Are you frustrated by a lack of progress?  Do you feel like your fitness goals have reached a standstill?  Does everyone else around you seem to be making progress, almost seemingly without effort?  Then you’ll want to read today’s guest post by Ren Jones, a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certified Personal Trainer, and Precision Nutrition Certified Fitness Nutritionist based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Mr. Jones holds an additional certification specific to online personal training, available through the Personal Trainer Development Center (PTDC).

I get quite a few emails, posts, and messages to my Facebook page from people who are concerned about their progress, or lack of progress.

Frustrated that things don’t seem to be happening, at their wit’s end because they’ve been working hard (in some cases a little too hard) or ready to quit because nothing is changing. A lot of times after some analysis, we can figure out the adjustments that need to be made to their plan. Occasionally it’s a nutrition issue, sometimes it’s an issue of proper programming or even just a lack of effort.

About 20% of the time, however, it’s purely a mental challenge with recognizing progress.

As a point of my own philosophy, I don’t weigh my clients that often because focusing on that three-digit number is such a HUGE distraction along the journey. Besides, weight can fluctuate so much when training for so many different reasons; I don’t want them on that up and down roller coaster. Instead of weight, we focus on inches as a simple means of checking in. I also ask them to take photos to compare month to month. Even still, sometimes it only substitutes one obsession (weight) with another (inches lost) and the disappointment mounts because the inches aren’t moving at all, or aren’t moving fast enough, and this has to mean that “I’m not making any progress”.

It seems like as a fitness community we sometimes get overly concerned with our weekly or monthly expectations. We think that if I do “X” a certain amount of times, then “Y” should happen at exactly the moment we want it to. Even though NO OTHER process in our lives works that way.

It’s very similar to a medical student saying “I’ve done my homework for an entire month, and I’m still not a doctor”. LOL. I mean, can you imagine?

Now, I’m not a doctor, but I’m sure that you get to be one by learning a little bit at a time over the course of YEARS. Can you see a med student coming to their professors on a weekly or monthly basis and telling them they don’t feel like they are making any progress because they don’t feel like a doctor yet? The professor is likely to say, “Well, you’ve completed all your assignments, your grades are excellent, trust the material, trust your instructors, and you’ll find that you’re prepared when the time comes”. Right?

It might be the loss of weight. It could be the loss of inches. But you know what else it could be?

So how do you REALLY measure progress? It might be measured by weight loss.  It could be measured by a loss of inches, but more importantly, when you’re frustrated by a lack of progress you have to appreciate that there might be things you haven’t considered.

• That you lifted more weight this time than last
• That you’re more flexible
• That you feel like a BADASS!
• That instead of using food to combat work-related stress, you lift weights
• That you’ve increased bone density and you have a lower risk of Osteoporosis
• That you’ve significantly reduced your risk of having a heart attack like one of your family member’s did–at your age!
• That you have better balance
• That your favorite item of clothing FITS better
• That your spouse said, “Let’s do something active as a family!”
• That your spouse buys healthier cereal because ‘you’ inspired them
• That you’ve been consistent with a decision for the first time in your life
• That you’re better at your job than you ever have been
• That you catch your four-year-old doing push-ups in her room and when you ask her what she’s doing she says, “Getting strong like Mommy”

Yeah…that…

Are you seriously going to say that’s not progress?

When he’s not tearing it up in the gym or helping others break through their limitations, Mr. Jones can usually be found enjoying the beautiful southern city in which he resides, sharing his passion for music and demonstrating his flair for fashion. Mr. Jone’s philosophy includes a holistic approach to fitness and nutrition and is based on the belief that “living a healthy lifestyle starts with a fit, healthy, mindset.” He’s been known to enjoy a cool treat on a hot southern day.