What Gets Measured Gets Managed

Ariele Foster, DPT Author

You *can* reach your wildest health and fitness goals -- if you have a plan and start tracking.

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What gets measured, gets managed.

This aphorism is both annoying and true. Measurements of progress are fundamental to the wild success of Orange Theory, CrossFit/Hydrox and maybe even your local run club.

Measurements are part of a smart approach to physical therapy care and maybe even helping someone to feel better than before.

Missing Measurements

But in many workouts, objective progress tracking is missing -- or at least trickier. For example:

• on the yoga mat

• in group fitness classes (that don’t include tracking and measuring),

• and for those of us who have a primary exercise routine and like to stick to it (not changing the reps, or set # or weight amount or bodyweight sequence).

This absence can make it feel like you are treading water.

While not everything needs to be measured, data tells a story.

It gives our brains a new perspective. Like any good story, it can be inspiring, change our thoughts or even change our life.

My Path to a Pull-Up

Here’s my data story:

Last week in this blog I promised details on my 2026 Path to a Pull-up.

Two of the targeted training exercises I’m doing to get my pull-up back are Lat Pull Downs and Reverse Lat Pull Downs. The following images show 8 months of progress measured by resistance in pounds:

(Numbers redacted simply because that might invite comparison, and the only thing that matters is how each of us can personally grow.)

70% improvement

Overall, the resistance I now use is ~70% more than the number I started out with.

My estimated “one rep max” (how much weight I could resist with these moves) started out around 40% of my body weight and is now up to 80%.

Objectively speaking, I’m more than half way toward my goal. Subjectively, after a lifetime of joyful frolicking on a yoga mat, but with a roller coaster of injuries and setbacks, the satisfaction of these numbers is unbeatable.

And it’s taken less work, and less time invested than you think.

What does this have to do with physical therapy? Injury recovery? Or you?

Probably a lot.

If you saw a chart like this about yourself, how would you feel? What might change? If you could blink three times and see your line go up, what goals would you set?

If you have had an injury or other big setback, has your physical therapist worked with you to create a path to see progress toward your true physical and health goals?

If you love group fitness and yoga classes, are you getting closer to where you want to be? or do you sometimes wonder if you are spinning your wheels?

The Excitement

This series of questions is one of the things that excites me these days. Helping my patients, clients, and students see their own progress is an unbeatable feeling.

This spring, I led a 5-week online series called “Strength Training for Chaturanga / Push-Ups”. I witnessed so many aha moments, in particular among the long time yoga practitioners and those who were newer to lifting weights. (If you want to be part of a future cohort, sign up for the wait list here.)

This fall, I am considering offering individualized remote strength coaching to help folks reach similar goals. (sign up for the wait list here).

And if, like me, you get intimidated by the idea of setting goals due to a gazillion setbacks, I’ve got you: 

Sign up for my next live webinar, Exercise Without Injury. It’s happening Sunday August 30th. Sign up now. 

Finally, in need of physical therapy or a one on one session? I’m about to take 2 weeks off -- so get on my schedule now for the private room at Mint Gym Adams Morgan, in Woodley Park or via telehealth.

P.S. Edith Eger, author of The Choice, among other books, was a legend who passed away in April of this year. The Choice was so good I re-read it immediately. Highly recommend, especially to those going through a hard time.

ALS may be one of the worst diseases in existence, but it didn't know what badness it was getting into trying to take down my dear friend, Casey. Please watch this video, repost it everywhere you can, and donate if possible.

Sign up for the webinar by clicking below: 

This blog post was originally published on July 31, 2026.

Categories: : Habits, Physical Therapy, Strength Training