How do you measure your results?

When I was done playing college hockey I was asked to take a Body Mass Index (BMI) Test, which is a test that looks at the ratio of your height to your weight. I was in near peak performance since it was the end of the season rather than the beginning but none the less I was still in arguable great shape. When they took the numbers of my height 5’10” and my weight 185lbs it came out on the scoring sheet as overweight. After I got done laughing and being a little pissed off I took the numbers with a grain of salt because at the time I was also about 8-10% body fat. I wondered how it could be. How could I be so great with one number and poor with another? How could I test through the roof with my strength and conditioning yet score poorly on this? A little type A in me.

As I pursued the field of strength and conditioning further and understood all the various methods that are used to measure progress or success I realized how flawed and poor that test is. So I wanted to find a way to prioritize my results so I knew what was most important. Below is a list of ways to measure success, you pick the one that best resonates with you.

Body fat- this is a tough one because it is a great way to see progress abut very few have the right tools to perform it. There is a lot of room for error with this test which makes it the most accurate and very flawed at the same time. Most accurate because if done properly by the right person or tool it will give you extremely accurate results. If done with poor tools and untrained people it will give you a inaccurate result.

Circumference measurements- very hard to mess this one up but the down side is you only know what you have lost or gained from a inch perspective. There is not much to compare to or know what is good or bad in some spots. There are other spots of measurement that are obvious to know what is good and what is bad, like your belly for example.

How do your clothes fit?- this is one of the simplest and easy answer responses I can get. Either they fit the same or better. There are no scientific formulas or numbers but there is certainly a clear answer.

Pictures- I know this may be frightening for some of you to think about, but this is one of the best ways to actually realize progress. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people drop weight on the scale yet never feel like they have been successful, until I show them updated pictures of themselves.

Scale- the obvious but universal measurement. The one thing I would tell people is make sure when you weight in that it is the same scale, the same day of the week and relatively the same time. So if you know you workout in the morning on Mondays then every Monday before you workout weight yourself with relatively the same clothing on.

Again, these are just tools to measure results and progress. How do you measure your results?

I have a TV problem

So my wife and I are big TV people. We are the people that have shows each night of the week that we watch and get excited when we know a show has a new episode coming up. We are also the people that literally get pissed when something happens in a show, like it is real life. Yes I know, I have a TV problem.

Last week we were watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels and they showed them on a trip to Africa visiting kids that he sponsored in school. They brought them gifts, supplies and ultimately their attention and care. They started asking the kids questions about their daily life and what it was like. The kids responded with all smiles and told them how far they have to travel to school, how little food they get and how they have to share supplies and desks. Then on top of that they gave Gene and his wife, Shannon, gifts.

We feel sorry for them. They don’t feel sorry at all for themselves, they love where they are. In fact, they smile and sing about it.

The moral is different for everyone. For me, it made me really appreciate what I had and where I was. When it comes to working out it made me think of the times I felt like I couldn’t or I wanted to quit or give up. If these kids can make the commitment to go to school and live a simple life with all smiles and joy, I can finish a set or push a extra rep out. I can eat better and appreciate the food I have since there are kids everywhere that have so little.