Measuring strength and fitness gains

Hopefully, some / most / all of what I've been saying about my approach to fitness and training makes sense, is hitting home and is believable. But over the weekend, I decided that I needed some way to measure my progress and prove to you that my approach (again...high intensity / short duration training sessions for strength and conditioning that is applicable in daily life) is working. So, starting today, I'll be regularly sharing with you my performance on two key body weight movements: pullups and pushups.

Measurement method


I'll be tracking the maximum number of pushups I can do in 10 sets, resting 45 seconds between sets and the max pullups I can do in 5 sets, again resting 45 seconds between sets. (One note on this: I'm doing pullups on a beam in my basement, so I can't actually wrap my hands around it. Overall, I like this because it's challenging my grip more and making me functionally stronger, but I likely could get more pullups on a standard bar.)

Baseline performance (September 6, 2009)


- Pushups: 171 total in sets of 40, 25, 15, 15, 16, 13, 12, 13, 10, 12
- Pullups: 25 total in sets of 8, 5, 4, 4, 4

Every month, I'll post an update showing my progress.

The other measure I am going to begin watching is body fat percentage. I plan to buy a monitor soon and will share the baseline measurement with you all then. Over the last several months, I have been using the body fat tracking feature on our scale, but I don't know how accurate that really is (on our scale, you can step on, get one reading, get off and back on immediately and get a different reading, so...). Right now, I'm around 20-21 percent, which for a male my age (35) falls between the "good" and "fair" categories depending on what chart you look at. My goal is to get to 15 percent.

(I think body fat reduction will be my biggest challenge because it is so dependent on nutrition. While I already eat reasonably healthy, I definitely still have work to do in limiting processed foods. I also have a true Renaissance man's weakness for red wine. Nutrition isn't something I've gotten into a lot yet, but it's coming.)

Look for updates on my results in the future (again, the point is to prove that what I'm espousing works, not impress you with my numbers!). Better yet, why not join me? Establish your own baseline (and share in the comments if you are comfortable) and track your own progress. Remember, the baseline numbers don't matter at all - it's the dedication and hard work you put in to improve them that counts!

No excuses,

Jesse