Online fitness

[FitnessTrainer2020]

I'm an experienced PT juggling looking after young kids, trying to expand my income (currently decent offline, but I need to maximise earnings if I can & be more flexoble to be able to juggle childcare better) & I'm looking for the advice of great Mumsnetters about running online fitness services. I'd really value hearing what your views are on online PT and online fitness classes, if you've ever used either before, what you'd pay ideally & what you'd want or value from either. Many thanks in advance for anyone who is kind enough to share their views & insights!

If you have a read of posts in this forum, you'll get some ideas about what women are looking for.

The problem I see for you is that there's such a barrier about actually paying for expertise: so make sure you price properly! You'll see so many posts on here not wanting to pay ...

Thank you! I thought of doing it originally because a couple of local clients from one of my fitness classes requested it. Obviously I'd want to advertise it to more than a few of my regulars so would be interested to hear any feedback. I appreciate there's lots of good free content already.

Hi @FitnessTrainer2020, i've just done 3 months (£200) with a local online PT, he does various packages and I went for the cheapest option which was a "group", but all individual routines on an app he monitors and advises on (group advice on nutrition etc.rather than individual diet plans and monitoring which would be the more expensive personal packages).

It's been brilliant, I've lost a stone and lift heavier than I thought was ever possible! It's been well worth the money.

I wouldn't have been able to afford a PT at the gym so having someone design a program that worked for me, was on hand for questions and cheer me on was great!

I have done all sorts of online fitness things over the years. Here is my market research for you 🤣
Bodi - online fitness classes of every variety. The production level is high. You follow along like you are in the class. It costs about £200 a year. I did this a lot when I was on maternity leave, motivated to lose weight, harder to keep pressing play when you don’t feel motivated.

Fitt Cycle - This is an app where a real lady called Lyndsay calculates your macros. You link MFP to the app so your coach can look at your food if necessary. Lyndsey also provides a daily workout that you do through the app. It’s mostly weight training based and she has an example of the exercise. And she runs a Facebook page with other people who start on the same day. It was £30 to join the 28 day challenge for one month. Her app looks a bit clunky but it’s actually one of the best for the way the workouts count your reps and you can follow along with solid exercises that gets the job done in an straight forward way.

Six Pack Reveloution- you sign up for a 75 day challenge. They provide you with a meal plan, and exercises but they are just pictures with a short demo video. You join a private Facebook group and are meant to post short videos of you working out for accountability. It’s a bit of a faff. They promote their own brand shakes which are expensive but do taste the best I have found. That costs £150

One time I paid £200 to join a 8 week fitness challenge and it was in reality just entrance to a private WhatsApp group. Where no one knew each other and it was a bit awkward really. The coach told me my macros and I had to fill in a weekly spreadsheet with my progress. And it did make me go to exercise classes in my area a bit more often.The coach hosted a weekly WhatsApp group call and did a nutrition training - that was the best part about it.

I have done others but those sort of typify what I have done and the different models out there. I am sure there are others. But maybe there are some ideas there.

All the best with it!

You need to create some content you have ready that people can use when you are offline, this is you make money, not with the live classes but with the extra content. So even when you sleep, you earn. You should consider packages that are a mix of 2-3 live classes , group or 1:1 then you can give a program that includes a range of activity.

It is a busy market. There are so many amazing creators, you need to create a niche. A local niche for meet-ups in a park once a week, or something specific, LIFTMOR for people who care about bones, lean mass loss prevention for people on weight loss injection and so on, new mums, pelvic floor.

Try advertising in your local facebook group where you live, advertising a live class in a park at a low price, kids welcome. Then you get to be known and you have those once a fortnight or monthly in person, and it moves to online live or videos.

Consider offering whatsapp support, checking in every 3 days.
Group live is a big plus compared to any youtube or app.