nutrition and performance book

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14. Measuring your progress Why should I record progress? Measuring your progress can be done in many ways but essentially, it’s going to be the best way to make sure you stay on track. Below we will discuss ways in which you can measure your: Fitness Body composition Lifestyle habits, goals and achievements Measuring your fitness When we train in weightlifting we will generally want to make strength gains and muscle gains. Whether it be to lean out or get bigger. Although most people want to get bigger stronger and leaner. One way of tracking this is to record our gym sessions and track our improvements week by week. Simply write down or use an appropriate app. To record your results for every training session. What we want to see over time is the weight you lift going up whilst working through different rep ranges. For example; If we were to train hypertrophy for a 4-week period, we will be using the rep range of 8-12 reps per set. So, take the bench press for example. If you can bench press 60kg for a full 12 reps, then that’s the body telling you that you can increase the weight. If you had 4 sets of 8-12 reps and you managed 12 reps for all 4 sets then increase the weight on the bar. However, you do not need to increase it by a huge amount. Small amounts are generally better, as it gives the body time to get used to the new weight and avoid an injury. So, once you manage the full rep range for all the sets simply increase the weight and you will probably find that you will get less reps in the following sets. This is great and your new goal. To once again perform the full rep range for sets. Then repeat. Similarly, if you don’t manage to hit the lower rep range, so 8, then you are using a weight to heavy. So, decrease the weight. This is the same principle for any time of training. If your coach asks you to use rep ranges of 4 – 6 then use the same method here to and so on. This process is called progressive overload. A method that overloads the muscles over time. Progressively adding weight to make the muscles stronger and larger. By recording your progress, you will be able to push through plateaus and observe your progress over the years. so, progressive overload can be measure by: Adding weight to your lifts over time Adding more reps to each set Training till failure is also a good indication that you are training to your full capability. This means when you work through a set you push through the reps until you can’t do any more reps, or to the point the last rep feels like it’s almost impossible. However, you must still stick to the rep range allocated to the training plan. I must say though in some cases pushing through the limits of the body is where the reps can really make a change to muscle growth. Hitting failure. The same goes for any kind of sport your trying to progress in. swimming, cycling, football, rugby etc. if you want to keep making progress then write down what you did the previous session and try to progress the next time you train. 38
Don’t stress however if one week your unable to make progress. It’s highly unlikely you will never get a week where you feel weaker and fatigue quicker. At this point evaluate whether it may be down to adequate rest, nutrition or over training. Perhaps you didn’t eat enough before your session or maybe your body needs some rest. In most cases just listen to your body and do what’s needed to help progression. Measuring body composition There are many ways to measure the body’s composition but if you mix up the three I’m about to list then you will be able to track things easily and effectively. Photos and the mirror Scales Callipers Photos and the mirror In my opinion the best way to see results is to take photos and look in the mirror. The mirror doesn’t lie! There will be cases where fat loss occurs whilst experiencing muscle growth. Therefore, you may not see specific changes on the scales. A simply change in body composition is what’s occurring. This happens quite often in people who have just taken up training, or teenagers etc. To be fair the more experienced lifters usually go for bulk and cut style training cycles as loosing fat and gaining muscle can be a long and drawn out process. Most people want quick results. However, you can “lean Bulk” by following a healthy diet and monitoring fat levels, making sure you don’t increase bodyfat to much. Taking pictures and looking in the mirror will allow you to take notice of your body and imagine how you would like yourself to look. Then comparing the pictures over time. Small changes are hard to notice. This can be frustrating. So, if you have taken pictures which you can compare six months down the line, you may be shocked by the progress. Scales A lot of people are either terrified of the scales or they are obsessed with the numbers on it. However, you can use them systematically without being dependant. It’s not unusual to have your weight fluctuate up and down over the weeks. Things like water retention and sodium levels can spike the scales a pound here and a pound there. If your stressed and tired then your body may respond by bloating etc. so the best way to measure your weight, and this works for gaining and losing weight, is to weigh yourself each morning and write down the result. Do this for 1 week and add up the total and divide it by seven. Then the next week do the same again. What you do next is take the two results and compare the difference by subtracting the first week from the second. Hey presto that’s your weight loss approximate. Do this each week till your cutting or bulking phase is finished. You can also track your weight using my fitness pal. It will give you a chart showing the steady increase or decrease of weight for up to one year. It’s a great tool. Like I said your weight will fluctuate but if your sticking to your diet and training frequently then the general trend will be up or down. 39
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Page 3 and 4: Nutrition and performance guidance
Page 5 and 6: 16. How the muscle grows How to st
Page 7 and 8: Much of this will boil down to will
Page 9 and 10: elax, de-stress and get adequate sl
Page 11 and 12: A calorie is not just a calorie. Th
Page 13 and 14: Why are macros so important? If you
Page 15 and 16: 4. Calorie counting, calorie intake
Page 17 and 18: Use of a BMR calculator and the fol
Page 19 and 20: 5. Reverse dieting What is reverse
Page 21 and 22: Below I have bullet pointed how you
Page 23 and 24: 6. Be aware of restricted dieting G
Page 25 and 26: 8. Choosing your macros based on yo
Page 27 and 28: Overtraining Below I’ve listed so
Page 29 and 30: The mind - Alcohol can have negativ
Page 31 and 32: 12. Understanding energy balance Wh
Page 33 and 34: Whey protein - This is great if you
Page 35 and 36: Cyclic Dextrin - This is pure carbo
Page 37: Here are a few supplements that I f
Page 41 and 42: 15. Form and the mind muscle connec
Page 43 and 44: THE BARBELL BENCH PRESS Despite bei
Page 45 and 46: THE DEADLIFT The deadlift is the
Page 47 and 48: The mind muscle connection *“As y
Page 49 and 50: So, if you want to gain muscle simp
Page 51 and 52: Gut health is determined by the lev
Page 53 and 54: and eating a healthy diet will also
Page 55 and 56: We must keep out leptin levels in c
Page 57 and 58: 20. Final thoughts So, you have com

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