How to Track Your Core Exercise Progress
There is an old adage that says “That which is measured, gets improved.” And it is true in a couple of ways. First, just the act of recording measurements on paper brings with it a certain accountability that otherwise would not be there if the numbers were not recorded. Second, you have to know where you started, where you currently are, and where you want to be to know if you are making progress toward your goal; writing these things down helps keep you on track. In particular, you’ll want to keep track of numbers in these three main areas:
Weight
Some people get so freaked out by the number on the scale. What they fail to realize is it is just that – a number at the present time. Tomorrow it could be higher, lower, or the same. And that number does not tell the whole truth.
Do you know it could be a good thing if you gained weight according to the scale? It’s true. Because muscle weighs more than fat, if you lost fat and gained muscle, you could actually be in better shape now fitness-wise than before. The point is to not obsess over the number.
It may show you have lost weight since the last time you weighed, but what kind of weight did you lose? If it was muscle, that is not the kind of weight you want to lose. But without body composition measurements too, to tell you where you lost your weight, your number on the scale did not tell you much.
Body Composition
Weight is only part of the picture. Measuring composition tells the other part. Basically you’ll want two pieces of equipment – a cloth tape measure and a set of body calipers.
Once a week before your workout, record the following measurements:
• Neck – around the center of the neck looking straight ahead
• Waist – at the belly-button line
• Hips – at the widest part
• Thigh – at the widest part
The biggest thing to making this work is to take each measurement at the same place on your body each time. Don’t cheat; the only person you are hurting is yourself. With the body calipers, take a reading ion the love handle region. Read the directions that came with the calipers to ensure you are measuring correctly.
Your concern shouldn’t be how the numbers change each week, but where the overall trend is heading. Graphing each measurement with its own line color over time is a good way to instantly see your trend in that measurement. That also makes getting an overall trend easy or to see where one measurement is not doing as well as the rest.
Workouts
This is another area that needs documenting for a couple of reasons also. One, for trending purposes it is easier to see how you are doing, but the second reason is even more important.
Let’s assume you write down or graph that you did three sets of 10 pushups again yesterday as you have for the last week. Now you need to ramp it up by two pushups per set. By merely having the numbers written down and your mind knowing you have to improve by two each set, you will get to 12 reps per set the next time you do pushups.
Studies have verified this over and over. Participants that had the same goal, but not past performance records, did not make their new goal as often. As with weight and body composition, there is something motivating about writing down and seeing the numbers.