New Year, New You? How to track, and stay on track, with your new year resolutions…

When it comes to training, seeing physical changes in your body is the greatest motivator to keep going; however, we can often be our own worst critic, so here are some tips for monitoring your progress.

Don’t rely purely on the scales! The scales are a brilliant tracking tool, but they don’t tell the full story and progress will never be linear, so it’s easy to get down about things. Instead, opt for body composition testing; most gyms offer this service, or a lot of fancier home scales can also now measure muscle mass and body fat. We recommend testing at least 4 weeks apart, as progress takes time and numbers will fluctuate on a daily and weekly basis.

Find a pair of trousers or a top that you know used to fit better or you want to fit better and see how they feel. This is a great method as it side steps the fact that muscle weighs more than fat and purely focuses on size and shape, which in most cases is the real goal!

Record your weights lifted and achievements made at the gym! Strength and fitness progression is far quicker than fat loss and muscle growth, so is a nice early indicator that things are heading in the right direction. The early days and weeks of training have the highest drop off due to lack of motivation so this early indicator should give you the drive to stick at it!

Remember, joining a gym and making a commitment to improve is incredibly difficult for most people, so when you’re lacking motivation you’re not on your own! But, monitoring and seeing progress, in all its forms, can make you one of the success stories and lead to that new, fitter and healthier you!