How can I measure my fitness progress?
If you’re already working out—or thinking about starting—you have fitness goals.
So how do you measure your progress toward those goals?
Here are four simple steps.
Step 1: Set Specific Goals for Your Fitness Progress
If you want to measure fitness progress, you must set a very specific goal. Here’s the most important part: The goal should be important to you.
People sometimes miss that and set goals based on “should” or what someone else has achieved. Push that stuff aside and ask yourself these questions to dial in your focus:
What do I want to achieve? Why is that important to me? How will I feel when I achieve my goal?
You might want to lose weight, gain muscle, drop body fat, or improve strength or endurance—these are all great goals.
Whatever you settle on, it’s important to attach a realistic number and timeframe to your goal. For example: “I want to lose 20 lb. by 2025” or “I want to be able to do 10 push-ups without stopping in four months” or “I want to work out three times a week for six months straight.”
Whatever your goal is, be specific. And if you’re struggling to attach numbers, a coach can help you set a reasonable, time-bound goal that will keep you motivated.
Step 2: Measure Your Starting Point
Lots of people miss this step in the gym. You must know where you are so you can make a plan to reach your destination.
Measuring can be as simple as stepping on the scale or seeing how many push-ups you can do now.
Whatever your goal is, document your starting point by writing it down.
If your goal is to train three times a week, write down something like this to log your starting point: “April 1: I have succeeded in working out once a week for a month.”
Step 3: Make a Fitness Plan
With your goal and starting point in place, you need a way to get from Point A to Point B. Your plan should include all the things that will move you forward.
This part can be tough! How do you lose 20 lb. or become strong enough to do 10 push-ups? If you aren’t a fitness coach, you might be lost. Many people give up at this point because they just don’t know what to do.
This is where you should involve a coach, a trainer, or even an online program. Research shows that having a strategy AND someone to keep you accountable will deliver the best results. Look for someone who specializes in laying out plans very quickly, no matter what your fitness goal is. You want to know how often to work out, what to do in your workouts, and what you can do to make swifter progress toward your goal.
For some basic guidelines for what your body REQUIRES in terms of healthy exercise and movement, check out our Life By Design Blueprint HERE.
Step 4: Check Yourself
Take the necessary action to make sure your body is up to the task of working to reach your goals. Embarking on a new fitness journey is like stepping into uncharted territory, and while the excitement is palpable, ensuring your body is ready for the adventure is crucial. That’s where Chiropractic care comes in – the unsung heroes of pre-fitness prep.
Before you lace up those running shoes or pump iron like there’s no tomorrow, make sure to have your spine and nerve system checked. Chiropractors are the wizards of alignment, ensuring that your skeletal structure is in top-notch condition, laying the foundation for a seamless fitness experience. Think of it as the warm-up for your insides – setting the stage for optimal performance, reducing the risk of injuries, and making sure you’re not inadvertently doing the hokey-pokey with your spine mid-lunge. So, before you dive headfirst into burpees and box jumps, get back on track with your regularly scheduled spinal checkups (or if that’s new to you, schedule an evaluation); your future workout self will thank you. Click HERE to learn more about how Chiropractic can help.
Step 4: Track Your Fitness Progress and Adjust the Plan
With a plan in place and a healthy spine and nervous system, you should keep track of your workouts and check off all the boxes associated with the plan. You can use an app for this or just a spreadsheet or notebook.
But you must track everything! If you do, you can look back and see that you’re making steady progress toward your main goal, and you’ll take pride in a lot of completed workouts.
At specific intervals—90 days is a good block of time—you should review progress and adjust your plan so you can keep moving forward.
This is another sticking point for people. They often create a plan and keep doing the same thing over and over even when they stop making progress. Or they don’t know how to adjust the plan and quit before they reach the goal.
When you reach your goals, then you can assess and set new ones—after you celebrate.
Need Your Spine Checked?
Those are the four steps to measuring progress in the gym.
If you’d like to hit the easy button, we offer free chiropractic consultations. All you have to do is meet with us and we’ll review your case and determine if an examination is necessary.
We’ll tell you exactly what you’ll need clinically to make sure you’re set to accomplish your goal, and we’ll answer any questions you have—like “Can you help me?” and “How long will it take?”.
To see how we can help and to schedule a complimentary consultation, click here: https://beverlychiropractic.com/get-help/
Dr. Derek Gallant
Dr. Derek Gallant has committed himself to helping others live the best life possible. After graduating from Wesleyan University, he received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Life Chiropractic College West where he finished 2nd in his class. He is the owner of Beverly Family Chiropractic and co-founder of The Well Family Foundation. Dr. Gallant is certified through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) in the Webster technique, an analysis focused on assisting pregnant women in a healthy pregnancy and natural birth. He has inspired thousands of people to take control of their own health using the Life By Design method. Apart from full time practice you can find Derek at the parks and coffee shops around Beverly with his family, training hard at the gym, or at the beach surfing.
