Online personal training is rapidly becoming a major shift in the world of coaching bodybuilders, weightlifters, powerlifters and strength athletes. Even sport-specific training often leads athletes and competitors to seek out the top fitness coaches online to improve their game. So what’s the big allure to having an online strength coach or personal trainer?
The first advantage as mentioned above is the ability to hire a coach who may live a mile, 1,000 miles or even 10,000 miles away from you. No longer are you confined to the trainers in your local gym – while they may be great trainers, they might also be mediocre or just not up to the level of some of the online coaches.
The other big advantage is you’re more likely to find the right coach for you! Whether you want to build muscle size, get stronger, become a competitor or lose weight and adopt a healthier diet, you’ll be able to find coaches online for that. If you’re 50 years old and don’t want to work with a 23-year-old trainer who has no experience in life at that age, track down a trainer as old or older than yourself.
For a lot of athletes, scheduling is often an issue. Life gets in the way of plans, or the gym is too busy at the time your trainer is available – after all, most just work the peak periods each day. With online training, however, your coach gives you the exercise and/or meal plans and lets you use them when it fits YOUR schedule. This means if you’re hung up at work, have a hot date or simply need to rest one day, you can fit your training around those, just as you would without a coach. That flexibility doesn’t normally occur with in-person in-gym trainers as that would make their other clients suffer from the scheduling changes.
So how does online training work? Usually it starts with in-depth consultation, discussing your goals and aspirations, your history both with weights and life in general, and a careful study of any underlying conditions, medical or emotional, that might come to bear on the planning. Once that assessment is done, your coach will put together your initial workout plan (and starting nutrition plan if they offer the full service). You’ll track your food and drink intake and the weights and sets, and submit them to your coach, usually weekly. When requested, you’ll also submit photos and/or videos from your workout to help your coach assess your progress, form and strengths & weaknesses.
A good trainer will then modify your workouts and diet as time goes on with an eye to realigning you with your goals. And that, friends, is the main reason you need a fitness or personal trainer in the first place – to keep you on track, and to lend you their expertise as you build your own. Time to get yourself an online coach!