Just a few years ago, personal trainers had to rely on paper and pen to record client’s metrics and complicated spreadsheets to measure workout performance.
But with the recent advancements in health and fitness technology, establishing a successful personal training business is easier than ever before.
Now personal trainers can store and track data from their smartphone, hold clients accountable with wearable fitness devices, and even get accurate body measurements such as body fat percentage and muscle mass with smart technology that fits in your pocket.
In this article, we’ll dive into our favorite fitness tech for running your personal training business.
Uptivo
The Uptivo Trainer app uses heart-rate telemetry to track workouts helping personal trainers run a more professional business and motivate clients to stay motivated and more engaged with their exercise regimen.
Uptivo Trainer is a robust app for iPad and Android tablets that helps set up individual or group classes by displaying and monitoring crucial metrics like heart rate, calories burned, training zone splits, duration of a workout, and more. Once a workout session is complete, reports are populated to give personal trainers accurate metrics for review to show the effectiveness of the training through Uptivo Cloud.
If you’re hosting a group class, Uptivo Cloud allows you to target specific workouts based on your clients’ fitness level and age. Or even establish an active community with your clients by sharing fitness goals and progress on social media.
The app works with popular heart rate sensors including Garmin, Polar, Suunto, Wahoo Fitness, and more. Trainers can easily sign clients up by adding the sensor ID to the user profile of supported heart-rate sensors.
You can also give your clients the opportunity to purchase the Uptivo Belt which is the preferred device for tracking heart-rate-based training classes.
Not only will you improve client retention by showing them accurate metrics of their progress, but you’ll also build authority and professionalism with Uptivo’s comprehensive health tracking functionalities.
InBody: 270 Body Composition Analyzer
If you run your personal training business at your own physical location, investing in an InBody: 270 Body Composition Analyzer is something you could consider.
In just 15 seconds, you can accurately measure your client’s body water levels, muscle mass, and fat mass by having them stand on the device and holding the grips. Not only will these metrics give you a better understanding of how you should design their workout regimen, but it also shows clients how much progress they have made while working with you. This could help with client retention as they’ll see their health improving each time they step on the body composition analyzer.
Unlike others, the Inbody 270 only uses impedance to determine body composition results which means estimations from gender and age aren’t used to predict metrics.
All of the data automatically saves in their cloud software system which lets you easily view client’s results anytime, no matter where you are.
Tangram Smart Rope PURE
The Tangram Smart Rope PURE is a great piece of workout technology personal trainers can bring with them for cardio-based workout sessions with clients.
This jump rope isn’t just your average piece of exercise equipment. The Smart Rope accurately tracks jumps with magnetic sensors that are attached to the ball bearings. You can then pair it with the Smart Gym mobile app to store workout data as calories burned, time spent, jump count, and progress.
If you’re an online personal trainer, you can recommend clients to purchase the Smart Rope PURE as part of your training program. This also adds a competitive aspect to their workout regimen as you can compare metrics and compete with others.
It’s a great way to motivate your clients to workout even in the comfort of their own home.
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers are a great way to monitor your client’s activity and health with minimal effort. The wearable device market is expected to skyrocket into the 25 billion dollar range, for a good reason. Trackers like Fitbit, Moov Now, Garmin Vivosmart 4, and Huawei Band 2 Pro can track all the important metrics that are vital for helping your clients achieve their health and fitness goals.
These fitness devices will help your clients stay motivated. Studies show that people wearing these devices notice a tremendous increase in fitness activity. Instead of seeing exercise as a chore, trackers help to gamify workouts.
In addition, fitness trackers can hold clients accountable for reaching their goals when you’re not around. Most fitness devices come with personalized reminders and tools designed to keep your clients’ health and fitness goals top of mind.
Recommending a fitness tracker to your clients will help them stay motivated, held accountable, and reach their goals much faster.
Trainer Metrics
One of the most effective ways to get your clients results is by measuring their progress.
