Easy Ways To Track Your Fitness Progress
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Easy Ways To Track Your Fitness Progress
Whether you’re new to your fitness journey or are looking to reach new heights, you’ll want to track your fitness progress. When done correctly, tracking your progress can keep you motivated to keep going. Even if you hit a plateau, you can look back and see how far you’ve come already.
But what is the best way to track your fitness progress? This can depend on your starting point and personal goals. But if you’re not sure where to begin, there are some simple methods you can start using today.
Take regular photos
Most people only look at the scale to assess their physical progress. But progress photos can help you to see the changes that occur to your body composition – which the scale isn’t always great at.
A handy tip – take your photos at the same time of day, in the same room and the same clothes. You’ll want front, back and side shots to showcase your body progress.
Track measurements
Another great way to assess your physical progress is by taking measurements. Muscle is more dense than fat, so when you build muscle, you might not lose as much weight. But you could be losing body fat and as a result, your measurements will change even when the scale stays the same.
Measurements aren’t just for weight loss or muscle building goals. They can also be used to see if your muscles are symmetrical and balanced or not. Asymmetrical muscles can suggest an imbalance on one side of the body that might need addressing.
Record your workouts
Your workouts are a key part of your fitness journey, so make sure you track them to see your progress! Note down how long you work out for, the body parts you’ve targeted, and any information about sets, reps and intensity.
You might also like to note down how easy or difficult the workout felt. As your fitness improves, you’ll find that difficult workouts become easier, or you’re able to recover quickly from the tougher exercises.
Test your fitness levels
It’s great to see your progress in your workouts, but you might like to check in with your overall fitness levels.
For example, you might complete an 8-week transformation program and want to see the effects that has on different areas of fitness. By doing the same workout at the start and end of a challenge, you can see how much easier the exercises become, whether you can do more reps, or even how much your form improves.
You might have a particular challenge you’re working on such as doing your first pull-up or moving from knee push-ups to full push-ups. If so, set yourself a routine of testing your abilities every 4-8 weeks and see how much you’ve improved.
Try on your favourite clothes
Do you have that one favourite outfit that has been waiting for you in your wardrobe? Use it as a way to track how your clothes are fitting on you.
This is a two-for-one deal. Firstly, you can feel the difference of wearing clothes that even photos or measurements might miss when you’re tracking. Secondly, it’s an extra boost of motivation as you get closer to fitting better into your favourite outfit.
Keep a journal
One of the most useful tools to track your fitness progress is a journal. You can record measurements and workouts, but you can also track how you feel. This can help you to see improvements and avoid beating yourself up on bad days.
For example, one day you might be feeling exhausted after a bad night of sleep. Without noting down that context, you might look at your workout efforts and feel like you just didn’t try hard enough! Or on another day, you might smash through your workout and record a new personal record (PR) – that’s something you want to record!
This can also be a journal where you record other improvements – what we often refer to as non-scale victories. Have you noticed you’re less anxious or overwhelmed since you started working out? Maybe your digestion has settled down, or you’re getting a better night’s sleep. Whatever your health concerns and symptoms are, add them in to track in your journal.
Should I still weigh myself?
This really can depend on you, your goals and your relationship with the scale. It is not the most accurate way to track your progress, and for many it can be discouraging.
To use the scale as a form of tracking, you need to understand a few key concepts:
Your body weight is only one way to track progress, and it shouldn’t be the most important one (yes, even if your goal is weight loss!)
It can take a long time to see progress on the scale if you’re dealing with issues such as insulin resistance, Hashimoto’s or PCOS
Women can naturally fluctuate in their weight by a few kilos depending on hormones, water intake, fluid retention, digestion and more
It can be a trigger for those with a background of disordered eating
If you do want to weigh yourself, I suggest you weigh yourself at the same time of day and stick to once per week or fortnight (not daily!)
You might also need to note down which stage of your menstrual cycle you are in. In the week or so before your period (the luteal phase) you may be more prone to fluid retention and bloating, making you heavier on the scale.
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