The Scale Doesn't Explain Fitness Success

Those are words I obviously don't love hearing. But when my client canceled because she wasn't "seeing results," I wasn't just upset that I was losing a client, I was upset because I failed to prove to her that the scale doesn't paint the full picture of fitness success.

Eating healthy and exercising has no shortage of benefits. Improving your strength means you can have better balance, walk up hills or stairs without feeling fatigued, catch yourself is you fall. Working on your cardio can lead to a lower resting heart rate, reduce stress and anxiety, improve your stamina for days at Disney with the family. But most people don't start their fitness journey for those benefits.

Typically people start in the gym because they don't like what they see in the mirror. It isn't vanity. For most people, it's not about looking like a sexy beach model, just about recapturing the image of them they see in their head. Maybe there is a pair of jeans in the closet they can't fit into anymore, or a wedding dress, or an old picture of themselves they don't like to look at. People start their journey with the goal of changing their current image, and the main way (or only way, oftentimes) they recognize their results is with what the scale says, and the benefits listed above are seen as bonuses.

Because of that, people will feel discouraged if the scale doesn't move down. That discouragement, for many, leads to the question: 

One of our biggest goals at Heroes Fitness is breaking people's belief that the scale tells all. We recently got an InBody scanner at the gym. Yes, it tells you what you weigh. But it also can measure many other measuring points, most importantly, Skeletal Muscle Mass and Body Fat Percentage.

This is incredibly important. On the featured image of this article, you can see exactly why. One of our awesome clients took an InBody scan at the beginning of March, and we retested about 7 weeks later. Imagine if we only were measuring her weight. She would be discouraged, because her weight increased by 0.8 pounds.

While that isn't a significant increase, imagine how you'd feel if you've been working out hard and eating better, only to gain weight.

But then, we look at the other numbers. Her Skeletal Muscle Mass (muscle, in short) increased by 2.2 pounds. Her Body Fat Percentage decreased by 2.1%. Without this deeper look into her body, it would leave her feeling bummed. Imagine how awful that would be, to feel discouraged when you're actually making wonderful progress.

We also have been working on how to give our clients daily high fives with our workout tracking software. In the past, we tracked workouts on pen and paper. It was really to help the trainers remember how much weight they were doing. But recently, we added a custom software so our members get a post-workout email report. It tells them how much weight they did, how they are improving in their lifts, and provides an opportunity to give feedback.

There are some people who can internally understand that, even if the scale isn't moving, working out is important. But many people need to see the proof that their work is paying off, and that's exactly what we are working on providing at Heroes Fitness.