5 Amazing Benefits of Online Personal Training

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to stop putting so much emphasis on what the scale says and start actually feeling and looking better? One of the benefits of online personal training is that it let’s your progress and your health be more than a number. More than a pant size. It opens up this wide world of what’s best for you.

This past year forced us to be creative. Last March we started asking questions we’d never thought to ask before.

How do I workout without a gym?

What happens when every store runs out of gym equipment?

Am I going to lose the progress I made with my personal trainer?

Hopefully you’ve found that you can workout without a gym. That you don’t really need a ton of equipment (or any). A set of dumbbells, a couple of gallon jugs of water, a backpack filled with books…sure it’s unconventional but it works!

(p.s. here are some tips to get the most out of at home workouts).

(and some equipment that can truly level up any workout plan).

I had a lot of questions about my business too, even after I shut my studio doors.

Will my clients stick with me? Can I coach and teach the way I want to via Zoom? What do I do now?

Luckily, most of my clients have stuck with me. I’ve even gained a whole new crew. I’ve found that not only can I coach using Zoom, my clients can absolutely thrive – physically and emotionally. What do I do now? I keep on keeping on.

I adore online personal training. To me it’s the best of both worlds for client and trainer.

5 Amazing Benefits of Online Training

Personalized programming. Detailed interest. Expert advice and experience. Someone to bounce ideas, questions and frustrations off of. Personal training is a great way to stay accountable and get real results. None of that disappears when you take your training online. In fact, I’ll put it on the line that some of it even increases.

#1: Any Time…

Most gyms start to get packed around 4-5 pm on the weekdays. Why? Because everyone and their cousin gets out of work and heads to the gym at that time. Which means that not only do you have to make sure that you trainer-of-choice is free when you are, you have to navigate a gym full of people eye-balling the same equipment you are.

On top of that, because your trainer is in high demand at peak times your workout is almost guaranteed to be limited to 60 minutes whether you’ve gotten the work you deserve and need or not.

That time restraint virtually disappears when you move to online training. Because most of us are not battling the conventional time restraints of a regular workday anymore I find myself training my clients mostly during the day time. It’s ideal, really, because they’re not exhausted from a long day at work, they’re not stressed from their commute to the studio and we’re not battling 14 other people for the same squat rack.

Online personal training opens up a brand new schedule for training. I have clients who want to work out on their lunch break and set up a Zoom meeting on their phones. Some women work with me on their off days and set up in their living rooms. I have a group of boss babes who meet with me 4-5 times a week for morning classes that they never would have been able to make before!

#2: Any Where…

A great workout does not require fancy equipment. All it requires is some know-how, some creativity, and some willingness to adapt. That means that a single set of dumbbells can easily be used to build muscle and burn fat – even from your living room!

That’s a really important point for a lot of people, my clients included. It’s not uncommon to be uncomfortable working out in front of others. That’s especially true if you are trying a new exercise or challenging yourself to do something you might not be good at. And let’s talk about distractions. Have you ever walked into a gym at peak hours? How could you not get distracted by all of the moving parts?

Online personal training wipes out all of those comfort zone worries. Workout in your basement. In your bedroom. Outside on the lawn. It doesn’t matter! As long as YOU are comfortable, we can make it work.

Plus, you get to choose the playlist. If that’s not a bonus I don’t know what is.

#3: Hybrid Programming for Well Rounded Training.

Conventional training is absolutely not for everyone. What if…

• You want to work out 5 days a week but your trainer can only find 2 openings that fit your schedule?
• 1-on-1 personal training doesn’t fit your budget right now.
• You’re comfortable with the exercises and holding yourself accountable, you just need an expertly designed workout plan.
• Workouts alone don’t cut it – you need something that you can carry with you and focus on outside of the gym too.

Online personal training makes anything possible. Here are some examples of how I train a few different clients.

1-on-1 Trainings

Becca goes to school 3 days a week, and learns virtually 2 days a week. We train on her “off days”, for 1-on-1 personalized trainings sessions via Zoom. She’s an avid sports player so most of our workouts are sport-specific but we definitely leave room to have some fun and build major strength!

1-on-1 Trainings and Online Programming

I have a client Sarah who I’ve been working with for years. We started off with in person training, added group classes when I opened my studio and took all of our training online when COVID hit. Sarah works from home and arranges so that we can “meet” via Zoom for training sessions just before lunch 3 days a week. For an extra boost of fitness and accountability, I send Sarah 2-3 workouts to do on our off days and set her up with an app for regular stats check ins.

