How do you track your progress?
One of the easiest ways for someone to clearly see progression is to track it.
Whether that be visually (images or colours on a board/pretty graphs) or data in a spreadsheet.
These are two of many ways to keep accountable and see what's possibly lacking in terms of how you are going to reach your goals.
Depending what the goal actually is - is it Strength? Fat Loss? Health Reasons? simply having data recorded, equations in place and pretty diagrams to show the progressions towards that goal.
When data is recorded you can pick up on trends that you make either week to week or month to month.
Some trends i've found since starting to track my own data is when my PMS week comes along:
- Appetite is HIGH - GIVE ME THE SNACKS AND NO ONE GETS HURT
- Training performance feels semi trash. A deload is welcomed here 👌🏻🙌🏻
- Energy levels drop
- Measurements are higher
- Clothes are tighter
- More emotional - will cry at nothing, again, cheers hormones.
A few things to factor in when tracking progress -
- Time of day - morning on an empty stomach and after a trip to the bathroom
- Time of the month - compare month to month, understand when your cycle is, where you are with hormones.
- Bowel Movements - regular? Not regular?
- Water retention - due to hormones and carbs
- Sleep - Huge factor when adhering
A few things to Track:
Scale Weight - weight will always fluctuate and will vary depending on goals, training phases and cycle.
Photos - front, back and side for visual comparison.
Measurements - chest, waist, hips, butt, thigh, arm, calf.
Skin Folds - if capable of getting this done.
Clothes - how do they fit compared to last week or month?
Tracking Sets, Reps & Weight on a program.
Training Hours & Performance Levels
Daily Activity - what's your steps like, are you sedentary or really active?
Stress - what's your stress level like? What's causing stress? Keep note of that.
Appetite - High, Medium or low, want to eat everything in the house or not too hungry but eat all your meals/macros.
Water - getting enough water?
Sleep - getting enough sleep? Is it broken or quality? Sleep is important!
Energy Levels - what is your energy like and when does it start to drop off during the day?
Sex Drive - extreme dieting can cause sex drive to be low, increase of cals can definitely increase the sex drive.
