by Michael Plank
We tested deadlifts at our gym recently. Almost every class was full. Deadlifts are fun. They’re usually the heaviest lift that people can do. Lots of people like deadlifts.
We also tested what we call Lactic Tolerance (you might know it as the CrossFit benchmark workout, “Fran”). It’s 4-7 minutes of fast, full body movements, and it is absolutely brutal. Classes were half empty.
This, in the CrossFit world, at least, is sometimes called “Cherry Picking” workouts… you come to the ones you like and you skip the ones you hate. Early on in my coaching, I spent a lot of time banging the drum of never cherry picking workouts. “You should do the stuff you hate, otherwise how are you going to get better??” I’d say.
And there’s some benefit to doing the workouts that you hate to do. It builds mental toughness. If you have a specific strength or performance goal, the stuff you hate is likely holding you back, so it pays to work on it. It helps you maintain the discipline of training even when you’re not feeling it, which helps with consistency in a huge way.
But…
I’d say 90% of people who start with us, when they start, have a goal that is broadly either to lose bodyfat, increase strength, or gain some energy. People who start with us are generally coming from a period of inactivity and they want to get healthier. Do you know what’s best for those people (the 90%)?
Anything. Any workout, done consistently. That’s what’s best. That’s what will give massive results quickly.
Do you know what workouts are easiest to do consistently? Workouts that you enjoy. (Do you know what workouts are hardest to do consistently? Duh. Workouts that you hate).
So if you’re in the early stages of your fitness journey (that is, the first 1-2 years), if you have a little schedule flexibility, and your goal has something to do with improved health or quality of life, here’s my advice: skip every workout that you hate and come to every workout that you like. And if all you do is squats and ring rows for the next two years and you never run, jump rope, or deadlift, do you know what you’ll be?
WAY fitter, healthier, happier, and stronger than if you did nothing.
Cherry pick your heart out, my friends. Just keep going.