Although you can learn to love exercising, many people struggle to remain consistent with workout schedules over long periods. Some people dislike working out or find it challenging to find the time to do so—but those who do work out for a while without seeing any changes may become discouraged and quit. However, physical gains develop gradually and aren’t often immediately apparent to the eye. Consequently, finding methods for measuring your fitness progress is essential. We offer a few suggestions that you can put into practice.
Write in a Journal or Track in Your Smartphone
The classic strategy for keeping track of your development is using a journal (or similarly in your Smartphone). Within the journal, you can write down the number of sets and reps you do for different exercises, as well as the amount of weight you’re lifting for each exercise. As you keep recording your activities and become stronger, you’ll be able to look back and see the increases in reps or weight that you’ve been able to make. You might not necessarily feel that different, but the proof of your growth will be down on paper (or in a spreadsheet, worksheet), spurring you on to greater achievements.
Test Your Abilities
A periodic test of your abilities can also serve as a method for measuring your fitness progress. Set specific days where you check up on what you can do in order to observe your abilities more clearly than you might in a typical exercise session. These can come as often as once a month, or you can wait longer—the choice is up to you. Tests themselves can look different based on what exercises you’re doing. Some examples could be trying to lift a maximum weight with just one rep on the bench press or counting the number of pullups you can do continuously.
Time Your Workouts
When you want to know how quickly you can perform various feats, timing your workouts is helpful. Use a dedicated timer to quantify how long you spend in an activity and how long you rest between different sets or movements. The advantage of timers in fitness training sessions is that you can preset them to alert you after specific intervals. With this feature, you can count how many repetitions of an exercise you can complete within a given period. You can also use a timer to see the total time it takes you to run a specific distance or finish a particular routine. Doing so will give you an accurate gauge of your speed, as well as your cardiovascular and muscular endurance. Use timing in conjunction with a journal to determine how much fitter you’re becoming as time goes on.
