It's easy to forget where you started with your physical health. As you progress on your exercise regimen it's inspiring to track your progress to see how far you've come and to modify your goals to best propel you toward your long-term goals. Let's look at various ways to evaluate your progress:
Keep an Exercise Journal
Keeping a record of what exercises you're doing and how often you are doing them will help keep you motivated as well as give you something to look back on to see how far you've come! It's important to note the date and time of each workout so that you can keep track of how often they are performed.
Do Benchmark Tests
This is a great way to see if you're improving over time or not. You can choose any type of benchmark test that suits your needs (i.e., pushups, pull-ups, how much time you spend walking). The key here is that it needs to be challenging but not impossible for you right now. When you start to improve later down the line you will easily be able to see how far you have come! Remember to check in with yourself every 4 to 6 weeks. This will help keep you on track.
Use Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers are great for tracking how many steps you take throughout the day. Fitness trackers also allow you to track your exercises which helps keep track of your overall activity levels. The added benefit of not having to manually write it down yourself every time can be very helpful in keeping your documentation consistent.
There are several wearable fitness tools such as FitBit, Garmin, and Apple watches. Many fitness trackers have the added bonus of tracking food intake! If you don't have a wearable device, you can try the app Google Fit which has collaborated with the American Heart Association to develop “Heart Points."
Create Milestone Goals
Think of milestone goals as a rung on a ladder, you must start from the bottom and climb one rung at a time. This is achieved by setting small milestones that are just in your grasp so that you can continue to build towards your long-term goals. This could be walking one mile consistently, before reaching your long-term goal of completing a 5K.
A regular exercise routine is like a puzzle, and you need to work at it until you get the results you want. Measuring these results and tracking what you do will help you attain your fitness goals.