With Trainer Metrics, you can easily manage multiple clients’ metrics in one central hub. You can easily organize and share stats with clients by sharing their profile to show them the progress they’ve made.
It also includes comprehensive health and fitness assessments to get accurate metrics on your clients. This makes it easier to explain to your clients why they’re doing certain exercises and how it helps them reach their goals.
The visual data and intelligent population comparison indexing helps you track your clients progress more effectively so you know exactly when to reprogram when a client plateaus.
Skulpt Scanner
The Skulpt Scanner is a pocket-sized tool that allows you to measure body fat percentage and even get a personalized workout plan to cater to your clients’ goals.
The scanner measures local fat percentages in 24 different areas and is able to identify the strength of muscles and well as muscle quality in each area. With the Skulpt App, you’re presented with an in-depth muscle and body fat analysis which you can show to your client so they know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
If you’re constantly traveling, carrying the Skulpt Scanner is a great way to quantify metrics and craft an effective workout regimen for your clients no matter where you are.
Polar H10 Heart Rate Monitor
Whether your client is overweight and new to exercise or an advanced athlete, monitoring your client’s heart rate is essential. The Polar H10 Heart Rate Sensor monitors heart rate with precision and connects to two separate Bluetooth devices at the same time. This is great if you want to walk your client through a workout and increase or decrease intensity depending on their heart rate.
The Polar H10 straps onto your chest so that it never gets in the way during exercise. You can either purchase your own and share with your clients or ask them to invest in one so they can measure their heart rate while working out even when you’re not there.
Beast Sensor
Often times, it’s better to have two sets of eyes instead of one. With the Beast Sensor, you’ll no longer have to rely on your client’s word when it comes to the intensity of the strength training program you designed for them.
The Beast Sensor is a great tool that uses motion sensors to quantify your workout performance when lifting weights. Since it’s magnetic, it’s compatible with various different weights, machines, and even bodyweight exercises. This means you’ll no longer have to use expensive lab equipment to measure your client’s workout performance.
Their cloud-based web portal allows you to easily review data after each training session and it collects data from past workouts so you know how to program their next workout for best results.
By looking at the data of your client’s strength workout, you can make much better decisions as to how many sets, reps, and loads they should be doing.
10to8
10to8 is an appointment booking software that easily integrates with the most popular online apps such as Google Calendar, Paypal, Wordpress, Facebook, Quickbooks, Mailchimp and much more.
Clients are able to book slots wherever you’re free and even comes with automated text and email reminders as well as chat capabilities so you and your clients are always on the same page.
10to8’s two-way chat feature that integrates with your calendar app is extremely useful. This helps you maintain crystal clear communication with your clients to significantly reduce no-shows and minimize the risk of missing appointments when you have a busy schedule.
With over 500 apps you can integrate with, 10to8 is a fantastic tool to incorporate into your business to give you complete visibility on which clients you need to be working with and at what time.
TrueCoach
TrueCoach is a popular cloud-based app that simplifies online personal coaching. It includes several comprehensive features such as attendance tracking, a video exercise database, fitness plans and assessments, payment processing, as well as nutrition programs.
The TrueCoach workout builder gives you better perspective with your clients’ training plans so you can cater to their own individual goals. This allows you to design programs, then track and deliver them extremely fast so you don’t have to waste countless hours creating them manually.
You can also track and measure your clients’ progress over time with charts and graphs included, allowing you to review workout history and metrics so you can make better decisions the next time you’re programming. In addition, TrueCoach lets you build your own self-branded video exercise library, giving your clients a more personalized feel when they’re learning about the workouts you assigned them.
Use Technology to Fast-Track Your Personal Training Business
One of the best ways to drastically increase customer acquisition and retention is by getting them the results they paid you for. And thanks to technological advancements, personal trainers now have access to the most important health and fitness metrics needed to help clients reach their goals.
By incorporating just one or two of the fitness technology above, not only will you add professionalism to your business, but you could also see an increase in referrals when your clients see how effective your programs are with accurate metrics to prove it.
