Achieving Bodybuilding Results - Tracking Your Bodybuilding Progress

If you are severely overweight, go ahead and track where you are at with the scale at first. You are going to drop weight at a much faster rate than someone who is just trying to change their body composition and not using the scale. Keep in mind that eventually you should throw the scale out the window as well. I only recommend the scale for beginners, and on occasion, to all others. Now if you are already a regular at the gym with a solid base to work with, here are some ideas to evaluate how far you have come and how far you still have to go:

1. Track your progress with the mirror; if you like what you are seeing, then continue what you are doing and don’t even bother with how much you weigh.
   
   
2. Go by how your clothes fit; if your clothes are becoming more comfortable and looser, then obviously you are doing something right. Continue on!
   
   
3. Take measurements with a tape measure. As I previously mentioned, muscle is much more dense than fat. Therefore, although you might actually be heavier, taking measurements will show your shrinking size which in return means that you are losing body fat.
   
   
4. Take body fat measurements. Since the most accurate forms of recording your body fat are not easily accessible and they are quite pricey, you can use simple gadgets such as the bioelectrical impedance machine (handheld machine often seen in commercial gyms) or basic skinfold calipers. While these aren’t the most scientific forms to measure, they are an easy way to gauge if you are going up or down in body fat.
   
   
5. It can even be as simple as just measuring your progress by how you feel. If you feel good, regardless of how you look, then you are already well on your way. The whole idea behind this lifestyle is gaining good health and confidence so you don’t even always need to go just by the aesthetic look.
   
   

Conclusion

With all of these suggestions to help you gauge your bodybuilding progress, you are already heading in the right direction with a good mindset. Don’t ever let the scale get you down. The body is a very smart machine and can make some pretty strange changes within the matter of days and hours. Most people fluctuate a few pounds from morning to night even. A simple glass of water can make you gain a pound so why cause yourself stress and worry about the numbers on the scale day in and day out. In all honesty nobody can really tell if you weigh 200 pounds or 205 pounds. Keep lifting hard and treating yourself right both mentally and physically and you are already a winner. It took time to put fat on therefore it will take time to remove it; life is too short to worry about a pound here and a pound there so don’t stress, stay disciplined and the results will come!

About The Author

Heather Wojdyla is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer with a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science/Adult Fitness from the University of Tampa. She has numerous years of training experience and has competed successfully as a natural competitor in various Figure competitions at the State and National level. Heather is currently working on her first women's fitness book.