Orlean Fitness Tracker: Track It. Earn It. Own It.

Tracking your fitness isn't about being perfect. It's about paying attention.

You've heard it before, that old saying “what gets measured gets improved”... it's dead on.

Tracking your fitness is essential for understanding the impact of your decisions, especially with nutrition or training.

Now, I’ll be the first to say: tracking is not forever.

If your lifestyle is strong and your instincts are sharp, you can trust yourself to just live it.

Tracking gives you clarity. It sharpens your vision and helps you notice patterns that used to be invisible. If you’re training like an athlete or training for peak performance, it’s a no-brainer. If you're just trying to live healthy and stay active, it all depends on your context and where you’re at.

If you’re brand new to tracking, keep it simple. Open a spreadsheet or take out a notebook. Write the date. List what exercises or stretches you did. When you worked out. What you ate. When you ate. This gives you a basic overview, and that’s enough to get started.

Over time, if you want to go deeper, you absolutely can. Tracking isn’t about looking impressive, it's about perspective.

The Orlean Fitness Tracker: This is what I personally use and teach inside Orlean Fitness, a simple dashboard built around five core metrics:

Weight – How much weight did you use?

Intensity – Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), scored 1–10. One is lazy, ten is max effort.

Duration – How long did you do the exercise? Use a stopwatch.

Sets – How many rounds?

Reps – How many times per set?

That’s it. A snapshot of your effort, no PhD required.

You should make it work for you. I prefer a spreadsheet. It’s on my phone, I can track changes, and access to the version history helps me look back. Some people prefer hand-written journals, I have no issue with that. Others use apps. Honestly, use what works for you. We might even share a tool with you soon. You won’t need it though, if you use this framework.

One thing I always recommend: add a Notes section. Write how you feel. What you’re doing. Why you’re doing it. That extra layer tells the truth behind the numbers. I always say, “The body is a shadow of the mind.” If you get that, you’ll get a lot more out of your training.

After you’ve tracked for a while, start asking questions around growth. Sometimes that shows up in bigger numbers or increased energy. Other times, it’s just about showing up consistently and putting an X on the calendar each day. That’s a win too.

Whether you’re training for a marathon or just trying to stay mobile and happy in your day-to-day, the lens you look through matters. You don’t need to track like a pro athlete unless you're training like one. If your routine matters to you, your results will too.

Don't obsess. Here’s something real from my own life: when I played baseball, as a pitcher, scouts would clock the velocity on my fastball. Whenever I tensed up, muscled up and tried to throw harder, I actually threw slower. The speed literally showed on the gun. When I relaxed, trusted my form, and let it rip, like a whip, the ball flew out of my hand. That taught me something.

Tracking is the same. Obsess over numbers, and you lose feel. Let it breathe. If it starts to stress you out, check it less often. The secret sauce is just keep showing up.

The non-physical sides of training; energy, clarity, motivation, discipline, emotions. Those matter too. I've spoken about this before, about a client of mine who called themselves lazy. I said, “If your house caught fire and you needed to get out, or your kids called you in the middle of the night in an emergency, would you move?” Instantly, yes. That “laziness” wasn’t a truth, it was a story, and stories shift when you understand your why.

Write your notes. Capture your moods. See the patterns. The non-physical stuff matters as much, sometimes more than the sets and reps.

You can track sleep and food as you get in the flow and are seeking further optimization. If you’re struggling to sleep, or your energy’s off, track it. If you're not digesting well, or are concerned with your weight or dietary patterns, track it.

If you’re not in a performance season, don’t live like a science project. You're not a robot. Success without fulfillment is not success.

Work with a nutritionist or doctor, get bloodwork, find deficiencies, and build a plan that fits your life and training. Set a schedule that works for you. You should track what aligns with your goals.

Read my articles such as The Most Simple Article On Sleep You'll Ever Read In Your Life, or Orlean Cuisine: Eating for a Lean, Fit Lifestyle to get an idea. Fitness affects food and sleep, and food and sleep affect fitness. They’re not separate.

After 90 days of tracking, you should have clarity on where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and where you’re going. If not, come to a workshop. Sometimes, it's not a new plan you need, it's new people. Logic gets you started, but connection will get you further.

Use the Orlean Fitness Tracker. Keep your notes honest. Stay curious. Whether you’re training like a pro or just staying active, the job is the same: show up and make moves.

Build a system for your life - in business, fitness, vision, for fun. Call it a dashboard, call it a journal, a tracker, a vision board, a bucket list, call it whatever you want.

Make your life a masterpiece. This is your life! Don't just live it, learn from it. Health is the ultimate currency.

Want help building your tracker? Join an upcoming workshop and we'll make moves. Let’s go!