Training - How to measure your progress

Should you weigh yourself every day? Pay attention to your Body Fat Index (BMI)? Our #TeamStimium experts have tried to find the best way to measure your progress and your Fitness level.

• Fat Mass Index

GMI or Body Fat Index is a measurement used to determine whether someone is underweight, healthy, overweight or obese , by considering the individual's height and weight. You can calculate your IMG here .

While it may seem like a simple and convenient tool to analyze a person's fitness level, especially when supervised by a doctor, many criticize that the IMG has its limitations in not taking take into account gender, age and athletic qualities (for equal volume, muscle weighs more than fat).

It is important to know your GMI but it is only one aspect of a person's health conditions.

How can you track your progress in addition to your IMG to have a more global idea of ​​your level? We will give you some ideas below to apply as you wish.

• The visual

An easy technique to implement is to take a photo of yourself in your underwear in the morning on an empty stomach once a month. This will allow you to visually see the progress and even if from one photo to another the difference may not seem obvious, after a few months your photo will be very different from your very first .

• Mobility

Fitness also allows you to improve your mobility and control your body. The caterpillar exercise is an excellent warm-up exercise but also a tool for analyzing a person's level of mobility. The abs, shoulders, hamstrings, and hips are all incorporated into this movement.

When you perform this movement, remember to check the following points:

• Do my hips go down when I go into plank?
• Can I hold the plank without relaxing my shoulders?
• How far can I bring my feet towards my hands without bending my legs?

If these points are not mastered, you will have good feedback on your general mobility skills and you will know the points that you will have to work on.

• Strength/endurance

Some applications allow you to perform quick physical tests. We have chosen the Nike+ Training Club which has two 6-minute programs: “ Lean Fit Benchmark” and “ Start Up Benchmark” which will make you perform different movements and which will give you an idea of ​​your abilities . These mini-workouts can be done every 3 weeks to measure your progress, whether you are a beginner or already practicing.

Whatever your physical activity and your goals, it is important to have a solid aerobic base. Bodybuilding training requires excellent exercise skills in order to have a healthy heart that can pump and deliver blood to your muscles efficiently. In addition, being in good aerobic condition helps protect your cardiovascular system and helps reduce stress and anxiety.

An 800 meter test is a good tool to measure this. This distance will push you to your limits whatever your fitness level without preventing you from reaching the end for those who do not consider themselves “runners”.

Depending on your level of course, we will consider a good basis for achieving this distance of 4 minutes for men and 4 minutes 30 seconds for women.

• Recovery heart rate

This is your heart's ability to return to your resting heart rate after exercise. You can take this measurement directly after the 800m test. To do this, measure your heart rate for 15'' directly after exercise and multiply the figure by 4 to have a base of 1'. Repeat the measurement 1 minute later. If you have not recovered to at least 12 beats per minute you still have work to do. The heart rate should decrease by about 20 beats per minute until it returns to your resting heart rate.

• Resting heart rate

A low resting heart rate is often associated with athletes who have less need to pump their hearts frequently because their pump volume is greater to deliver oxygen to the muscles. A resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute can be considered a sign of good health.

There are a multitude of ways to calculate your progress based on the objectives you have set (some are very simple, such as a 3kg loss objective...the famous test of the pants we wore as teenagers). and that we still dream of putting off one day for example!).

For endurance goals, it is quite easy to measure your gain in time or distance.

The same goes for crossfit/bodybuilding objectives, for example by calculating the total weight lifted over a period of x minutes.

Whatever your progress, Stimium products will obviously continue to support you!

But the best progress will be that which we feel within ourselves, the satisfaction which we will have after a good training, after a compliment received...