One of the most accurate ways for progress tracking in terms of your gains overtime, is by tracking your fat free mass. For this method, you’ll need to be able to track your body fat percentage over time. The easiest way to do this is to get an electronic scale. Control for as many variables as possible. Use your scale first thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom and before you eat or drink anything. This allows you to get the most consistent reading to track changes over time. An alternative to is to estimate it based on circumference measurement formulas (e.g. US Navy Equation).
If you take your body weight and multiply it by your body fat percentage, this tells you how many pounds of fat you have. Take your body weight and subtract your fat mass, and this is your fat free mass. Tracking this number over time is a great way to see if you are actually building muscle mass. Increases in fat free mass are very strongly related to increases in muscle!
A very practical way for you to track progress is to just measure the circumference of your muscles. When answering the question, “Am I gaining or losing muscle mass?”, just pay attention to how your clothes fit. An even better recommendation is to track the circumference of your bicep and thigh over time. This will give you good insights into the growth occurring in both your upper and lower body. Flex your bicep and measure around the largest area of the muscle. For the best results, take 3 measurements and average them together. For the lower body, sit upright with your dominant leg propped up straight out in front of you. Flex your leg and take a measurement at the halfway point. Just like the bicep, repeat this 2 more times and take an average. You may want to also take a measurement at the largest part around your butt to keep track of those booty gains as well.
During your first 12 weeks or so of training, the rapid increases you experience are mostly due to neurological changes. As you become more trained however, the role that neurological factors play in strength decreases and the role that muscle growth plays increases. After your first several months of training, you can start to use increases in strength (or a lack thereof) as a pretty good indication of whether you are gaining muscle or fat. As a point of reference, intermediate lifters who have been lifting for at least 6 months can reasonably expect to increase strength by 5-10% per month.
If you take your body weight and multiply it by your body fat percentage, this tells you how many pounds of fat you have. Take your body weight and subtract your fat mass, and this is your fat free mass. Tracking this number over time is a great way to see if you are actually building muscle mass. Increases in fat free mass are very strongly related to increases in muscle!
A very practical way for you to track progress is to just measure the circumference of your muscles. When answering the question, “Am I gaining or losing muscle mass?”, just pay attention to how your clothes fit. An even better recommendation is to track the circumference of your bicep and thigh over time. This will give you good insights into the growth occurring in both your upper and lower body. Flex your bicep and measure around the largest area of the muscle. For the best results, take 3 measurements and average them together. For the lower body, sit upright with your dominant leg propped up straight out in front of you. Flex your leg and take a measurement at the halfway point. Just like the bicep, repeat this 2 more times and take an average. You may want to also take a measurement at the largest part around your butt to keep track of those booty gains as well.
During your first 12 weeks or so of training, the rapid increases you experience are mostly due to neurological changes. As you become more trained however, the role that neurological factors play in strength decreases and the role that muscle growth plays increases. After your first several months of training, you can start to use increases in strength (or a lack thereof) as a pretty good indication of whether you are gaining muscle or fat. As a point of reference, intermediate lifters who have been lifting for at least 6 months can reasonably expect to increase strength by 5-10% per month.
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