How do you measure progress?

Blacktie.

Do you look for one thing to progress or multiple? Increasing weight on lifts, increasing reps, bodyweight on a scale, bodyfat percentage measurements, multiple skin fold measurements etc...?

And how often do you assess progress and make adjustments if something isn't working?

Irishcrx

It's all the time really. Bodyweight isn't everything it's a good indication your heading in the right direction up or down and how quickly but the real changes come with the mirror. Measuring BFP accurately and often is difficult.

It'll depend how long you have been training etc , I generally judge by my lifts on the weights and if my strength is increasing on a bulk and the scales is slowly moving the right way I'm on the right track...when cutting weight I want to be losing 1.5 pounds a week while maintaining my current lifts and judging in the mirror to where I'm at , if that's happening I'm more a less on track for losing fat and keep muscle. If your lifts drop significantly during a cut something is wrong , either your diet , training or both.

Alf Veedersane

My weight has ~ plateaued the last couple of years, which is fine by me. I don't cut or bulk. I eat well enough and my nutrition looks after itself.

So my primary indicator of progress is the weight lifted and the number of reps lifted for.

Mr. CooL ICE

Lifting numbers. I'm very close to a 2x bodyweight deadlift but my ultimate goal is a 2x bodyweight squat.

Regarding weight/looking in the mirror; I don't take too much notice. However, I have gotten compliments recently over my physique but that's probably my posture being fixed through strength work rather than muscle obtained. I also know that I am around 20kg heavier than when I ran a marathon in 2012 but that's mostly down to me eating like a horse. Need to calm down a bit there to make my bodyweight:lift ratios better

ThinkProgress

- Resting heart rate.
- BF% (if you're trying to lose anything)
- Mirror (it rarely lies)
- Energy levels throughout the day.
- How tired you feel on on rest days. (do you feel fully recovered during next w/o)
- How tired you feel in the morning/evening.
- Duration of sleep. (your sleep patterns can tell you a lot about all sorts of things)
- Mood
- Enthusiasm for next w/o
- Skin/eyes/hair
- Libido (common sense - naturally it should improve as your fitness improves)

So many things really. I'm not one for measuring small fitness gains... I prefer to take a snap shot of the bigger picture!

Hanley

It's a tricky one because all variables change semi independently.

I think if you're tracking;

wilks (PL total v bodyweight)
bodyweight / bodyfat %
some bodyweight skill (dips or pul ups)

Then you've got most bases covered.

PowerToWait

What do people think is a good number for pull ups / chins / dips?

Hanley

PowerToWait wrote: »

What do people think is a good number for pull ups / chins / dips?

More for a light guy. Less for a heavy guy.

Irishcrx

Hanley wrote: »

More for a light guy. Less for a heavy guy.

This more a less , rep until you hit failure to work out where your at. But remember it changes over time , if your cutting weight and going down 5 - 10KG in bodyweight you want to add weights on a belt to maintain your lifting strength...or do more reps.

PowerToWait

Hanley wrote: »

More for a light guy. Less for a heavy guy.

More than what? What's heavy or light?

Is it 10 reps @ 100kg? 15 @ 85?

Hanley

PowerToWait wrote: »

More than what? What's heavy or light?

Is it 10 reps @ 100kg? 15 @ 85?

I was specifically vague on purpose.

10 reps for a dude @ 100kg/10% is a lot easier than 15 reps for a dude @ 85kg/20%

Basically the lighter and leaner you are - the more reps you'll be able to do.

There's no "number".

Just get better at them than you are now. And if you can't get double figures, get there.

PowerToWait

Hanley wrote: »

I was specifically vague on purpose.


There's no "number".

You're saying there's no standard for body weight movements?

Hanley

PowerToWait wrote: »

You're saying there's no standard for body weight movements?

It depends what you mean by "standard".

The "standard" for an elite male gymnast will be different to that of a 40 year old obese woman, if any "standards" exist.

Mellor

I try to keep track of all my training. Not even sure if all the tracking is necessary, I just like to keep a eye on everything.

I keep a spreadsheet that keep a record of everything.

