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Working with a personal trainer can be a huge boost to your workout regimen, but also a huge hit to your wallet. The best online personal trainers offer some of the benefits of an in-person trainer, but for a fraction of the cost. Instead of meeting up at a gym, you can use some of our picks to...
The post The 8 Best Online Personal Trainers of 2023 appeared first on BarBend.
Working with a personal trainer can be a huge boost to your workout regimen, but also a huge hit to your wallet. The best online personal trainers offer some of the benefits of an in-person trainer, but for a fraction of the cost. Instead of meeting up at a gym, you can use some of our picks to connect virtually with a real coach who can create customized workout programs. An in-person trainer may be inconvenient, a bad personality match, or just too expensive. With many online options, you can get a similar level of custom programming to what you would get in person.
While some online personal trainers provide a human — or AI — touch, others can simply create your program automatically based on your goals, fitness level, favorite types of exercise, or available equipment. If you have been scouring your app store for the best online workout programs and just need some guidance, we did the legwork for you and brought you our favorites. No matter what type of training and expertise you’re searching for — weight loss, cardio, strength training, or yoga, we have some online options for you.
The Best Online Personal Trainers
How We Tested The Best Online Personal Trainers
These 8 picks have been scrutinized by our team of certified personal trainers, nutrition coaches, competitive powerlifters, and CrossFit L-1 Trainers. All of these online personal trainers have been tested by experts using our testing methodology to evaluate their ease of use, quality of instruction, accountability, required equipment, value, and even customer service.
Each tester experienced these online trainers just like you will, but with the trained and qualified eye of a fitness industry expert. We spent weeks and months — in one case over three years — getting to know these apps inside and out. Some testers used multiple apps, while others focused on specific ones. We completed individual workouts, along with full programs over a wide range of workout types, including cardio, strength training, HIIT, pilates, yoga, and CrossFit. Whether you are a beginner or just looking to add variety to your regimen, check out what we learned about the best online personal trainers.
Best Overall Online Personal Trainer: Future
Future Online Personal Training
Future Online Personal Training
Future offers online personal training in every facet of fitness. Every client gets a certified fitness professional who will prescribe training programs, follow up daily to assess progress, make program adjustments as needed, and offer accountability.
Shop Future
Specs
Pros
Cons
Future is our pick for best overall online personal trainer because of how easy it is to find a compatible coach to build your personalized program and help you reach your fitness goals. In fact, we have three testers who have used Future extensively — one for over two years. Each tester gave Future nearly perfect scores in all of our key categories, like ease of use, accountability, interactivity, and instruction.
After creating your account, you’ll fill out a questionnaire that assesses factors like your current fitness level, goals, available equipment, and even preferred intensity levels and personality traits of your coach. Building a relationship with a real person is what sets Future apart. Our tester — a certified personal trainer, USA Weightlifting Level 1 coach, and CrossFit Level 1 trainer — said, “My greatest motivation was having my online fitness coach check in with me every day.” In fact, two testers rated the accountability that their coaches provided a 5 out of 5.
A real-life coach will not be present during workouts, so if having someone barking in your ear is the best way for you to finish a set, Future might not be best for you. However, each movement has a video demonstration to help you with your form before starting a workout. One tester explained, “After every workout, I gave my coach feedback — mostly rated how I felt and sent videos. Then my coach made adjustments to my program.”
Dropping $199 per month is going to be tough for a lot of people — our team rated the pricing a 3.75 out of 5. Even with the 30-day free trial, Future may not be the best option for everyone. You can probably afford most boutique gyms for that price. However, as one tester put it, “We are talking about personalized workouts designed specifically for your goals and equipment.” Compared to an in-person trainer — which will run you between $25 and $100 per hour — we think Future is a good deal. (1)
Screenshots of the weekly calendar, movement video demonstration, and messages tabs in Future.
No matter what type of exercise interests you, Future has coaches who can tailor programs for everything from cardio and HIIT to yoga and pilates — even the occasional hike. Billy Brown, BarBend Reviews Editor and competitive CrossFitter, put the app’s Olympic weightlifting expertise to the test, saying, “I specifically wanted an Olympic training program and they hooked me up with an Oly coach. In just two months, I added 25 pounds on both my snatch and clean & jerk.”
