultimately slow to no health & fitness progress!

If we only work on the movements, workouts, and exercises that we are good at; we leave A LOT of results in a TBD state (that’s To-Be-Determined, which is not a REAL result).

So what’s the secret to stop picking these cherries?

CURRENT BLUPRINT ATHLETES

Option 1: Pick the one movement/exercise you can’t stand. You know; the one that’s in your nightmares. Make it a point to practice this in your warm-ups/cool-downs 2-3x/week. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much progress you’ll make with this consistency.

Option 2: Pick 1-2 workouts each week that you wouldn’t typically participate in and DO WORK.

FUTURE BLUPRINT ATHLETES

Embrace the process of continuous improvement. Your health & fitness will always have a weak link. Growth happens when you work on this weak link, make it strong, find the new weak link, and repeat the process. IF you embrace this philosophy, you WILL SUCCEED!

P.S. Cherry-Picking is better than no picking…