How do you measure your training and your progress?

How do you measure your training and your progress?

For those of you who lift and do conditioning outside your normal class, what tests do you do to determine what areas you need to work on and how effective your training programme is?

For example testing strength improvements is relatively easy: you can test 1 or 3 or 5 rep maxes at the beginning and end of your training programme, but how do you test explosiveness and muscular endurance, or Aerobic and anaerobic levels and conditioning? And how do you measure improvements in the above after you have completed a programme?

I do it with specific goals and a notebook, at least with strength training, but I think that can be applied to a lot of things!

I write achievable goals down. I give myself a specific amount of time to do it in, and when I do it, I get to check it off and move on to the next goal. It's also really important to have rewards when you get there.

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Originally Posted by SenseiShellie

I write achievable goals down. I give myself a specific amount of time to do it in, and when I do it, I get to check it off and move on to the next goal. It's also really important to have rewards when you get there.

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Goal: lose weight
reward: pizza (extra cheese)

:p

the other day i was falling down onto a wooden deck and flowing over the side like water onto the ground - it was about 2 feet or so... once i got to the ground i skittered as fast as i was able under the deck and up onto the other side to pop up like a jack -n- the box attempting to grab omy daughters feet... was also doing some somersaults off of it and onto the ground, along with a few cartwheels... the indians believed that one could merge with the earth and elements so as to not get a bruise... mind is the path... i would judge my progress on things like this... i have had a variety of people tell me that i am more more fit than i look... must be that old taoist expression about being like murky and muddy water... appear weak and bent... :D

If I can do more than I did before, its progress.
If I can do better than what I did before, its progress.
If I can do what I couldn't do before, its progress.

Yesterday I could beat up 15 5th graders in one minute 32 seconds. Today I was able to take down 15.5 in nearly the same amount of time. I only get .5 because I used #15 against #16. Unfortunately, it did not count as a full point :(
But it still is minor progress.

verticle is a good test of explosiveness.