Why it’s so important to track your fitness progress and what is involved…
Of course it’s important to track your progress so that you can see the effort you are putting in is paying off, but also so you can make any adjustments to the plan and process when and if you hit a plateau.
It’s encouraging to look at progress photos and see the changes from the start.We often don’t see the changes day to day as our eyes adjust to what we see in the mirror.
You want to use multiple means of tracking progress and this will largely depend on what your goals are but a good start is with these:
Progress photos:Either weekly, fortnightly or monthly. With a white backdrop and natural light preferably. Keep your outfit the same and try to show as much of your body as possible.
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Scale Weight: It’s good to take a minimum of three consecutive days and take the weekly average of this. Weight will fluctuate daily which is why an average over the week is best.
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Circumferences: Depending on the areas you wish to target or see change, you can take measurements from waist, navel, chest, hips, arms, thighs weekly.
However, progress photos, I believe, are the best means as they really do capture change over time. When dieting you’ll see some change each week and these will compound over time. Scales weight drops, circumferences decrease and the photos will begin to show changes. So these forms of tracking progress you can do weekly or fortnightly.
When in a build phase the progress and the rate of change will be much slower. There is no instant gratification with building muscle like there is when dieting. Fat loss can be achieved at a much quicker rate. So opting for monthly means of tracking progress through photos and circumferences is sufficient and then weekly weight averages to ensure calorie intake is sufficient. ■
By Ella Martyn
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