Measure Your Lifting Performance With Site SymmetricStrength
Arbitrary classifications of strength are stupid. I know this, and yet I continue to monitor how my climbs compare across different charts and instruments. The best and most fun of them all: SymmetricStrength.com .
To be completely clear, you must set your own goals during your workout. For example, if you want to qualify for the national powerlifting championships, you can see what qualifying amount you need and work towards that goal. Or, if you just love the feeling of getting stronger and gaining momentum, you don’t need any numbers to track your progress.
But sometimes it’s just interesting to see how you are doing. And what’s great about a tool like SymmetricStrength is that you can use it to visualize your progress over time. Take a screenshot of how he rates you today, and another one this time next year.
This is how it works. You tell what exercises you train and include in each of your best sets. (It might be a max-effort single, but it might also work with, say, your best five-exercise set.) Then you’ll get a chart showing not only how your exercises compare to others, but what they are. probably speaks of strength in exercise. your different muscle groups.
The instrument rates you, your movements and your muscles on a scale ranging from substandard to world class. Don’t take these classifications too seriously; they are taken from powerlifting standards and world records as well as ExRx charts. (ExRx states that their standards are “not to be confused with norms of strength” – in other words, they do not compare you to the average person.)
Over the past year, I have upgraded my (completely arbitrary, meaningless) grade from Novice to Experienced. In the attached chart comparing my lifts to each other, chin-ups were my strongest lift both times. My squats were my worst lift in the past year; now he is leading, and the overhead press is the one that lags behind. If you don’t have competition goals, you can use this chart to decide which lift you want to focus on. Hmm, how much can I improve my abs in a year?
Check it out and see what your rating is, but remember, this is just for fun.