As far as the app itself, our testers all rated its ease of use a 4.5 out of 5. It was easy to start and stop workouts and communicate with their coaches. They also appreciated the pre-recorded voiceovers from their coaches that popped up during certain exercises. Every workout also has a visual to demonstrate each movement as you do it.
One tester —also a CrossFit Level 1 trainer — emphasized that it was difficult to get in touch with customer service.“I couldn’t find an obvious live chat option nor is there a phone number to call.” She had to hunt through the FAQs just to find a way to email the company. And while this hopefully wouldn’t come up for every user — she still rated customer service a 3.75 out of 5 — she did say, “I just felt like it wasn’t easy to contact them.”
We think that your main consideration will be the price. As that same tester mentioned, “It’s going to be up to you to decide if the accountability of a real trainer is worth the extra cost.” However, taking into account the app’s ease of use, quality of instruction, and personalization, we made Future our pick for best online personal trainer.
Read our full Future App Review.
Best Online Personal Trainer for Weight Loss: Caliber
Caliber
Caliber
With two coaching subscriptions to choose from (one group oriented and one individualized), Caliber can be an excellent tool for guiding your fitness journey. The prescribed workouts can be tailored to your available equipment, and you’re in constant communication with your personal trainer through the app’s chat feature and video call capabilities.
Shop Caliber
Specs
Pros
Cons
We chose Caliber as the best online personal trainer for weight loss because it integrates nutrition with its personalized exercise programs. Your certified nutrition coach creates a nutrition plan that factors in your current eating habits, level of activity, and weight loss goals. Because exercise can have such a positive effect on weight loss, you’ll also receive a custom-built workout plan. (2)
Only registered dieticians can prescribe specific diets and meal plans, but your certified nutrition coach can provide general nutrition advice. Specifically, they will teach you how to track macronutrients and will set daily macro targets for you. (3) Your coach will help you learn how to build balanced meals to reach targets for specific nutrients, like protein and fiber.
They also provide advice for selecting healthier options at the grocery store or at restaurants, as well as educating you about positives and negatives of different types of diets. Our tester — a certified nutrition coach and personal trainer herself — used Caliber premium for 21 days. She said, “My coach gave me sound advice and it actually helped a ton.”
Messages with the trainer, along with with Menu and Home tabs in Caliber.
Our tester explained to her coach that she was hesitant to commit to a structured plan. “I shared that I had a history of disordered eating, but wanted to give the nutrition plan a shot,” our tester explained. “After I tracked my macros for a few days, I started to feel guilty about some food choices. I told my coach I wasn’t comfortable tracking my food and she was so compassionate and understanding — exactly what you want in a coach.”
“We agreed that I would send pictures of each meal to help keep me accountable,” she said. However, she was no longer worried about counting calories or tracking her macros. Our tester shared part of her story and her coach responded with compassion and flexibility. She later shared, “This was a highlight of my experience with the Caliber app.”
You’ll experience this same flexibility with your workout plan. According to Caliber, most of its users are gym members, but your coach can build a program with just bodyweight workouts. Our tester said, “I appreciated that the fitness plan is centered around weight training.” If you don’t at least have dumbbells, kettlebells, or a barbell with weight plates at home, joining a gym may be a good option for you, also.
For accountability, our tester rated Caliber a perfect 5 out of 5. She said, “My trainer held me accountable because she could keep track of all my activity,” she said. “The weekly asynchronous check-ins were my favorite part. My coach communicated regularly with me in the chat and sent videos, too. She recapped that week’s workouts, checked all my logged data, and gave me great feedback.”
Our tester rated the instruction 5 out of 5 because each exercise in your daily workout features a video to demonstrate proper form. She was disappointed that her fitness tracker wasn’t compatible with Caliber. It syncs with an Apple Watch, but would not with her Garmin, prompting a 4 out of 5 for ease of use. She wasn’t thrilled about it, saying, “I do have to manually input my workout data in the app after I’ve logged them on my watch, which is annoying.”
Caliber Premium’s nutrition component — coupled with its exercise programs — makes it unique among the best online personal trainers. Our tester rated Caliber 4.68 out of 5 overall, despite the price tag, saying, “The difference with Caliber Premium that I loved is that you have a completely individualized training plan designed around your goals because you’re being coached one-on-one.”
Best Online Personal Trainer for Beginners: Aaptiv
Aaptiv
Aaptiv
An audio-focused streaming workout app that lets you take your workouts anywhere you want to go.
