A new method is presented for unraveling some aspects of the kinematic evolution of thrust-related folds. This technique consists of measuring crestal structural relief, shortening, and the area of a fold for different amplification stages, and then plotting the crestal structural relief and the fold area versus the shortening. One of the main advantages of this technique is that the data can be obtained from different sources: a section across a fold with associated syntectonic sediments, different sections across a fold that underwent a lateral shortening gradient, or different sections across a fold at different amplification stages. This technique has been applied to theoretical, natural, and experimental thrust-related folds. The analyses carried out show that each fold had a different kinematic evolution. They show also that, except for the theoretical examples, the kinematic evolution may be very complex, because different folding mechanisms may operate during fold amplification and increases/decreases of fold area and thickening/thinning of beds may occur. Therefore, to model or sequentially restore natural/experimental thrust-related folds, we recommend the application of techniques such as the one we propose here, when possible. This would avoid the automatic application of forward models based on kinematic assumptions and geometric resemblance between the model and the actual example.