How to measure your physical progress in the 80s

If you can’t measure, you can’t manage

People still argue, who said it

If you have a goal, and commit a significant portion of your energy and time to getting healthy, you have to see the results of your efforts. You have to be able to measure them. And the yardsticks and the methods of assessment are changing.

We started with weight and height, which later were recalculated to BMI. They were all crude and inadequate for the purpose of our goals.

Now, the other markers are becoming standard. And since this is not an academic paper, I will only mention the guidelines I use for myself.

I want to know what my Lean Body Mass is, Ventral Adipose Tissue volume, and what’s my bone density. They all should be indexed and looked at within the proper age and sex. The best is to know your Z-score.

Then there are proper biochemical markers. These are a part of the individual health assessment. They include lipid profile, hemoglobin A1C, serum biochemistry, and like. All these are done in cooperation with your personal physician.

Lastly, we have functional markers. There are tests assessing your body’s performance under the stress. These are many, and they are more or less specific. They range from V02 max value, to how many push-ups or pull-ups can you do. Or how strong is your grip.

I’ll expand on each of the categories in my next posts.