Are you falling short of your fitness goals? Or have you just started your fitness journey? Tracking your progress and personal development can be indispensable. If you keep track of your progress, you’re more likely to hit your targets. Plus having measurable goals also helps boost motivation - because you can actually identify the progress – and it can even inspire others to join you on your fitness journey.
So how can you measure your personal development on your fitness journey? Let’s take a look.
How Can I Take Charge of My Fitness Journey?
Once you’ve decided to measure your personal development throughout your fitness journey, then the question is how best to do it? The first step is to set fitness goals and objectives. It’s good to be clear and specific about what you want to achieve; for instance your primary fitness purpose may well be about reducing weight. If so, determine your healthy, ideal body weight goal, and record what you weigh currently. Then set a timeframe for reaching your target weight. Once you’ve begun your fitness journey; implement a regular measurement routine, for instance checking your weight every week and recording the results.
NB there are plenty of guidelines online to help you determine a realistic and healthy weight-loss goal for your fitness journey, and we’d also recommend you seek professional advice.
Similarly if your goal is to run a marathon, be specific about which marathon (this of course means you first need to figure out the length of time needed to build up your current fitness level to marathon fitness level). Once you’ve decided on the right marathon, you’ve got your timeframe locked in; then you can break down your fitness progress into measurable results – for instance by week 10 you want to be running XX km in less than XX minutes.
Again it’s worthwhile to seek professional advice about what is a realistic timeframe for you to reach marathon fitness. This timeframe will be heavily influenced by factors like your current fitness level, your age, your injury history and the amount of time you have to commit each week to your fitness journey. The good news is that if you’re coming from a very low fitness level you’ll notice really significant results in the first three months, compared with people who are already relatively fit!
What if I Lose Motivation?
Loss of motivation happens to the best of us! When you fall short of your fitness goals, it can be disappointing and hard to keep going with your fitness journey. However, that’s partly why measuring your progress is so important! It enables you to recognise improvements in your performance week by week thus keeping your motivation strong. Even though the overall goal may be far away, keep focusing on the smaller goals you’ve set for yourself each week. Don’t despair either, if in week 12 for instance, you run a slower time than week 11, just keep your eye on the long-term ball and you will see your results improve over time.
Final Thoughts!
It’s a good idea to write down your fitness journey goals, and track down your progress in a diary. Then we recommend having a monthly review of your progress so you can actually identify and recognise improvements. Celebrate your improvements too, whether that means treating yourself to a relaxing massage or inviting a couple of friends around for a little party. Recognising these smaller achievements also helps keep you motivated.
Want professional, science-based cutting-edge help on your fitness journey? Contact AIMEDICAL today.