Shop Aaptiv
Specs
Pros
Cons
Aaptiv is a solid launch point for beginners because its huge library — over 8,000 classes and workouts — allows beginners to gain experience in different types of exercise. What set it apart as the best online personal trainers for beginners was its educational resources. Our tester — a certified personal trainer and NASM-certified nutrition coach — rated the value a 4.5 out of 5. She said, “I think $15 per month is such a good deal for this app.”
The app’s “Magazine” resource can help get you up to speed on the why, what, and how of personal fitness. With articles like, The Beginner’s Guide to Navigating the Gym Floor, or Why Form Matters and How to Improve Yours, beginners can find expert answers to specific questions that they might ask a live personal trainer. Our tester was impressed, saying, “I think this is easily the best value of all the apps I have tried.” This separates Aaptiv from other apps with on-demand workouts.
Since there are no live personal trainers, you won’t see much interactivity. Our tester rated this just 3 out of 5, and she said, “I could pretty much just see other people’s workouts and interact within a community feed.” We don’t feel like Aaptiv is the place to come for personal interaction, but for beginners, it’s a great place to start without breaking the bank for a personal trainer in a gym. The workout variety earned a 4 out of 5 from our tester. “There’s a lot to do in Aaptiv. I think it would keep most people satisfied for at least a year or more.”
Another defining feature is its emphasis on audio-only workouts. Some types of workouts are best suited for video. Learning a strength training movement — like how to do a deadlift — definitely needs a visual. But if you’re on a treadmill, stair climber, exercise bike, or meditating, it can be distracting to watch a studio full of people working out, too.
The Active Aging program, Browse tab and Coach tab on Aaptiv.
Aaptiv does offer video classes — for barre, yoga, pilates, strength training, and stretching — but having so many high-quality audio-only classes makes it a great pick for beginners. The instruction overall — for audio-only and video workouts — got a 4 out of 5 from our tester. She pointed out, “Some of the workouts have a small animation to demonstrate the movements that include a voice-over of the trainer. I think this could throw some people off.”
In terms of the actual workouts, you’ll find most classes are around 15 to 30 minutes, but they range from less than 10 to 60 minutes. There are also plenty of bodyweight exercises if you don’t have any equipment yet. For beginners, picking up some wins can boost your confidence and motivation, so you might want to go after some of Aaptiv’s challenges and set up reminders to keep you on track. Our tester loved that integration saying, “It was helpful that I could join periodized, structured workouts and add them to my calendar as ‘appointments’ inside the app.”
For a beginner, the combination of Aaptiv’s educational resources and workout types can jump-start your fitness journey. Even without a dedicated personal trainer in the app, our tester raved about the quality of instruction, saying, “I thought the trainers who created the workouts were clearly knowledgeable.” We chose it as our best online personal trainer for beginners because you can learn, practice, and experiment without the investment of a live trainer.
Best Online Personal Trainer for Cardio: iFIT
$25 Off
IFIT Class Subscription
...
Click here to view the article.
The post The 8 Best Online Personal Trainers of 2023 appeared first on BarBend.
Working with a personal trainer can be a huge boost to your workout regimen, but also a huge hit to your wallet. The best online personal trainers offer some of the benefits of an in-person trainer, but for a fraction of the cost. Instead of meeting up at a gym, you can use some of our picks to connect virtually with a real coach who can create customized workout programs. An in-person trainer may be inconvenient, a bad personality match, or just too expensive. With many online options, you can get a similar level of custom programming to what you would get in person.
While some online personal trainers provide a human — or AI — touch, others can simply create your program automatically based on your goals, fitness level, favorite types of exercise, or available equipment. If you have been scouring your app store for the best online workout programs and just need some guidance, we did the legwork for you and brought you our favorites. No matter what type of training and expertise you’re searching for — weight loss, cardio, strength training, or yoga, we have some online options for you.
The Best Online Personal Trainers
- Best Overall Online Personal Trainer: Future
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Weight Loss: Caliber
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Beginners: Aaptiv
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Cardio: iFIT
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Strength Training: JuggernautAI
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Variety: obé Fitness
- Best Online Personal Trainer for CrossFit: NCFIT
- Best Online Personal Trainer for Yoga: Down Dog
How We Tested The Best Online Personal Trainers
These 8 picks have been scrutinized by our team of certified personal trainers, nutrition coaches, competitive powerlifters, and CrossFit L-1 Trainers. All of these online personal trainers have been tested by experts using our testing methodology to evaluate their ease of use, quality of instruction, accountability, required equipment, value, and even customer service.
