How do you measure your results?

[GranderTransit]

Question is in the title. How do you go about measuring the results of your health / fitness / lifestyle changing efforts?

Do you even bother? Have you gone past the stage of feeling you need to?

For me I use how I feel mentally (time without training or eating badly makes me feel groggy and grumpy) and also a mirror. To a degree I use what I achieve in training as well in the form of a lifting spreadsheet with notes / comments added.

Just wondering what people have found effective / the level of effort people are willing to go to.

[4G63T]

results?


the way I gauge my fitness/healthyness and strength is.

look in the mirror, if I look better than i did a while ago, then I've improved, If i feel better I have improved and if I can lift more weight at the gym for longer, I have improved.....


or where you looking for something else?

[HumbleJim]

You can't manage what you can't measure.

[GranderTransit]

4G63T said:

or where you looking for something else?

No, that was pretty much what I was looking for.

The reason I was asking was that I was drafting an article for my clients regarding failure.

The idea behind it was that almost everything fails. But obviously from that point we want to eventually achieve success. The route to this is trial and error. This is what experience and research is built upon. Qualifications basically just pass this experience on from one "generation" to the next.

For any of this to work, you need an idea of what point counts as success and based upon that you need a way of measuring your journey to success (which may not be a straight line)

I do this as a job so have developed my own ways of measuring for my clients but was wondering how the general populations measure their progress.

[Hoofy]

I think "you" need to work out what matters for "you". It starts off with people being honest about what they want. "I want to get fit" means so many things to so many people. To some, it may mean they want to be able to run a marathon. To others, it really means they want a "bikini body" and they really couldn't give a st about deadlifting 3x their weight or breaking the 3 hour mark for a marathon run.

Because people I know can see I've changed my physique, they ask for my opinion and advice so that's the first thing I ask: what do you really want from a transformation? (Or words to that effect.)

Personally, I want to be able to last an entire tennis game without needing to ask for a breather (obviously, when playing singles). I also want to improve my lifts. And build muscle size. Three completely separately goals which cross over to some extent. I think I look decent enough in the mirror but of course there's a lot of room for improvement.

[Fozziebear]

I generally look at distance covers and time. I also look at fluid intake and food. I like to see what my breaking point is, then train past it, which can be difficult with ultras.

[ewenm]

Race results mainly.

[amare32]

Look at the mirror.

[ambuletz]

I wonder this too, in the case of fat loss. Lifting weights causes you to retain water, so you can't really use the scales as a definative guide. The only result would be looking in the mirror.. and if you look every day, you aren't really going to notice the small changes. Only if you looked back after a 4weeks, maybe 8weeks.

[ewenm]

ambuletz said:

I wonder this too, in the case of fat loss. Lifting weights causes you to retain water, so you can't really use the scales as a definative guide. The only result would be looking in the mirror.. and if you look every day, you aren't really going to notice the small changes. Only if you looked back after a 4weeks, maybe 8weeks.

If fat loss is the aim, I'd have thought you'd measure it via body fat percentage as determined by an expert using calipers every few weeks.

[ambuletz]

ewenm said:

ambuletz said:

I wonder this too, in the case of fat loss. Lifting weights causes you to retain water, so you can't really use the scales as a definative guide. The only result would be looking in the mirror.. and if you look every day, you aren't really going to notice the small changes. Only if you looked back after a 4weeks, maybe 8weeks.

If fat loss is the aim, I'd have thought you'd measure it via body fat percentage as determined by an expert using calipers every few weeks.

Not everyone is going to have that. surely.

[ewenm]

It's easy to find and pretty cheap so no real excuse for not gathering the data to help with meaningful measures of success.

[SickFish]

Depending on my goal but the main ones are:

- BF fat % (9 point pinch test).
- Lifting stats (I usually measure bench press, squat and dead lifts)
- What I look like in the mirror
- HR when carrying out a defined CV workout (polar HR monitor).

(in no particular order).

I will also weigh myself but don't really take much notice of the number as I have a pic of me at 80 Kg 36" waist, 25%+ BF and also a picture of me at 80Kg 30" waist, single digit BF% (massive difference).

As an aside I use accumeasure BF callipers, they are cheap and effective, just make sure your pinch points are consistent.

Edited by SickFish on Friday 2nd May 10:05

[GranderTransit]

Seems to be varying degrees of tracking results. I don't think there is a right or wrong. It makes sense to do the least intrusive / time consuming measurement that allows you to track the results that interest you.

Apart from being weighed with scales. I think that is a totally pointless measurement on its own. Weight Watcher type places have ruined a generation by telling people that weight is important.

ewenm said:

If fat loss is the aim, I'd have thought you'd measure it via body fat percentage as determined by an expert using calipers every few weeks.

Out of interest, what do you pay for this? Something I can do as a stand alone offering but never found out what others are paying for it.

[SickFish]

GranderTransit said:

Out of interest, what do you pay for this? Something I can do as a stand alone offering but never found out what others are paying for it.

Personally.... I do it myself!

[Foliage]

A combination of
Weight (a good metric but cant be relied on singularly)
Body shape including flab and tonedness (is that a word?).
Strength
Stamina

[GranderTransit]

SickFish said:

Personally.... I do it myself!

Really?! What sites do you measure? I cannot see triceps, shoulder blade or pectoral being done consistently if I was doing it on myself.

I am guessing though, it does not matter if the measurements aren't exactly where the "science" says they should be. If you do it the same way for yourself each time, your results will be comparable to your results

[SickFish]

GranderTransit said:

SickFish said:

Personally.... I do it myself!

Really?! What sites do you measure? I cannot see triceps, shoulder blade or pectoral being done consistently if I was doing it on myself.

I am guessing though, it does not matter if the measurements aren't exactly where the "science" says they should be. If you do it the same way for yourself each time, your results will be comparable to your results

Yep... really.... places like my subscapular and tricep I just get the Mrs to do it.... It's really not that hard bud (after a bit of practice). I take 3 measurements at the same place and use the average.

It does help that I am quite tattooed and use them as a reference point e.g. I have a koi carp on my chest so use the tip of its tail as a reference point so I get the same place every time. But after doing it a while you just get to know where to take it from.

It isn't an exact science and just a way of gauging progress.

FWIW I use an app called "body tracker" on my phone, it's great as it plots your progress and even tells you where to take the measurements, I use the 9 point system.
But, for clients I have an excel document where I can log an 11 point pinch test and calculates the BF% as well as a myriad of other trackers I use, the 11 point system.

I use accumeasure click callipers, relatively inexpensive and quite accurate Amazon linky