This blog post will discuss the differences between in-person training and online training, including many frequently asked questions.
Online training is sometimes referred to as remote coaching, online coaching, remote training, virtual coaching, eCoaching.
What It Is:
Online personal training is a complete coaching system, where your coach will manage all aspects of your exercise programming, nutrition plan, progress, results tracking, and anything else that is necessary for you to get to your goal.
This includes being available to answer any questions or problems you may have so that you never plateau.
You will simply complete the personalised training program sessions, use the personalised nutrition guidelines, and log your results by computer or app to a shared document which only you and your coach can see.
It is still “personal” training in that all of your nutrition and training is customised to you, and adjusted on the fly to evolve with you and to match your changing life circumstances and changing training goals.
You will be training in your own time in your own gym (or home) but will be held accountable for getting the prescribed number of sessions completed each week.
Benefits Of Online Personal Training:
Online personal training removes the guess work of going it alone, and therefore gets you to your goal faster.
You will have access to your coach 7 days a week for questions.
It doesn't require sticking to a schedule and also significantly decreases the cost of coaching.
It also avoids the need to know a lot about training / anatomy / nutrition / programming / recovery.
The plateaus synonymous with training or dieting by yourself are avoided by having your coach in your corner, seeing your results each day, and adjusting things on the fly to keep progress rolling.
How It Works:
After an initial free consultation to get to know your goals and any difficulties you've had with them, your coach will draw up a personalised training program for you.
Along with this you and your coach will agree on one small nutritional habit to incorporate as a starting point.
New nutritional habits will be added once you've found your initial habits easy to follow, until we arrive at a system that feels intuitive but gives you the results you need.
As mentioned, you will complete the training sessions on your own schedule, which your coach can see as soon as you add them in the app.
Should you have any queries about correct exercise form it is likely answered already in the demo video, but if not you can email or text a question any time, or even video yourself doing the exercise and send it to be checked.
You can also get in touch any time with any other questions.
Lastly we will have one email check in per week where you will answer a few questions from your coach that will help shape the next steps for your progress.
What It Is Not:
Online personal training is not…
training in front of Skype
videoing all your workouts and sending them to your coach (although an occasional video can be useful to some people sometimes if desired)
following along to ‘workout with me’ type videos from your coach in a Jane Fonda / Body Coach style in your living room
doing squats with a wifi router strapped to your back
Drawbacks Of Online Personal Training:
(compared to in-person training)
For some people, online training may be a slower route to the goal than training with a coach in person would be. This is something we would need to discuss in your initial free consultation to ensure online training is right for you.
Who It Is For:
Online personal training is for you if:
you who want to reach your goal without the guesswork and without getting stuck at plateaus.
You need some guidance on nutrition.
You need to be held accountable so that you will train and stick to your nutrition guide.
You need a training program to follow that evolves as you progress, and can be changed to your needs as life circumstances change.
Who It Is Not For:
If you need someone in front of you to push you hard in the gym then you should consider one of the alternatives listed below.
This may only be necessary for a short time until you learn how to gauge training intensity.
Alternatives:
In-person one-to-one training in a gym with a coach:
This one is elf-explanatory I guess.
One-to-one training over Zoom:
Training over zoom is just as effective as training in-person and can be done from your home or gym.
No special equipment is needed just a phone or computer or tablet.
If training from a gym with loud music wireless earphones are useful.
FAQs:
Can’t I just get a training program from xyz YouTuber / fitness model?
You can, but usually these are not personalised for you. Even when they are however, training without guidance or any results-monitoring, will lead to plateaus - customised online personal training makes sure this doesn’t happen by constantly monitoring feedback and results from the client and making adjustments on the fly to avoid plateaus.
How will I know how to do the exercises?
All training programs come with a complete list of demo videos. You are also welcome to shoot me a question anytime by text, call, email, video etc
Will I get a meal plan?
For many people a meal plan (what foods to eat and when) may be more restrictive than necessary. We will however put a nutrition plan in place which can range from anything as simple as changing one habit around food to anything as detailed as a meal plan. As always this will depend on your needs and goals.
Do I need to be very tech savvy / good with computers?
No.
How do I log information or results?
You’ll be given a link to upload your results to. This link can be accessed on a smartphone app or by computer.
How do I ask questions about training, nutrition, exercise form, or anything else?
You can text, call, email me etc any day of the week with questions and I will get back to you usually in the next few hours if not straight away.
We will also have a weekly check in where I will be asking you some short questions by email.
How do I know if online personal training is right for me?
I offer a free consultation where we can discuss your goals, background and the pros and cons of either online personal training, in-person personal training, zoom training, or hybrid personal training (mixing those methods together, ie online training with occasional in-person or zoom sessions whenever your feel the need or want).
Is there a minimum period of time that I need to come onboard for?
No. There is no minimum term for online personal training and you can cancel at any time.
Do I have to meet you in person first or can I just become an online client now?
Always nice to meet new people but if that is not convenient for you, we can have our initial consultation by phone / Skype / FaceTime as you prefer.
Can I also do some in-person training?
Yes! Hybrid personal training is a mix of online personal training with some in-person training sessions or zoom session with a coach. During your initial free consultation we can discuss if this system is best for you.
Can I change from online to in-person or vice versa?
Yes you can change around as much as you like. Many of my in-person clients become online personal training clients during holidays abroad or busy schedule periods where in-person session are difficult to schedule.
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