Knowing When to Move Forward in Your Fitness Program
Recording Your Data
When participating in a strength training program, you need to also record your data to monitor your progress. You could also purchase a simple notebook (pen and paper method) and record your results that way. Some women use computer programs such as Excel or other electronic techniques to track their assessment results.Whatever method you choose, be sure to always include the date and time of day that you are testing. Try to perform fitness tests at the same time of day each time.
This is important because your body tends to follow certain patterns with respect to fatigue, hunger, and stress levels. If you don’t leave yourself enough time to assess yourself, you may rush through the tests and not be as thorough as you could have been.Also, stress can increase your heart rate falsely. This will make a difference when you are taking the treadmill test for cardio capacity.
To prepare for fitness tests, be sure to be well hydrated and well rested and to have eaten early enough before your evaluation that digestion will not interfere with the test. Assessing yourself at the same time of day may be an easy way to remember this guideline.Also, be sure to retest every six weeks for the first six months. After you are satisfied with your results, you can move to a twice-yearly testing cycle (every six months). The initial six-week intervals provide a reasonable amount of time for your body to transform and for you to see results and determine whether you are on the right track.
Knowing When to Move Forward in Your Fitness Program
When starting a strength training program, design your workouts based on the results of your fitness assessments and the categories you fall into (e.g., excellent ,good, poor). The categories you fall into will also lead you toward the correct weight loads, exercise duration, training intensity, number of repetitions and sets, and type of cardio training. It will help you determine how long each exercise session should be and how hard you should work.the programs are set up using periodisation and how specific training variables come into play to give you a deeper understanding of the fitness journey you are about to embark on.There is actually no cut-and-dried data about when you should progress to the next weight load, cardio intensity, and so on.
It depends on how hard you have been training, where you are in the progressions, how much recovery you have been allowing yourself, and how you feel about increasing the training volume. The programs that break your training cycles down so you can easily understand what you need to do and when.
These programs are designed to gradually improve your fitness by using built-in rest periods and time gaps in which you will achieve the strength gains and cardio success necessary for moving forward.The workouts are designed this way to make your progression from beginner to intermediate to advanced easy and stress free.The discoveries made during your fitness assessments should prepare you both physically and mentally for your new strength training program.
Physically, you will be in a better position to set reasonable long- and short-term goals. Some of your test results may even motivate you by creating a desire to improve or instilling confidence knowing you are doing well in certain areas.
Fitness assessments can also help you see the value of doing a variety of exercises rather than just the ones you know; this is important because variety is key to sustaining a fitness program over the long term. Therefore, your commitment toward your new strength and fitness training will likely be one of success in terms of goal attainment.