In this article I'm going to tell you about my Online personal training in Cornwall.
What is online personal training?
Online personal training has exploded since the Covid-19 pandemic, mainly out of necessity.
Obviously with the gyms being shut, personal trainers, gyms and fitness studios have adapted accordingly and offer up their services online.
Online personal training did exist before the pandemic but it certainly wasn't as big as it is now. I think the online personal training market has accelerated by about 10 years as a result of the pandemic.
Online personal training is typically done via a video call with the personal trainer coaching the client through a training session just as they would doing it in person.
However there are other formats that also could be considered as online personal training. For example:
- When a personal trainer simply provides a programme card for the client to do in their own time.
- When a personal trainer pre-records workout videos that clients can access online.
My online personal training is done in real time via video call. I coach my clients through the workout by providing real time feed back on form and technique as well as counting reps and giving instructions.
Obviously online personal training broadens the scope for both trainers and clients as travel is no longer an issue. However, I like to advertise my online personal training service to residents of Cornwall in an effort to keep training local.
I always prioritise anyone from Cornwall who wants to take part in my online personal training sessions.
What's my experience with online personal training?
Now I don't want to sound arrogant but I have been in the online personal training game since way way before it was cool or necessary. Back in 2015 I worked for a start up company who had their own proprietary streaming software purpose designed for online fitness.
It's actually a little bit strange going from in person personal training to online personal training and there are some key differences that you have to overcome.
Of course an obvious one is the technology itself. There are inevitable moments of lag and freezes which can interrupt a training session. The personal trainer also has to be able to explain exercises and how to set up for them in a very concise way.
Just like most things, experience is key.
I am happy to say I have many hundreds if not thousands of hours of online personal training experience under my belt and I so I am very confident in my ability to deliver an excellent online personal training service.
What software do I use for online personal training?
Zoom has become a household name since the pandemic hit with family's friends and businesses alike taking advantage of this online video conferences software.
Truth be told I don't restrict my online personal training service to one online video calling platform.
Essentially, whatever is best for the client is what we use. I have some clients who train with me using Facetime, others use Whatsapp, some use Facebook messenger and of course I have clients who use Zoom as well.
Many of my older clients prefer using Facetime because the app is already preinstalled into the Iphone and doesn't require pass codes and meeting ID's.
What equipment will you need for online personal training?
How much and what equipment you'll need for online personal training really depends on your goals.
For example if your goal is to gain lots of muscle mass and you have very limited equipment at home it will make it much harder.
With that said there are so many ways to adapt and make use of everyday household items.
I train a variety of clients online some of whom have very little equipment and others who pretty much have a small home gym. I am more than happy to guide you on what equipment would be most useful for home personal training.
Some examples of cheap and really versatile equipment includes:
With that said it's perfectly possible to do home personal training with no equipment at all. An experience personal trainer will be able to adapt lots of different exercises to come up with regressed and progressed variations to suit your abilities.
Feel free to contact to me if you would like to some advise on specific equipment you are thinking about purchasing.
How much space will you need for online personal training?
It's actually quite remarkable how little space you need for an effective personal training session at home.
Most of my existing clients do their home PT sessions either in their living room or kitchen but some do them in their bedroom and if it's nice weather in the garden.
A couple of my clients actually have a home gym set up in their garage and a few years ago I had a client who worked out on the deck of their houseboat.
So the short answer is, you don't need much space at all. I can adapt our personal training sessions to fit around how ever much space you have available.
How much do I charge for online personal training?
My online personal training can be bought as:
- A block of 5 sessions £125 (£25 per session).
- A block of 10 sessions £200 (£20 per session).
- Alternatively you can pay a monthly fee of £180 which entitles you to 12 session per month. (£15 per session for a minimum of 3 months)
Sessions are 30 minutes long.
Head on over to my prices page to see the different prices for all my services.
Is online personal training as effective as in person personal training?
I was actually pretty amazed at just how well online personal training worked when I first started doing it.
Just like anything else there is a bit of an adjustment period. Thing like finding the best place to prop up your laptop/phone so I can best see you needs to be established in the first couple of sessions.
It does take a little longer for less experienced people to become full comfortable with online training.
I have a couple of online personal training clients who didn't know how to lunge or squat properly when they first started training with me. This is an example of when being their in person would be helpful to speed up the learning curve however we were able to easily overcome the issue by me creating and sending some pre-recored videos demonstrating each movement.
The online PT clients I have with their own home gyms could sometimes benefit from me being their to help them set up the heavier weights but again we adapt nicely to make it work.
I can honestly say that at home personal training is highly effective even when compared to in person personal training.
what are the benefits of online personal training?
The biggest current benefit to online personal training is the fact that is can be done remotely and therefore in a Covid safe way.
There's little doubt that even when the gyms and fitness studios do reopen that some people will continue to do online personal training.
A few of my clients have already stated that they much prefer training using the online format.
I can't speak for other personal trainers who are training clients online but for me personally it has allowed me to be far more flexible with my service.
My time spent traveling between clients is now non existent which means I can offer up more availability for my clients.
It also means I can charge less as I'm not spending anytime commuting. And because I don't have to travel I can offer earlier slots which are the most popular time to train as people generally want to get it done before work.
I used to get up at 5:30am and train my first client at 6:30am. Now I can actually train clients at 5:30am and 06:00am. (Yes some people actually do get up and train at these crazy times!)
Want to find out more about my online personal training in Cornwall?
Head on over to the contact page to book your first online personal training session with me.
You can book your first session for just £12.50 (50% discount) with no on going commitment. That way you can get an idea of how my online personal training works.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you 🙂