Is an online fitness coach worth it?

I'm a coach, so you'd expect me to say yes. That's a good reason to check my work. Here's what a coach adds, what the research does and doesn't show, and when it may make sense to wait.

What you're actually paying a coach for

Not information. The basic guidelines are short and free: adults are advised to get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week (or half that much vigorous activity), plus muscle-strengthening work on two or more days.¹ A workout plan is a search away.

Having the numbers isn't the same as hitting them. In a 2020 national survey, about one in four U.S. adults met both the aerobic and the muscle-strengthening guidelines.²

So what you'd be paying for is the part that's hard to do alone:

• A plan built around your real week, not an ideal one.
• Someone who looks at your numbers and changes the plan. Your weigh-ins, your logged workouts, how the week actually went.
• Someone who notices when you go quiet. The check-in you'd rather skip is usually the one that matters.

With me, that's workouts in Trainerize, two weigh-ins a week, progress photos, a weekly check-in call and direct access to me for questions. Here's how it works, step by step, and here's what the first month looks like.

Wanting to train and training are different things

Most people who keep starting over aren't short on information or desire. In a meta-analysis of 10 studies and 3,899 people, nearly half of the people who intended to meet physical-activity guidelines didn't follow through.³ I know that gap, because I lived in it. If it's yours too, a better plan on its own usually isn't the missing piece. A system around the plan is. (Here's how to build a basic one on your own.)

What the research says, and what it doesn't

There's no study of coaching with me, and I won't pretend there is. What exists looks at the pieces a coach adds.

Tracking progress and reporting it helps people reach goals. A meta-analysis of 138 randomized studies (19,951 people) found that getting people to monitor their progress toward a goal helped them reach it. The effect was larger when the outcomes were reported or made public, and when the information was physically recorded.⁴ Those studies aren't about coaches. A weekly check-in is a version of both.

Remote support beat a plain PDF on sticking with it. A coach beside you did better at the lift that takes technique. One randomized trial enrolled 112 trained adults in the same 10-week strength program, done three ways: with a coach beside them, with an app that gave video lessons, progress tracking and delayed video feedback on technique, or from a PDF. Of those who started, 88% of the supervised group, 81% of the app group and 52% of the PDF group completed at least 26 of the 30 sessions. The supervised group also gained more squat strength than the other two. Bench-press gains didn't differ between groups. The app group improved too, though the authors describe its gains as generally smaller.⁵

Weekly video coaching got beginners to train more, for a while. In a randomized trial of novice adults, people who got weekly coaching sessions over Zoom did more days of resistance training at four weeks than a comparison group that got education only. At the eight-week follow-up, the difference was no longer statistically significant.⁶

How to read this. Both trials are short (10 and 8 weeks) and about strength training. The supervised group in the first one had only 17 people. The app group is the closest the trial gets to remote coaching, but its feedback was delayed, not live. The meta-analysis isn't about fitness coaching at all. None of it tests six months of coaching with a person like me, and none of it can tell you what any coach is worth. My read: tracking, a person who sees it and a coach on hand for technique all seem to help, and a coach beside you does better at lifts that take technique. That's a reason to consider coaching if you've struggled alone. It isn't a reason to hire any particular coach.

When it's worth it

I'd say yes if:

• You know roughly what to do and keep not doing it, or you keep starting over.
• Your weeks are unpredictable and every plan you've tried assumed a perfect one.
• You want to understand why the plan looks the way it does, so you can run it yourself someday.
• You're ready to do the work between check-ins. A coach can't lift for you.

The last one decides it. Good coaching is meant to make you need it less over time. (I answer that on the FAQ.)

When it may make sense to wait

• You're already training consistently and your numbers are moving. If you've stuck with a plan for a couple of months and you're progressing, you don't have the problem a coach solves. Keep going.
• You've never lifted and don't feel safe in a gym. A few sessions with a trainer at your gym first can be a smart move. In the trial above, the supervised group's strength edge showed up in the squat, a lift where technique matters, and not in the bench press.⁵ Online coaching can pick up from there. (Here's how the two formats compare.)
• You have an injury, a medical condition or a medical question. Sort that out with your doctor or a physical therapist first. WHO's guidelines say adults with chronic conditions may wish to consult a physical activity specialist or healthcare professional about what's appropriate.¹ I'm a fitness coach, not a doctor.
• You want results without changing what you do during the week. Coaching doesn't do that part, and no coach can promise otherwise.

What about the cost?

It belongs in the decision. I don't hand out a price list: I'd rather talk with you first, and that conversation happens in the DMs. (The FAQ explains how I handle it.) With any coach, ask three things before you pay: what do I get each week, who looks at my numbers, and what happens to the plan when my week falls apart. The longer checklist is here.

Five questions to ask yourself

1. Have you trained consistently on your own for the last couple of months?
2. If you miss a week, does anyone notice?
3. Do you know what today's workout is before you walk in?
4. Is there an injury or a medical question to settle with your doctor first?
5. Will you do the work between check-ins?

This isn't a validated screen. It's how I'd think about it. If the answer to 1 is yes, keep going and check back in a few months. If the answers to 2 and 3 are no and the answer to 5 is yes, that's the profile coaching fits. If the answer to 4 is yes, start with the doctor.

What I'd say if you DM me

If coaching looks like a good fit, we talk about it. If it doesn't, I'll tell you straight. If you think it is a fit, apply and we'll talk it through.