How to Keep Track of Fitness Progress

You’ve probably seen the ads on TV or heard them on the radio for diets and fitness programs that will get you in shape, but it’s important to know how to track your fitness progress. Scales are good for checking weight, but other products can be much more beneficial.

Fitness results don’t happen overnight and take consistent work, but it will pay off. If you want to know how to keep track of fitness progress, your main focus should be the inside and outside of your body and keeping a workout progress sheet.

Appearances Aren’t Deceiving 

The best way to track workout progress isn’t using a scale, which is unfortunately what many people think. That’s because your body will shed and gain weight as you get stronger due to muscle mass and fat loss, so you can weigh the same or more and have better fitness.

One of the most effective lessons on how to track gym progress is with a before-and-after photo. Not only will this show real-time progress, but it can be a great boost to your confidence to see how much you’ve changed.

Body Mass Index

Another external method to check your fitness is with the body mass index, which is a ratio of body mass to your height and weight. It’s useful to know how to keep track of fitness progress, and the BMI will give you a real number to work on.

It’s pretty easy to look up a BMI calculator online, so just input your numbers and see what comes out. After you’ve been exercising for a while, check again and the resulting number should have gone down. This is a good way to stay motivated, too.

Of course, as you lose fat or gain muscle your body will change and you’ll probably need new clothes. While this ideally isn’t how to keep track of fitness progress, since a larger shirt can mean muscle growth, it can be a good feeling sometimes as well. 

Food For Thought

First and foremost, it should be said that your diet will affect your fitness goals and results. If you eat nothing but “bowling alley” food or drink nothing but soda, it can be hard to attain your desired level of fitness. With that said, you don’t have to completely change your diet.

An important thing to know how to keep track of fitness progress is to enjoy yourself. A common mistake people make that ends up causing them to lose interest or give up is that they remove the excitement or fun out of working out.

It’s all about compromise and caloric intake, so as long as you watch how much sugar and calories from fat you eat and drink you’ll be better off. Protein is your friend, but try to stick to chicken and fish if you’re serious about your fitness.

A great way to keep track of these numbers and more is by wearing something that monitors it for you, since a lot of people either forget or don’t want to take the time to add everything up.

Fitness Device

This brings us to accessories, which can only add to your fitness routine and help you down your path. While a music player and earbuds are essential to any workout toolkit, there’s another handy device that you might want to invest in.

One of the best modern technologies for fitness is a watch, like a KoreTrak, that keeps track of miscellaneous data for you so that you can exercise without worrying about crunching numbers. This data can include heart rates, blood pressure, distances, workout times, and more.

All of these can be helpful when it comes to creating a workout log, which you should do if you’re serious about learning how to keep track of fitness progress.

Keep a Workout Log

A workout log is not only one of the best ways to track your fitness, but a useful way to build confidence and come up with a plan of attack. A log is basically writing down what you did that day and filling out a gym progress chart for future reference.

The first step is to plan out what you want to do, like how many sets of each exercise you want to accomplish for that day. Getting a mindset can help you stay focused, especially for the more goal-oriented people.

Now that you’ve mapped out what you’re going to do, it’s time to workout. You can always add to the log if you want to push on the final set of an exercise or go an extra quarter-mile, but do your best to meet your goals.

Either way, make sure to record the number of sets you do as you go. A great piece of advice is to jot it down during your rest periods, which should also be recorded. If you’re unsure how to track progress in the gym, just add a column for the weight lifted for each set. 

There are examples of workout logs all over the Internet, or you can buy a pre-made journal at many athletic stores. It only needs to be readable for you, so it can be as simple as tally marks or look like this: Squats, 3 sets x 100.

Remember that, to build fitness, you have to gradually increase weights, distances, or sets because your body will naturally adapt to any workout. Either way, write down what you did, the date, and the duration of your workout. Seeing a calendar of days in a row can be motivational. 

This is also where a fitness watch can come in handy because, while they don’t track sets, the data they do calculate is essential for planning. For example, if you know your blood pressure was highest with a certain workout you can plan that exercise on a day you don’t have work.

The calorie counters can help for planning meals on which days, too, among other data. No one wants to actively try and remember how far they ran for cardio while they’re working out.

No matter what your fitness goals are, hopefully you know how to keep track of fitness progress now. Be confident, stay consistent, and focus on your body, eating right, and logging your workouts. If you do all of those things, you’ll achieve whatever goals you set!