How to Choose the best personal training software

It's no secret the world of fitness and personal training is a crowded, chaotic and very competitive one. You don't need us to tell you that. So how can we stand out: what makes Train In Blocks unique in an oversaturated market. In order to stay relevant and gain a competitive advantage in today’s fitness industry, it’s essential to evolve as times change.

So let's take a look at some of the other major players in the game and how Train In Blocks can help you to stay in shape whilst not burning a hole in your wallet.

How do we compare against...

My PT Hub

My PT Hub is a comprehensive 'training centre' for both personal trainers and clients with everything in one place. On the right hand side of the dashboard you can see eight different options for clients. These include: creating a workout, messaging your coach, creating your own training package and adding nutrition plans. On the left hand side is space for personal trainers with a comprehensive drop-down menu of tutorials and YouTube videos with everything from how to keep clients motivated to making money from your subscription. This is a good idea as it enables you to send these features on to the clients and provides a visual aid for those who prefer information in this way and doesn't blind you with science.

You also have the option of being able to earn up to £40 simply by signing up and referring to a friend and there is a 30-day free trial for anyone to try. My PTHub charges a £49 monthly fee for their basic plan or £42 a month annually. Their basic plan comes with unlimited clients but it's not immediately clear how to access all the elements you will need. The structure seems a little confusing on first viewing.

TrueCoach

• Comes pre-loaded with over 1,000 exercise videos with the option to upload your own so you can share with your clients from anywhere
• Four price bands with the most expensive at £74 a month with up to 50 active clients.
• All TrueCoach plans include support for teams which is ideal if organisations want to give access to multiple coaches
• Gives you an overview of all the coaches on the system, and how many clients each coach has, so you can manage your team’s client load effectively.
• Minimalist home screen and slightly confusing in terms of layout: you have to search quite hard to find what you need on the site. At Train In Blocks we are 'what you see is what you get' with everything under one roof

PT Minder

• Five different pricing bands ranging from £26 to £107 with anything between one and 250 clients
• Clearly laid out into section showing upcoming plans, past data, reminders and financial details (allowing you to keep track of payments etc)
• Comprehensive list of workouts with video tutorial (suitable for everyone from beginner to expert)
• Additional features include performance reporting, online client store, integration with existing websites, client assessments and multiple trainers.
• Very detailed, perhaps too much so, so could potentially be hard to 'take it all in' and keep track of progress with graphs and numbers prominent

Trainerize

Trainerize matches you to clients based on their needs and your skillsets as a Personal Trainer, with ten different buttons on the app. It's very 'corporate' in appearance and seems geared towards businesses, it lacks the comprehensive programme-building capabilities of others but a nice feature is, when you first sign up, it adds a fully-populated trainer to your account to give you a feel of what to expect without having to go through the process of registering with them.

It also gives you the option of connecting your Trainerize account with Apple Pay, Fitbit and MyFitness Pal and an example of what a typical workout looks like. You can see what a trainer's account would look like, but from a client's point of view which is a neat aspect of the app and their USP. Some of the options on the Trainerize home page are a little vague and there's a limit on clients with only a maximum of two at their cheapest price structure, £12 a month. This limits your flexibility rather than being able to reach out to a much bigger pool of clients and, although there is an option to have an account without limits, it will cost you an eye watering £300 so price is the main drawback here.

PT Distinction

PT Distinction's clear USP is their "PTD Groups" feature unique to them. This allows you to create challenges, trials, packages and create group training to then sell online. Beyond that, it will save you huge amounts of time as you can copy as much content and as many schedules to all your clients simply at the click of a button.

This feature is unique among all the personal training software we've looked at and is a very nifty way of reaching out to clients without having to spend too long coming up with plans. You can reach out to as many people as you want in double quick time either as part of the group or to individual clients. Scheduled packages and automated messages are another example of PT Distinction's smart time-saving modus operandi.

PT Distinction's' top price bracket will cost you £74 a month with a ceiling of 50 clients, the UI isn't that friendly, and some of the components don't always seem to fit together. You only get limited access on the mobile app and you don't see there are two views in the app when you first go into it. This is remedied by explanation videos on the site though.

All of the software we've reviewed here have their various merits and unique features that may or may not suit your business. Most companies, including us, offer a free trial so you can try before you buy and work out, no pun intended, which option is best for you.