Measure what matters.

That success strategy is so important that someone wrote a #1 New York Times Bestselling book on it!

And because YOUR FITNESS MATTERS to me, it’s important to me that when it comes to your fitness, you measure your progress, and celebrate your newly found superpowers!

“Superpowers? Did she say super-powers? Like, Marvel Universe superpowers?

Yes. Just like a superhero does not know she’s a hero until she’s tested by her evil nemesis, fitness testing not only measures your progress, but gives you that deep internal satisfaction that you’ve earned your fitness wings! Because, you are probably stronger than you think you are.

There comes a time when every superhero must show the world what he/she is made of.

Now that we are nearing the end of the year. It’s a good time to test your strength. You’ll have a measurable baseline for next year. At the end of this email, I share instructions for how to perform a strength test at home.

I know, just peeking at the word “T-E-S-T” might be triggering memories of late night study sessions. I promise, you don’t have to stay up all night on caffeine and gummy bears to cram for this test.

I also promise, if you incorporate the principles of strength testing into the start and end of your fitness programs, It’s more than a test, it’s a celebration of strength!

But why?

One of the key reasons to test your starting and ending strength is to make sure you are seeing measurable improvements in your fitness training.

The second reason strength testing is so important is this is one of the tools we use to help identify the proper weight you should be using during a program cycle. It matters, because we don’t want you to waste your time using the wrong amount of weight for you!

At ForeverStrong, we use specific calculations to determine the proper weight to use based on strength testing results. So, if you are testing at home and want to have a baseline for your training progress, I’d like to share a simple formula for how to strength test your primary lifts.

Primary lifts are your major movement categories. Think: Squats, Deadlifts, Lat Pull Down, Chest Press.

5 STEPS TO A HEROIC STRENGTH TEST

Warmup. Perform 1-2 warmup sets within 1-5 reps and never work close to failure while warming up.
Start light. Select a weight that you can do easily for 5 reps. A good starting point is your current working weight for that exercise or one size up.
Don’t blow it. Warmup feel easy? Don’t waste time on smaller jumps, you’ll fatigue muscles before you perform your actual strength test.
Go heavy. Got 5 easy reps? Jump up one size and do another warmup set. If you struggle on the second warmup set between 1-5 reps, make the next heavier weight your testing weight.
Max effort. Perform one set to technical failure, where you can no longer lift in good form. You only need 1 quality rep, but do as many as you can.

Remember to save your result. Write down the amount of weight and the number of reps that you performed for one exercise in each movement category. Repeat the test after 6-12 weeks. Compare your results and CELEBRATE! Woo-hoo!!!

Here at ForeverStrong, the end of cycle strength test is one of our favorite moments of every training cycle. It’s empowering for all of us to watch someone use the “big weights” for the first time and see that they actually have the ability to lift it. It’s just like watching Captain Marvel demonstrate her superpowers for the very first time!

I hope today’s email inspires you to measure your fitness in terms of strength, not the mirror! You are probably stronger and better looking than you think you are!

Committed to Making Fitness Easy for You in 2022,

Kelly Scott

Owner, ForeverStrong

P.S. If you have a friend who needs to discover their super powers in January, we’d love to guide them to the big reveal!

Send them to us using this link www.trainforeverstrong.com, we start a new 12-Week program in the New Year.