Here are 3 Ways Progress Tracking Can Help You Reach Your Fitness Goals in 2023

When 2023 rolled in, did you promise yourself you would set new goals for the year? Were your health and fitness a part of those goals? Well, January is almost over and if you haven’t set health and fitness goals, it isn’t too late! Setting goals is easy enough. You might want to lose weight, gain muscle, and reach personal records for a run or a lift. You can set all the goals you want, but how you achieve them might just be the most important part. So let's talk about tracking your progress toward those goals.

If you're trying to improve your fitness and reach your goals, tracking your progress is crucial. It not only helps you see how far you've come, but it also helps you identify areas where you might need to make adjustments to your workouts or nutrition.

Here are a few reasons why tracking your progress is so important:

1. Motivation: Seeing the progress you've made can be a huge source of motivation. It's easy to get discouraged when you don't see immediate results, but tracking your progress helps you see the bigger picture and all the progress you've made along the way.

2. What works?: By tracking your progress, you can see what workouts and nutrition strategies are working for you and which ones might not be as effective. This can help you make adjustments and optimize your workouts for better results.

3. SMART Goals: Tracking your progress can help you set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals as well as create a way to visualize your progress toward your goals. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve your athletic performance, tracking your progress can help you stay on focused and reach your goals.

So, how can you track your progress in the gym? Here are a few ideas:

• Keep a workout journal: Write down your workouts, the weights you lift, and the number of reps and sets you complete. This can help you see how you're improving over time and identify areas where you might need to make adjustments. There are several methodologies that you can use to make progress, such as progressive overload. Stay tuned for my next blog post on progressive overload!

• Take progress photos: Take photos of yourself every few weeks or months to see how your body is changing. Be sure to take the photos in the same lighting and at the same angle to get an accurate comparison. You might be tempted to take photos every day, but if you see your own body every day, it might be harder to see the little changes. Taking photos every few weeks or months allows the little changes to compile and result in bigger, more impressive results that you’ll be able to see!

• Use a fitness tracker: Fitness trackers can help you track your workouts, as well as your sleep, nutrition, and other activities. Some even have built-in heart rate monitors to help you track your intensity level during workouts.

Whether you set goals at the beginning of the year or are just starting, know that it’s never too late to start making healthy fitness and nutrition goals. Tracking your progress can be a powerful tool to help you reach your goals and it'll be worth it when you see all the progress you've made!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you found this post helpful!

Until next time! Salamat and si yu’us ma’ase!