If you’ve got a fitness regimen, you should consider including strength training. It is one of the most crucial factors of any workout routine. The reason for this is that it uses your body weight as a resistance tool to improve your ability in producing force and improve your muscles.
There are a lot of benefits you can get with strength training. However, it is crucial that you keep track of your progress. If you want to get the complete benefit of strength training, you should know when to lift more weight or increase your workload.
There are a couple of ways when tracking your workout routine. One of the best ways is to have a fitness tracker. However, when it comes to tracking the progress of your strength training, here are some tips you can follow:
Utilize a Tape Measure
One traditional and easy approach to gauge the progress of your strength training is using a tape measure. Professionals suggest using it to measure the circumference around various parts of your body. This includes your arms, legs, hips, waist, chest, and shoulders.
You should measure these parts every month. This will help you track your progress and see how your body is or isn’t changing.
Take a Look in the Mirror
Take a close look at the muscles in your shoulders, legs, and arms. Whenever you begin a strength training program, these parts usually lean out quicker compared to others.
Typically, we do not always notice the changes if we see ourselves each day. However, if you compare pictures from 4-6 weeks apart, you will see a lot of differences.
Test Yourself Every Month
Every month, professionals suggest testing your strength on different lifts. Utilize lower reps on a workout and record the results.
Go as heavy as possible. However, you’ve got to make sure you have good form and you can do it safely. Next, do it again after several weeks. Compare the results from the previous one.
With this, you can track how much your strength has improved.
Examine the Composition of Your Body
One way to track progress is to examine the composition of your body. This means you have to calculate the percentage of fat versus muscle.
You’ll burn fat and build muscle as you train your strength. The fat percentage of your body will go down. A lot of facilities out there have electric conductivity testers or skinfold calipers that offer a rough estimation of your body fat percentage.
Weighing yourself might not reflect your progress since you’re planning to put on muscles.
Keep a Workout Journal
One of the most effective and easiest ways to track the amount of weight you lifted in past workouts is keeping a workout journal. With this, you will know if you are getting stronger.
Keep in mind that your body can easily adapt to your workout routine. This is particularly true if you are performing it constantly. Thus, your body won’t respond to any change if you keep on doing the same workout and weights.
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