Tracking Your Health & Fitness in 2026 - Do You Really Need an Expensive Piece of Tech?
Recently, a client asked me about my Oura Ring.
If you’re not familiar, the Oura Ring is a smart ring and it is best known for tracking sleep, along with things like activity, steps, heart rate, and recovery. They wanted to know how I use the information to improve my health.
The data doesn’t magically fix anything, but it does give me concrete information about how certain choices I make effects my health. It can be pretty motivating to see the biological effects of your choices - good or bad.
That said, we quickly landed on an important point:
You don’t need a fancy (or expensive) piece of tech to make improvements to your health.
The conversation shifted to tracking habits the old-fashioned way — journaling. If you’ve interacted with me much, you’ve probably figured out that I’m very much an out-of-sight, out-of-mind person. When I don’t see what I need to do, I forget. And when I don’t plan in a way that’s visible, my routine tends to fall apart.
While my smart ring gives me specific and detailed information about my health markers, my journal gives me a snapshot of the week so I can manage my time in a way that keeps me as consistent as possible with my workouts and any other healthy habits I want to work on.
That’s why I’m sharing this template. It has helped me stay on track, maybe it will work for you too.
Below are a few pictures of the journal I use and a template you can print. The pictures include instructions on how to use this layout. The original journal is from the brand Creator’s Friend and is called Weekly Planner. It can be purchased at creatorsfriend.com.au
The days highlighted are my days off - I do this so my lifting days land on work days, because I lift at work. I also like to include any appointments or meetings throughout the week, so I don’t double book a workout with a doctor’s appointment or a work meeting.
Please feel free to print and use the template above.