What Is PR In Fitness – A Quick Guide

Every field has its own acronyms and so does fitness. Based on fitness goals and exercise routine, there are a number of terms associated with it of which acronyms are used in common. One of such is PR in fitness. What is PR in fitness? What does it symbolizes and how can it be achieved? This article will answer these queries.

What is PR in fitness?

PR stands for Personal Record in the fitness world. As the name suggests, it is a personal record of a person’s maximum limit to a certain physical activity, in a day or week. People keep a check on their PR to beat their today’s PR and get to the next level. PR can vary for each kind of sport or athletic activity. In a fitness regime, PR varies from workout to workout:

• In running, the distance covered in a specific time can be assumed as a personal record
• In jumping, how high you can jump can also be considered a PR
• In weightlifting, how much weight you can lift and for how long is considered a PR

PR varies from person to person. As it’s all about one’s ability to push themselves to their limits to achieve the heights of that specific workout or to achieve their fitness goals. Different sports and competitions also set the specific requirements of PR to make sure the participants are in good health and can do their best.

How can you track your PR?

To calculate the difference between your changing PR and whether you are going up or down in your fitness regime; you need to keep a track of your PR. To do so, you can use the traditional method of noting down daily progress on a notepad. Or else, you can make an excel spreadsheet and can enter the details of your workout against each day of the week. You can also use smartphone apps that are designed to help you keep track of your fitness activities.

Why are PRs important in fitness?

Progress is something that keeps humans motivated. Keeping track of your daily progress will let you decide on realistic fitness goals and also tells how much more you can achieve. Also, some workouts need you to reach your maximum level to reap the benefits. PR helps you in breaking your limits and keeping your mind relaxed about working towards a goal. It boosts your confidence in yourself.

How to increase your PR?

So, you might feel stuck at some point and your personal record might not go up for a long time. It can hamper your workout performance due to feelings of failure or discouragement. Here are the tips on how to improve your PR, whether you are weightlifting, performing cardio, or simply doing exercises to stay fit.

1: Always perform warm-up exercises

Jumping straight away to perform your targeted workout is the worst decision you can take for yourself. Always perform warm-up exercises before starting your main workout. Warm-up exercises like stretching, jogging, and slow running relax your muscles and increase the span of your workout, eventually increasing your PR.

2: Add a variety of exercises to your workout plan

It might sound strange that you have to perform a variety of workouts to get better at one? But trust me, it works. Adding variety to your workout plan helps you work out all of your muscle groups. This overall improvement in your health and muscle build helps you perform your target workout more smoothly and your PR keeps increasing day by day. Do try it out.

3: Set realistic goals

Fitness trainers have been emphasizing too much that you always have to set realistic goals. You need to be true to yourself. When you set realistic goals, it gets easy for you to achieve them and increase your PR day by day as well. As you do not strain yourself and perform as per your body’s limits.

4: Keep trying

Consistency is the ultimate key to achieving the highest PR. You cannot achieve the heights of PR without trying every day. You need to work out daily to improve your stamina and gradually increase your PR. Also, you can gradually increase the limit of your set goal as well, based on your improved performance.

5: Keep a track of your progress

Tracking your progress helps you know where you stand every day in your fitness regime. It can help you keep yourself accountable for what you’ve done up till now and how much more you need to do to achieve your goals. It is the best way to keep a check on the rate of your success and failures.

6: Be positive

A healthy body alone won’t make a difference until you decide to keep your mind positive as well. Even if you hit a wall while trying to increase your PR, do not get disheartened. Continuous effort does bear results, that too in your favor. So, keep a positive mindset and never give up.

7: Consume healthy foods

Healthy eating habits make a healthy body, and a healthy body is a must to have to perform any workout in its pure essence. Making wise food choices can help you increase your PR by providing you more energy to work out more. Nutritional deficiencies can make you lose all of your efforts, in a jiff.

8: Take supplements

You might think supplements are only good for bodybuilders, but that’s not true. People consume supplements to aid the supply of specific nutrients to the body, important for its growth and performance. Better performance and more energy can boost stamina for workouts. Thus, your PR can touch the sky. The most common supplements consumed are creatine and pre-workout supplements.

9: Ensure quality sleep

Sleep is the often most neglected part while increasing your stamina and improving PR. Ensuring quality sleep promotes better health. It relaxes your muscles and also performs metabolic processes in between to make sure your body has enough energy to work out more.

Conclusion

Tracking your personal record (PR) and its continuous progress is crucial for reaching your fitness goals. Though its limit can differ for every fitness regime, its role stays the same- to keep you motivated to do better. That’s why always keep an eye on your PR when you are aiming for certain results. You can simply increase your PR just by being consistent and working on your overall health.