Trainer Tuesdays
Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.
What are Some Good Ways to
Monitor My Fitness Progress?
Kelly Bailey: Monitoring fitness progress is
important because improvements in fitness happen over time and we often miss
the small changes if we don't pay attention. Tracking your progress will help
you see the big picture, allow you to make adjustments to your program, and
keep you motivated to achieve more. Before you start a fitness program (or even
if you've started one) you should at least gather some baseline data that will
tell you where you are today, and then you will have a basis for comparison and
can decide where to go from there. The baseline data you gather and what
you monitor will be very dependent on your fitness goals. If your goal is to
lose weight, you need to know what your weight is today, what weight you want
to get to, and then you need to weigh yourself regularly to see if you are
getting closer to your goal. If you don't like to weigh yourself (I know I
don't!), the fit of your clothes is a good indicator if you are trying to lose
or maintain weight. If your jeans start to fit a little tight (it's not the
dryer), you know you need to clean up your eating and re-prioritize your
exercise routine. If you are interested in gaining strength, your baseline data
might include how much weight you can squat and bench press, and how many push
ups and pull ups you can perform. After three to four months of weight
training, if you can squat and bench more weight, and perform more push ups and
pull ups, you know your training program is working. Setting goals, gathering
baseline data, and then monitoring your progress will keep you motivated and on
track to reach your fitness aspirations!
Steven Madden: There are many ways to monitor your fitness progress. In
fact, there is an entire cottage industry around the very idea. You can
carry your pedometer attached to your waist, while you've got your Fitbit, Nike
Fuel Band or your Jawbone sending all kinds of data to your smart phone.
At the end of the day you know everything you've done in regards to any
imaginable activity. You know every single calorie you burned when you
zip-lined down Mount Everest while playing "The Rainbow Connection"
on an out of tune banjo.
I'm joking of
course, and devices like these have their place (in truth, I want one), but
it's what we do with the information the really helps us monitor our progress.
Raw data is a great start. That's why I simply write down all my
workouts. I write the weight and reps and sets for each exercise.
After 3-4 weeks, I may be lifting a few more pounds a few more times, and
I've got the paperwork to prove it. There is also the scale. You
can watch your weight drop over time too.
But those are not
the only ways to monitor progress. I've had one client tell me that after
several months they realized they didn't get winded going up their stairs
anymore. It was clear that that was more important to this client than
what their scale said or how much they have increased the weight they have been
lifting. Just yesterday, another told me she wasn't as sore as she used
to get after working in the garden. These are the unmeasurable results
that still track progress. Simply feeling better than you did a few
months ago is progress, progress that shouldn't be ignored, no matter what your
scale says.
When we think of
tracking progress, it can be anything from running the same distance a little
bit faster, lifting a few extra pounds, taking an extra 200 steps a day to not
having to stop half way up the stairs for breath before you continue.
Sometimes, it is about numbers and data, other times it's all about how
you feel.
Taynee Pearson: There are a few ways to keep track of your
fitness level and see if any improvements have been made. There are ways to
figure out if you have improved in cardiovascular exercise or strength and
weight training. Keeping a record of your repetitions, sets and weights used
during strength training will help you determine your progress. Keeping a
record of the intensity, level and time for cardiovascular exercise will help
you determine the progress with cardio. Increased mileage, especially with
running will showgood progress and the time it was performed in.
Jenn Noggle: If you are trying to monitor your fitness
progress there are a couple easy ways to do so. First of all, record your
workouts in details. You can keep track of the exercises, the number of set and
reps, the weight, etc. As you increase various aspects you will easily be able
to see where you are or aren't progressing. Another great way to track progress
is to have regular re-assessments. Every 6 weeks, perform the same fitness
tests and compare the numbers. This is a simple straight-forward way to see
where you are improving and where you might need more work.
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