How Is Your Fitness Going?

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

05 May 2008 08:24 AM

How do you measure how your fitness is going? Do you measure it in how you feel personally? Do you measure it in inches lost? What about pounds? Do you measure it in performance? These are all valid ways to measure your fitness, but you shouldn't just use one of these to measure how you are doing. Consider for a moment, how do you measure how your job is going?

A Measure By Any Other Name

When I look at my job or my career, there's any number of questions that I ask myself in order to measure how it is going. Among those questions I ask (and in no particular order) are:

• How much does it pay?
• What are the hours like?
• Do I enjoy my co-workers?
• What do I think about my employer?
• Does it interfere with my family life?
• Am I happy?

The last question is critical and it's key to any self-assessment we take with regard to our personal choices whether they are work-related, fitness-related or family related. Happiness is a very subjective measurement. You can be happy with one aspect of something and not happy with another. For example, you could be happy with your fitness performance, but not happy with your fitness results.

Keeping Track

A fitness journal is one way you can measure your fitness performance from day to day as well as your personal satisfaction with your fitness choices. For example, many years ago, I took up running. I ran every morning from about 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. It was a way to get out of the house, clear my head and get my blood pumping. I kept track of my progress, including how far I was running and how I felt before and after the runs - it was part of a therapy I was undergoing at the time.

The problem I discovered wasn't that I didn't enjoy the results, the problem was that I hated running. I liked how I felt after and I liked the results that I got, but I hated the act of running itself. Needless to say, that played a huge part in me giving up running. So let me ask you again, how is your fitness going?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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