I sell online coaching, so treat this accordingly. I have also turned people away from it, which is the part most articles like this leave out.
What you are actually paying for
Not a plan. Plans are free and they are everywhere, and that is exactly why buying one has never fixed anybody.
You are paying for three things. Somebody who builds the plan around your week rather than an imaginary one. Somebody who looks at a video of your squat and tells you what is wrong with it. And somebody who notices when you have gone quiet for ten days and asks why.
The third one is what people underestimate and it is the one that does the work.
Where it beats in-person
If your week is unpredictable, online wins easily. Shifts, travel, a job that overruns, a gym near work on Tuesday and one near home on Thursday. A fixed appointment with a trainer at 6pm on a Wednesday is useless to you. A plan you can run wherever you are is not.
It is also cheaper, because you are not paying for somebody’s hour.
Where in-person beats it
If you have genuinely never lifted a weight and the barbell is intimidating, being in the room with someone is worth the extra. You can learn a squat from video feedback, but it takes longer and it is more frustrating, and the first few weeks are exactly when people quit.
If you are in or near Paisley and you are starting from scratch, I would honestly steer you to in-person sessions first, then move online once you know what you are doing. Plenty of people do exactly that.
Who it does not work for
People who want to be made to do it.
Online coaching removes the friction of getting somewhere at a set time. It does not remove the need to actually train. If the only reason you have ever trained is that somebody was standing there expecting you, be honest with yourself about that, because online will not fix it and you will have wasted a few months finding out.
The questions worth asking any online coach
- How often do you actually review my plan, and what triggers a change?
- What happens if I miss a week?
- Do you look at video of me lifting, or just my numbers?
- Can I message you, and what is a realistic reply time?
If the answers are vague, you are buying a PDF with a subscription attached.
How mine works
A plan built round your week, technique checked from video, and a weekly check-in that is a conversation rather than a form. You can read the detail on the online coaching page, or just message me and ask whether it suits you. I will tell you if it does not.
