Six Better Ways to Measure Your Fitness Results

When you’re measuring results from an exercise program, why choose the most depressing and belittling way? It’s like asking someone if they liked your poached salmon when you know they hate fish.

That’s what it’s like using the scale. It’s disillusioning, traumatic, and not even an accurate measure of health.

Here are 6 better ways to measure your results.

The first is Strength. What helps you get up when you fall? What helps you not get injured when you fall? What helps you bring in four bags of groceries at once? What helps you kick osteoporosis’s butt?

Strength is the answer to these questions and plenty more. 

The second is Speed. Are you taking less time to do the same workout? That means your cardio is improving. You don’t want to go so fast that your form gets sloppy, but a little effort can go a long way. You can also time your walks and try to improve by a few seconds or a minute each week or so.

The third is Consistency. Hear this - The most important goal during the first two months of starting to exercise is showing up. 

Yes, you heard that right. Showing up is more important than anything. If you’re pursuing fitness to improve your health, developing that habit is crucial. Let me put this another way: Ten average workouts beat two fantastic workouts every single time. 

The fourth is Less Pain. The connection between posture, movement, and pain is wildly misunderstood. People are surprised to find that back and knee pain usually doesn’t have much to do with their backs and knees. We see less pain with better movement all the time in our gym.

The fifth is Fun. Are you having fun? Yeah, I know exercise isn’t necessarily everyone’s idea of a good time. That being said, we know the benefits so why not find something you actually enjoy…at least a little. Besides, you’ll find it more fun once you start to feel healthier.

The sixth and last is “Are you getting what you thought weight loss would get you?” Nearly everyone says they want to “lose weight” when asked what they want out of an exercise program. 

But it gets real when they say why. They say things like, “I need to get off this medication,” “I don’t want to end up like my dad who has diabetes,” “I want to feel more confident,” and “I want more energy to play with my grandkids.”

The list goes on and on and after having these conversations for years, I’ve found that people who know why they want to lose weight reach their goals faster and more consistently, even if they don’t lose a pound. That part is important because weight loss itself is rarely required to reach a health goal. 

I hope these things will give you some new, empowering, and exciting ideas. Results come in all shapes and sizes—just like people.