Fitness Tracking

Introduction & Assessment

You're beginning your Fitness Tracking journey — and the first move is to see where you actually are, not where you think you are. Download **Google Fit** (Android) or open **Apple Health** (iPhone) — both are free and already on your phone. Spend one day doing your normal routine while the app runs in the background. At the end of the day, check your step count, active minutes, and any heart rate data. Don't judge the numbers yet — just get curious about them. Browse the CDC's free "Physical Activity Basics" page to learn what the recommended activity targets are for your age group. You're ready for the next step when you've collected one full day of baseline data and can identify your current daily step count.

Foundation Building

Now you'll set up a simple tracking system you'll actually stick to. In Google Fit or Apple Health, set a daily move goal that's about 10% above your baseline — if you walked 4,000 steps yesterday, aim for 4,400 this week. Create a free account on **MyFitnessPal** or use the Notes app to log one week of workouts: write the activity, duration, and how you felt (easy / medium / hard). Liberty Park in Salt Lake has a 1.5-mile paved loop — a perfect measured walk or jog to use as your weekly benchmark. You're ready for the next step when you've logged at least 5 consecutive days of activity data with at least one note about how each session felt.

Skill Development

This week you'll add two new metrics to your tracking: **resting heart rate** and **weekly mileage**. Check your resting heart rate each morning before getting out of bed — Apple Health and Google Fit both measure this automatically if you wear a device, or you can count manually for 15 seconds and multiply by 4. Log your total miles walked or run for the week using Google Fit's journal. Compare week 1 to week 2: did your step count go up? Did any workouts feel easier? Intermountain Healthcare's free "Move More Utah" resources at **intermountainhealthcare.org** offer guided walking plans. You're ready for the next step when you can show a 7-day chart of steps or active minutes and spot at least one trend.

Practice & Refinement

Now refine your tracking by adding a weekly goal review. Every Sunday, open your app and answer three questions: (1) Did I hit my step goal 5 of 7 days? (2) What was my most active day — and why? (3) What got in the way on my lowest day? Write the answers in a simple log. Adjust next week's goal up by 5–10% if you hit it, or keep it the same if you fell short — no punishment, just honest calibration. Try the **Couch to 5K** app (free) as a structured run tracker if you want a built-in progression plan. You're ready for the next step when you've completed two weeks of Sunday reviews and made at least one goal adjustment based on your data.

Challenge Mode

Challenge yourself to track something you've been avoiding. Add one of these harder metrics: sleep duration (Apple Health tracks this automatically), water intake (use the free WaterMinder or a tally in Notes), or workout intensity using heart rate zones. Set a 7-day challenge with a specific, measurable target — for example, "average 7 hours of sleep" or "drink 64 oz of water daily." Use the Liberty Park loop as a weekly timed run — try to beat your previous time. Share your challenge goal with one friend to add accountability. You're ready for the next step when you've completed the 7-day challenge and can show the data proving whether you hit your target.

Mastery Demonstration

Mastery means turning your data into a decision. Look back at your full 3 weeks of tracking and write a short "fitness snapshot": your starting baseline, your ending averages, the one habit that made the biggest difference, and one goal for next month. Share this snapshot with a friend, family member, or in the SLCTrips community — explaining your progress out loud cements the habit. Help someone else set up Google Fit or Apple Health using what you learned. You're ready for the next step when you've written your fitness snapshot and helped at least one other person start tracking their activity.