• Number of sessions per month this year.
• Max lifts, in terms of KG's, BW%, lift vrs lift %, etc.
• Weekly sets/reps/loads.
  I'm not following a particular program, but today I've planned out the rest of april. If I miss any thing, no big deal, I'll change that workout and the rest of the spreadsheet.
• When in a rare cardio, I'll keep pretty record of that. Total time, pace, splits etc

I only track weight coming up to competition, but outside of that I'm pretty static within a 3kg range.

PowerToWait

Hanley wrote: »

It depends what you mean by "standard".

The "standard" for an elite male gymnast will be different to that of a 40 year old obese woman, if any "standards" exist.

Not sure what all the ''inverted commas'' are about, but, by ''standard'', in the case of pull ups for example, I mean a specific number of repetitions of the movement with strict form.

This is regardless of weight, age, bodyfat or any other variable, I'm not talking about school sports day where everybody's a winner.

I'm going to hazard that an obese 40 year old is going to be quite shít at pull ups and is therefore going to be well below the accepted standard of being ''good at pull ups'', while the elite gymnast is going to be well above ''standard'' and therefore ''excellent at pull ups''.

I asked what people thought was a good number for PU, chin and dip. I think Transform talked about what weight plus BW he thought was good in a dip thread, can't find it.


When I can do 25 pull ups I'll consider that pretty good, by any standard. Excellent I'd say would be 50 plus.

Alf Veedersane

PowerToWait wrote: »

When I can do 25 pull ups I'll consider that pretty good, by any standard. Excellent I'd say would be 50 plus.

Then does a standard matter? You're going to keep progressing.

The post about dips was about added weight, not the number of strict pull-ups someone of a given weight should be able to do.

NiallBoo

Pick one specific goal at a time and focus on that.

The way to measure progress to that goal should then become obvious.

Hanley

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Then does a standard matter? You're going to keep progressing.

The post about dips was about added weight, not the number of strict pull-ups someone of a given weight should be able to do.

This.

25 strict dead hang neck to bar pull ups is the equivalent of a 2.5-3x bodyweight IMO.

Mellor

PowerToWait wrote: »

I asked what people thought was a good number for PU, chin and dip. I think Transform talked about what weight plus BW he thought was good in a dip thread, can't find it.

From memory, the guide he gave wasn't a single standard. The weight was different based on bodyweight. The weight added for somebody 75kg was less than somebody 90kg. The same would apply to pull-ups.

To pull out a number for you, Dan John Cites 15 pull-ups as a game changer. Bare in mind his perception is probably skewed more towards larger athletes.

And a final caveat, pull up number will be effected by how your form is. Deadhang, chest to bar, dead straight, or a little movement etc

PowerToWait

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Then does a standard matter? You're going to keep progressing.

The post about dips was about added weight, not the number of strict pull-ups someone of a given weight should be able to do.

It doesn't matter in the slightest. From what I see in my gym only about 10% of people regularly do pull ups, prob not even that.

I was wondering what people thought was all. I'm 82kg, fairly lean with a max of 13, a long way off my goal. But still way ahead of most of who I see. So by my personal standard I'm already very average.

ETA; to re-rail the thread these movements are how I measure progress to a large degree. Either reps or weight added.

Cake Man

Lads, would DOMS be a measure of progress (in a way)? What I mean is, from doing about 4 sessions a week I usually always have DOMS.
The two days after leg day, I'll always have sore legs. The two days after back (deadlifts), I'll always feel it in my lower back, glutes and shoulders.


Surely it would show that the body is being consistently pushed and it's not the case that your body is too used to doing the same movements at the same weight/resistance level. Or am I the only one that gets this?

Mellor

Cake Man wrote: »

Lads, would DOMS be a measure of progress (in a way)? What I mean is, from doing about 4 sessions a week I usually always have DOMS.
The two days after leg day, I'll always have sore legs. The two days after back (deadlifts), I'll always feel it in my lower back, glutes and shoulders.


Surely it would show that the body is being consistently pushed and it's not the case that your body is too used to doing the same movements at the same weight/resistance level. Or am I the only one that gets this?

No, Doms is only a sign that you have Doms.
If you were overtraining/underrecovering, and lifts were regressing. You could still have Doms, pretty likely I'd say.