The power of assessments

Recently I have been doing alot of reassesments on clients on how they are doing in terms of weight management and body fat percentage. It seems at the end of summer clients lose motivation and tend to slide a little on their eating and exercise because of trips up north and trying to enjoy those last sunny days.

Heck, I'm even guilty of it as a trainer. That is why it is important to do regular reassesments to make sure you don't backslide too far or if you are sticking to your plan to make sure it is working. The numbers don't lie!!

I remember one time my scale weight was down so I thought wow my body fat percentage will be lower when I test it. Well, I tested it and guess what it was up 3% from the last time even though my weight was down. How was that possible? I'll tell you how, I had been half assing my strength training workouts and my lean mass had dropped which gave me a higher ratio of bodyfat to lean mass.

This was a wake up call for me. It made me step up my workouts again to increase my lean mass and strengthen my nutrition.

I can't tell you how many times we have prevented a total backslide by doing a reassessment of measurements and bodyfat with a client who has been slacking on their workouts and eating plan. It literally renews a sense of urgency in them. I prefer to do this before they backslide too much so they can recover fairly quickly.

Many of us don't want to know the truth but seeing the numbers really hits us emotionally and will spur us into action if we have been sliding. If we have been working hard it reinforces ourt hard work and motivates us to keep going. In the case we have been working hard and we don't see the numbers move like they should it allows us to troubleshoot so we are not wasting time or effort on a plan that is not getting us results.

The bottom line is if you are involved in an exercise and nutrition plan it is important to evaluate your progress or lack of every 1-2 months to revaluate and tweak your program's components. On the other hand if you have been lazy it tells you to get off your ass and "git er done."