I am an online coach.
What does that mean? That means I train clients online, from anywhere they are in the world. Long gone are the days of needing someone right there next to you for a crazy premium hourly rate (more about this later).
Online coaching provides a much more manageable and sustainable approach that works for super busy people such as yourself.
I am not saying that in-person training is completely useless because it definitely has its benefits. I want to break down the benefits of having an online coach because it still seems to be a relatively new concept to most people.
There are various ways for an online coach to provide their clients with the tools they need to succeed. Whether it’s excel sheets, PDFs, an app, email, phone, text, or all of the above. How the coach provides the service is entirely up to them. What they all have in common are the 5 benefits online coaching provides over in-person training.
If you’re not a complete beginner and have a general understanding as to how your body moves, you are a good fit for online coaching. As a coach, it is our job to have some sort of guide with video to show you the correct form and techniques of any exercises you are expected to perform.
With the guide, the workout is custom to you. Your exercise history, capabilities, preferences, potential injury history, etc. It is created for you to reach your goals in the most optimal way possible. That is with enjoyment and avoiding injury.
A major difference in the way that online coaches provide service is constant support. Most in-person trainers will see you once or twice per week and then won’t talk to you again until that time. With online coaching, there is a number of ways to stay in contact with your coach and it should be exhausted as much as necessary.
The other major difference is that online coaching is NOT just sending off workouts to the client and then washing your hands of the situation. That is just having a program. Having a coach to answer your questions when they arise (because they will and that’s normal) is a game-changer instead of just downloading programs off the internet.
Similar to having an in person trainer, there is someone to hold you accountable for your actions. A common reason as to why most people fail in their fat loss ventures is that they are only accountable to themselves and it’s very easy to just give up. Having a coach is a sure fire way to stick to the plan and have that person you don’t want to let down.
An online coach with an app or online system is able to take this one step further by monitoring your progress online. Trainerize is the app and service I use to upload my client’s workouts, calendar, and nutrition targets. When workouts are tracked or missed, I can see it on my end and there is no guessing whether or not my client has completed or missed their workout.
With traditional training methods, the personal trainer (PT) would have to ask the client the next time they saw them if they got the workouts in or not. This could be a 7 day span and the client could even lie. That puts them behind in their progress and the trainer can’t do too much about it.
With workout programs, there is nobody to hold you accountable as it’s just you and the workout plan. The only way around that is if you have a friend that is as committed as you but we all know that when one person skips or comes up with excuses, it’s easy for the other person to follow suit.
For busy individuals such as yourself, this is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome if you’re trying to work with an in person trainer. Their availability may not be very flexible and you only have specific times to work with so you try your best to squeeze workouts in around their schedule but it becomes more troublesome than anything else.
With that, you don’t know if this trainer is going to be a good fit for you and you’re kind of stuck because they are the only one who can train you in the time slot you need. It’s more of a gamble than it has to be.
With online coaching, you can train on your own time, at your convenience, and without the worry of having to meet someone at the gym. This quickly eliminates a stressor from your life and makes the process more manageable for the long term.
If I’ve learned one thing from working in this industry, it’s that people want to save money. In person training is sometimes up to 5 times as expensive as online coaching, plus you have the conflicts I’ve mentioned above. You could always go the cheap route and find free programs online, but then there is no customization, no accountability, and no support to come along with that.
Working with a traditional personal trainer, you are likely being locked into long term contracts with more red tape than the government could shake a stick at. That means if you are working with someone for 12 weeks and have not seen results or don’t enjoy working with them, you are basically stuck in your contract. Your other option is working with another trainer there but they likely don’t have your needed availability or you have no rapport with them. With an online coach, there generally aren’t any contracts and if you are working with a reputable individual, they will work with any request you may have.
With the traditional methods of personal training, you are stuck at your gym as you’ve invested both a membership cost and the cost of a trainer. With online coaching, you have the freedom to train at any gym you want, at any time you want because you’re not necessarily tied down to one place if you don’t want to be.
A growing trend is avoiding the gym at all costs and training at home. This means if you want personal training, you have to bring someone to your home to train you there. If you’re comfortable with that, then by all means, but there’s also the negatives as listed above: scheduling, cost, and lack of contact. With online coaching, you can train any time of day in the comfort of your own home and not worry about someone coming over at whatever time you need them to (if they can accommodate your time).
Having someone hold you accountable can take your body and goals to the next level. If you are like the majority of individuals who have tried to lose fat and failed, I think it’s time to research into finding a coach of your own.
If I had to pick one of the 5 benefits as the most significant, it would definitely be the accountability factor.
Having someone you don’t want to disappoint hold you to your actions is one of the greatest forces behind the success that we have available.
Motivation will always come and go, so having a coach or mentor guide you and push you along your journey will guarantee your fat loss success.