Online Programming and Nutrition Coaching

Amanda has some major goals set for herself and is thriving with a bit of a push and some accountability. All of her programming is set up in an app called Trainerize – I use it to build and schedule her workouts, link to how-to videos, set up check ins and track her progress. Amanda and I connect for a 15-minute Zoom Coaching Call every week to go over the obstacles she faced the week before and what’s coming up in the next week or so. We use Trainerize and our Coaching Calls to talk nutrition and set up nutrition and wellness focuses that support her goals. She’s even connected her meal journal to the app!

Online Group Coaching

4-5 times a week I wake up to coach an amazing group of ladies who’ve adapted and thrived in this online workout world. They live all over the country (and Bermuda). They work from home, they own their own business, they’re parent/teaching their 7 year olds – all while prioritizing their own health and happiness. Our workouts change week to week (check out this week’s schedule here) but there’s always a good mix of cardio, strength training, mobility and laughter!

#4: More Accountability.

We build the foundation and then start on the sky scraper.

Julia Goss

I am 110% invested in my clients goals. Every coaching article I read says “don’t give away coaching for free” but dang it, if my clients want to know what I think about Keto at 9 pm I’m hard pressed not to answer them.

If you’ve ever trained with a personal trainer at a conventional gym you know that it goes a bit like this:

Meet trainer at designated meet up spot. Hit the treadmill for warm up while trainer consults clipboard. Move through a series of exercises that may or may not be fun or exciting while your trainer glances at their phone every few minutes and exchanges inside jokes with other employees. At minute 59 your trainer says thanks, see you next time and boom, you’re off to do whatever it is you want to do until your next session.

Not exactly spear-heading results there.

Online training is about more than a 60 minute chunk of warm up, workout, cool down. Sometimes our workouts go long. Sometimes the work is intense and done quickly and you’re out early. Either way, it’s about you and the workout, not the clock.

All of my personal training clients check in with me multiple times a week.

Weekly Coaching Calls

Coaching Calls are a set time to check in, talk about the wins, the challenges, the focuses and the stressors. Those calls are often less about squats and deadlifts and more about a stressful workday or a kid that broke an arm anyways! We talk about everything from wedding dress goals to bowel movements to food guilt.

Weekly Recaps

Every Friday is an opportunity to unleash the tough stuff. I know it’s not always easy to say “this week sucked” or “why am I doing this I’m not getting results” on the phone to your trainer. Friday recaps are an opportunity to let it out. They’re also an opportunity to celebrate the wins! I often find the answers to my client’s frustrations in those very recaps.

Daily Focuses

On top of that are Daily Focuses with immense changing power. “I’m eating better” isn’t enough to get results. It doesn’t have meaning and therefore doesn’t help you progress. What does better mean? Does it mean you ate 3/4s of the pizza instead of all of it? Or does it mean you cut out the bagel and cream cheese and replaced it with a superfood smoothie? Focuses add an element of fun to the challenge of eating well and prioritizing yourself. We build the foundation and then start on the sky scraper.

Bonus Accountability

Bonus: The Transformation Club is my private Facebook group reserved only for boss babes looking to make some changes. I post almost daily – workouts, recipes, articles, jokes, tips, strategies. It’s just that little bit of motivation and accountability popping up in your feed to use at your own pace.

*p.s. please don’t take my explanation of conventional training the wrong way. It’s quite often not the trainers fault at all. Most trainers are paid a small portion of the fee you pay and so they pack their schedule with as many clients as possible just to make ends meet. That means that when your session is up, your trainer is immediately trying to switch gears for their next client. It’s a tough way to coach.

#5: It’s More Than Just Exercise.

As a personal trainer I’m dedicated to helping my clients use exercise to get healthier, stronger, happier and more confident. But it’s not just about the workouts.

It’s about the nutrition that supports the workout. Ditch the diet mentality and the food guilt in favor of enjoying food again and letting it be a part of your happiness.

It’s also about sleep, recovery and restoration. Sure I love HIIT. I’ll hand out a good sprint workout any day of the week. But that’s not the save-all-end-all. Rest and recovery strategies are just as key to living a healthy life.

And it’s also about the emotional and personal aspect of health. You can’t untangle stress and anxiety from the mesh of fitness. To focus on one without focusing on the other would be silly, and probably detrimental.

So online personal training gives the opportunity to do it all. To zoom out and look at the bigger picture. To ask the questions:

• How does this workout fit with the overall plan?
• Is your diet supporting your lifestyle?
• What can you let go of or where can you take time to deal with stress?
• If you don’t feel up to it this week, why is that? Hormones? Burn out? Anxiety?

I spend as much time talking with my online personal training clients about these factors as I do talking to them about what the scale says. That’s actually not true. I spend WAY MORE time talking with my clients about these factors as I do talking to them about the damn scale.