You may have heard the famous quote “What gets measured gets managed” (Peter Drucker). This is especially true when it comes to health and fitness, but there is a caveat. When measuring becomes a stress and begins skewing what is being measured, or worse, begins taking the enjoyment out of the process it is time to rethink our perspective.
The most obvious example of this is stepping on the scale to track body weight. In itself, this is not a bad tool to use when it is taken in to context and understood as such. However, the issue arises when we begin using it as our sole means of assessing progress and start creating an emotional attachment to the numbers.
There is much more at influences our weight than just fat loss or muscle gain. That erroneous association is what turns the scale into an emotional rollercoaster or source of stress for many people. Other factors that can influence body weight include how hydrated you are, bowel volume, muscle glycogen, and inflammation. All of these can create daily fluctuations up to several pounds! None of which are a measure of how much muscle you’re gaining or how much fat you’re burning off.
It is not uncommon to have a client drop several pounds in a few days as inflammation drops or when depleting glycogen. Conversely, getting them to gain several pounds in a week simply by replenishing glycogen is not a rare occurrence either.
A better way of viewing weight scale measurements is to look for trends, rather than a daily change, as an indicator of progress. One method is to look at the weekly average. Another is to track it in tandem with your nutrition. For example, only weighing yourself after days off when inflammation should be lowest, or the mornings after you have a high carb/calorie day when muscle glycogen should be at its fullest. As mentioned earlier, the measurements must be put in context which is why if you are meticulously tracking weight, you should also be tracking influential details such as your training split, daily nutrition, stress levels (mental as well as physical), and even digestion. All of these can have a significant effect on fluctuations in weight.
The most important point to understand is that tracking your scale weight should NOT be something that stresses you. If it is, perhaps take a break from it for a while or only measure once per week (after a rest day is recommended). A consideration that most people forget is that mental stress increases cortisol and can influence inflammation, thus further affecting your body weight. It becomes a vicious (and unnecessary) cycle.
Be objective when you are tracking anything, especially body weight. Don’t obsess over them. They’re just tools that can be used to assess progress and evaluate your current plan’s effectiveness. Make sure you understand the context in which your measurements are being taken before letting them influence any decisions.
Avoid skipping straight from measure to manage. Instead, learn to measure, interpret, assess, and then manage.
You may have heard the famous quote “What gets measured gets managed” (Peter Drucker). This is especially true when it comes to health and fitness, but there is a caveat. When measuring becomes a stress and begins skewing what is being measured, or worse, begins taking the enjoyment out of the process it is time to rethink our perspective. The most obvious example of this is stepping on the scale to track body weight. In itself, this is not a bad tool to use when it is taken in to context and understood as such. However, the issue arises when we begin using it as our sole means of assessing progress and start creating an emotional attachment to the numbers.
There is much more at influences our weight than just fat loss or muscle gain. That erroneous association is what turns the scale into an emotional rollercoaster or source of stress for many people. Other factors that can influence body weight include how hydrated you are, bowel volume, muscle glycogen, and inflammation. All of these can create daily fluctuations up to several pounds! None of which are a measure of how much muscle you’re gaining or how much fat you’re burning off. It is not uncommon to have a client drop several pounds in a few days as inflammation drops or when depleting glycogen. Conversely, getting them to gain several pounds in a week simply by replenishing glycogen is not a rare occurrence either.
A better way of viewing scale measurements is to look for trends, rather than a daily change, as an indicator of progress. One method is to look at the weekly average. Another is to track it in tandem with your nutrition. For example, only weighing yourself after days off when inflammation should be lowest, or the mornings after you have a high carb/calorie day when muscle glycogen should be at its fullest.
As mentioned earlier, the measurements must be put in context which is why if you are meticulously tracking weight, you should also be tracking influential details such as your training split, daily nutrition, stress levels (mental as well as physical), and even digestion. All of these can have a significant effect on fluctuations in weight.
The most important point to understand is that tracking your scale weight should NOT be something that stresses you. If it is, perhaps take a break from it for a while or only measure once per week (after a rest day is recommended). A consideration that most people forget is that mental stress increases cortisol and can influence inflammation, thus further affecting your body weight. It becomes a vicious (and unnecessary) cycle.
Be objective when you are tracking anything, especially body weight. Don’t obsess over them. They’re just tools that can be used to assess progress and evaluate your current plan’s effectiveness. Make sure you understand the context in which your measurements are being taken before letting them influence any decisions. Avoid skipping straight from measure to manage. Instead, learn to measure, interpret, assess, and then manage.
Please log in to access the menu.
Rapidly customize your workout to your needs.
Drag & Drop from the right to re-order exercise groups.
Drag & Drop from the left to quickly create and update super sets.
Use the checkboxes to select exercises to combine into super sets or split up into straight sets.
Substitute or Add new exercises
Edit any exercise variables.
Use advanced set methods (like integrated partials)
Apply extended set techniques (rest-pause, drop sets, cluster sets, etc.)
After taking our training analysis quiz, you’ll have a long-term plan constructed for you. Your plan will consist of several Phases. Each Phase will present you with a few suggested programs to pick from. Each time you complete a program, you’ll move on to the next Phase and a new set of programs to select from.
This allows flexibility in the split and type of program you can choose, while we strategically periodize the stimulus you’re getting to keep making consistent progress without neglecting any weak links.
For example, a long-term plan with the goal of muscle gain will still occasionally include systemic conditioning or dedicated local metabolic work to keep your recovery capacity high (so you can grow and perform better during your hypertrophy-focused programs).