With the growth of the online industry the popularity of online personal training is rising rapidly. In many ways, it's exactly like being trained by an expert in a gym: you're given a tailored programme that you have to fulfil in order to attain your goals. The crucial difference, of course, is that the trainer isn't next to you when working out.
Is online personal training a successful method? The answer is this depends on the person and their motivation. Some people find it an effective and time-efficient way to work out; others miss the personal touch of face-to-face sessions.
There are positive aspects of online personal training:
Access to expert advice – Offering online training services provides instant access to highly skilled coaches from all over the world as many sought after trainers work online. This also allows individuals call upon the advanced understanding of people from all over the world rather than relying on the knowledge on those in your local gym. Access is available to specialists in specific areas
Easy access with regards to the ability of the personal trainer – without meeting the potential online trainer information can be found on them, including any client reviews. Whether they are your type of individual and whether they have current up to date knowledge
Less expensive - Many of these same trainers will be able to provide a month-long training plan for the same cost as hour training with a face to face personal trainer due to costs involved for the personal trainers.
Freedom of location and time - Having an online personal trainer that delivers a workout program to you electronically means that you can access your workout on your mobile devices at any time and in any location, which is great for those that travel frequently or do not want to be restricted by gym opening times, although there are 24-hour gyms available in places also.
On-going support - Many online trainers provide comprehensive online support in the form of answers to emails, dietary guidelines and the ability to have your weekly food journal assessed. With these perks built into the initial upfront costs you are guaranteed personal attention throughout your customer experience.
However, on the other hand there are important areas that are missed when working with an online personal trainer
Safety can be an issue – when performing the activities there is no qualified practitioner looking and correcting any technique that could pose harm and reduce the efficiency of the workout. However, there are methods of video technology and skype/face time that could alleviate these.
Motivation is the big one – Everyone has times of demotivation, where you are and while a high quality program can be delivered with ease over the phone or email, there's zero guarantee that it will be successfully completed. Individuals are very good at coming up with reasons that they should not workout and less good at reasons why they should. Without the personal trainer physically present to ensure this is complete this is where the results could be compromised.
Online trainers can struggle to judge progress accurately- as an online trainer cannot always watch you perform exercises live, there is a lot relying on the success of the client gathering the information for example how well the workouts are tracked by the client and how honest the client is about how hard they worked and results. Again here are devices to regard Heart rate which may provide more quantitativedata. However, you are relying on the technical ability of the client again.
Face to face personal training
There are positive and negative aspects of in person personal training also
Less flexibility - When a personal trainer begins to develop a reputation for delivering results, they tend to get busy very fast. They get booked up fast clients then find it difficult to book mutually convenient times and new clients find it very difficult to get sessions at all
More expensive - Such demand inevitable leads to a rise in session prices, making the more sought-after trainers too expense for most to work with. As the face to face personal training is not as cost effective for the personal trainer this will mean an increased cost
Less ongoing support - Unfortunately, many trainers are reluctant to have much contact outside of one-to-one sessions, which unfortunately you won't find out until you've invested a lot of your time and money.
One of the main benefits of working with a personal trainer is that they get you through your workouts even when you don't want to be there. That extra motivation – to actually turn up at the gym and to push through tough workouts – just isn't available through an online programme.
In summary online training can work and does work however but it is definitely not for everyone. It is recommended for seasoned exercisers who don't need instruction in the gym and who won't lose motivation, most of the time, without the direct accountability of someone hovering over them. The methods of personal training are individual to each person as we are all different what works for one will not work for another. The importance is being able to offer it all for the client to choose their best option for the best results.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/does-online-personal-training-work/