The New Year’s boost of enthusiasm that leads to vowing of a complete 365 days dedicated to fitness often ends before the beginning of February.
This can be blamed on our ability to lose interest if the results aren’t quick enough. While you cannot speed up the process for quick results, as a healthy fitness program takes time, you can, however, use tools that can help keep you motivated to finally attain your decade’s worth of fitness resolutions.
We’ve compiled an ultimate guide with effective tips to meet all your fitness goals.
- Motivation & fitness training: Correlation
- How to track fitness progress?
- Conclusion
Motivation & fitness training: Correlation
Motivation plays a vital role in determining whether a person will stick to their exercise program or not. A study was conducted to understand motivational variations in fitness and it was found that:(1)
- People who did workouts alone were motivated by stress management, challenge, enjoyment, social recognition, appearance and competition
- People who exercised with trainers or coaches were motivated to live a disease-free lifestyle
Fitness is all about positive reinforcements and can vary from person to person. For some a detailed progress of their routine motivates them to keep on going as every small change is a step closer to achieving their goal.
How to track fitness progress?
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Set Achievable Goals
While we do not discourage you from dreaming big, if you set an impossible goal, the lack of results will immediately make you quit and possibly never try again. So, beginning with something easy & achievable will help you.
So, to begin with, your goal needs to be specific for example
“I want to lose 10 kgs” or “I want to gain 10 kgs” instead of vague goals like wanting to become healthier or lose weight. If there isn’t a specific weight or goal in your mind you will tend to struggle when tracking your progress because you aren’t aware of what step of the process is the point of success.
Once you’ve specified your goal it needs to be measurable, if it’s burning belly fat then you can measure it with your tape and if it’s weight loss, then with your weighing machine.
Lastly, it needs to have a deadline e.g. 3 months or 6 months to have a sense of urgency and determination.
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Journal your fitness progress
Now when we say “journaling your progress” it doesn’t mean you need a fancy diary or organiser but a simple pocket notepad or regular notebook where you can quickly log in your workout routines and meals.
And if you aren’t the one for a pen & a book, simply feed the data digitally into your notepad app or if you want it more precise than Excel.
If you are confused and need a format to begin with your entry, then you can start by:
- Entering your first meal of the day & the workout that followed
- The sets & reps along with the type of training you did
- How do you feel post-workout
- The meals you consumed until you logged off for the day
You do not have to count every calorie, simply jotting down your meal will help you understand why you felt certain changes on certain days and how much of it was due to your diet or workout.
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Incorporating a Fitness Tracker or App
We are witnessing the glorious era of the greatest technological advancements, you can track your steps, calorie intake, heart rate and much more just through your smartwatch!
These features can also easily be accessed through fitness trackers & apps that only take a touch to go through months’ worth of data on your health and fitness progress.
You can easily pick up the most rated fitness tracker apps on your Play Store or app store, most of which are free and hassle-free to download.
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Photographic Record
Don’t we all love the before and after pictures? While we can always see ourselves in the mirror every day, it may not always catch the essence of your changes given the familiarity.
However, with pictures, you can always look back and see the prominent changes from when you began that your brain may not have registered.
Remember to not constantly compare your pictures every day, but only after long periods of workouts or diets to see changes, and beware of bad lighting or angles that may turn your positive progress into an unflattering image. Be consistent with your angle good lighting and time of the day.
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Use Clothes to Check Fitting
The jeans at the back of your closet you could never get rid of because you were convinced you’d fit into them again, this is the time to bring them out to measure your progress.
You will know immediately by the way the jeans fit you that you’ve made significant progress since you started, and if you can fit right into them, then you’ve reached your first milestone.
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Weighing yourself
While your weight fluctuates throughout the day, it is still the go-to way to track your progress.
You may seem lighter on an empty stomach and post-passing a bowel and heavier once you’ve eaten food especially those that are salty or watery as they cause your body to retain water.
Use the scale once every week, to track the progress you made since your last record and use other tools to track your progress.
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The Squat Test
The best way to measure your core and leg strength is by doing a squat. If you can perform several squats in good form without having your knees collapse inward or lean on one side then you have successfully made progress.
You can do a squat in front of a mirror to check your form, overtime the squats start to get easier as your core strength & endurance improve.
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Check Your Blood Pressure
Progress isn’t just about your physical appearance but also how it affects you overall, a blood pressure check is an accurate indicator of heart health, and how it’s affected by proper exercise, diet and stress.
With every workout, your body grows stronger and so does your heart health. Improved blood pressure can decrease the chances of cardio and chronic health diseases.
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Challenging yourself
Once you start working out daily, a great way to know you’ve progressed is by tracking how many reps you can perform last week or last month, or how much more weight you can do without feeling fatigued.
A few examples of workouts you can challenge your body with are:
- Pull-ups: aim for 3 sets of 10-15 reps
- Rope climbing: 10 feet in 30 seconds
- Deadlifts: aim for 3 sets of 8-12 reps
You could also train yourself for a marathon, anything that pushes the limits of your body and helps you achieve results better than before is a good way to track your progress.
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Tracking Active Minutes
A good way to know your progress and keep track of your productivity is by counting the minutes moved. You are supposed to move at least 30 minutes a day, if you keep an active record of how much you’ve moved it will help you add movement to your day.
You can also get in your steps on your fitness trackers while being active and completing a workout each time you simply walk, stretch or row.
Conclusion
Everybody needs a little nudge of motivation to get through the finishing line of fitness goals. With the help of the tips mentioned above you can not only track your progress but realise all your fitness goals.
To check any medical-related progress contact your healthcare provider to get the necessary tests done.
FAQ
1. How do I track my fitness progress?
To keep a track of your fitness progress:
- Set goals
- Keep a fitness journal
- Take snaps
- Check clothes for fit
- Measure weight with a scale
2. How do you monitor progress towards fitness goals?
You can monitor your progress through apps or by journaling your progress every day in detail.
3. How do you meet your fitness goals?
You can meet your fitness goals by:
- Sticking to schedule
- Daily workouts
- Strict diet
- Good sleep
- Reduced stress
4. How do you record fitness goals?
You can record your fitness goals through:
- Smartwatch
- Fitness tracker
- Apps
- Journals
- Snaps
- Weighing machine
5. What is a fitness goal plan?
A fitness goal plan revolves around a routine you set for yourself based on your fitness goal. It can either be a program to lose weight or to gain muscles and burn fat.