Measure Your Gains

One thing that many people fail at when training is understanding the changes to their body. You find that many people monitor their diet yet dont get the gains they wish for as they are wary of standing on the scales and seeing their weight go up so eat less.

You have to think that when someone sees a weight gain they think that it means they have put on fat, the truth is that this could be muscle.

To measure your gains the last thing you need to do is stand on the scales! There are two ways to measure your gains, the first is to watch your strength increase as you start lifting heavier weights and the second is to measure yourself.

Measure your gains with a tape?

Yes, the best way to see your gains is to measure your body on a monthly basis, below is a guide to checking the measurements for different parts of your body.

Biceps - Measure from your shoulder to your elbow, at exactly the halfway point (example if the length from your shoulder to your elbow is 30 centimetres then this is at the 15 centimetres mark). At the halfway point measure the circumference of your arm.

Chest - Measure around your chest just under your nipples.

Waist - Measure around your waist (just above your belly button).

Leg - Measure from your hip to your knee and then measure the circumference at the halfway point.

What you should see, if your making the correct progress, is that all parts of your body get bigger while your waist reduces in size. This will not happen overnight but by measuring your gains every month over a 12 week period you should see a huge difference in your body.

I check on my size on a monthly basis and use it as a guide to understanding what my body is doing.