Each tester experienced these online trainers just like you will, but with the trained and qualified eye of a fitness industry expert. We spent weeks and months — in one case over three years — getting to know these apps inside and out. Some testers used multiple apps, while others focused on specific ones. We completed individual workouts, along with full programs over a wide range of workout types, including cardio, strength training, HIIT, pilates, yoga, and CrossFit. Whether you are a beginner or just looking to add variety to your regimen, check out what we learned about the best online personal trainers.
Best Overall Online Personal Trainer: Future
Future Online Personal Training
Future Online Personal Training
Future offers online personal training in every facet of fitness. Every client gets a certified fitness professional who will prescribe training programs, follow up daily to assess progress, make program adjustments as needed, and offer accountability.
Shop Future
Specs
- Cost Per Month: $199
- Type of Training: Strength, cardio, yoga, HIIT, and more.
- Compatibility: iOS and Android
- Required Equipment: Bodyweight, home gym, or commercial gym
Pros
- Connect with a real personal trainer who will build your personalized training program.
- Each movement has a video demonstration.
- Your fitness coach will help keep you accountable through daily check-ins.
Cons
- $199 per month is a big investment.
- Your coach builds your plan but is not with you during workouts.
- Customer service can be spotty.
Future is our pick for best overall online personal trainer because of how easy it is to find a compatible coach to build your personalized program and help you reach your fitness goals. In fact, we have three testers who have used Future extensively — one for over two years. Each tester gave Future nearly perfect scores in all of our key categories, like ease of use, accountability, interactivity, and instruction.
After creating your account, you’ll fill out a questionnaire that assesses factors like your current fitness level, goals, available equipment, and even preferred intensity levels and personality traits of your coach. Building a relationship with a real person is what sets Future apart. Our tester — a certified personal trainer, USA Weightlifting Level 1 coach, and CrossFit Level 1 trainer — said, “My greatest motivation was having my online fitness coach check in with me every day.” In fact, two testers rated the accountability that their coaches provided a 5 out of 5.
A real-life coach will not be present during workouts, so if having someone barking in your ear is the best way for you to finish a set, Future might not be best for you. However, each movement has a video demonstration to help you with your form before starting a workout. One tester explained, “After every workout, I gave my coach feedback — mostly rated how I felt and sent videos. Then my coach made adjustments to my program.”
Dropping $199 per month is going to be tough for a lot of people — our team rated the pricing a 3.75 out of 5. Even with the 30-day free trial, Future may not be the best option for everyone. You can probably afford most boutique gyms for that price. However, as one tester put it, “We are talking about personalized workouts designed specifically for your goals and equipment.” Compared to an in-person trainer — which will run you between $25 and $100 per hour — we think Future is a good deal. (1)
No matter what type of exercise interests you, Future has coaches who can tailor programs for everything from cardio and HIIT to yoga and pilates — even the occasional hike. Billy Brown, BarBend Reviews Editor and competitive CrossFitter, put the app’s Olympic weightlifting expertise to the test, saying, “I specifically wanted an Olympic training program and they hooked me up with an Oly coach. In just two months, I added 25 pounds on both my snatch and clean & jerk.”
As far as the app itself, our testers all rated its ease of use a 4.5 out of 5. It was easy to start and stop workouts and communicate with their coaches. They also appreciated the pre-recorded voiceovers from their coaches that popped up during certain exercises. Every workout also has a visual to demonstrate each movement as you do it.
One tester —also a CrossFit Level 1 trainer — emphasized that it was difficult to get in touch with customer service.“I couldn’t find an obvious live chat option nor is there a phone number to call.” She had to hunt through the FAQs just to find a way to email the company. And while this hopefully wouldn’t come up for every user — she still rated customer service a 3.75 out of 5 — she did say, “I just felt like it wasn’t easy to contact them.”
We think that your main consideration will be the price. As that same tester mentioned, “It’s going to be up to you to decide if the accountability of a real trainer is worth the extra cost.” However, taking into account the app’s ease of use, quality of instruction, and personalization, we made Future our pick for best online personal trainer.
Read our full Future App Review.
Best Online Personal Trainer for Weight Loss: Caliber
Caliber
Caliber
With two coaching subscriptions to choose from (one group oriented and one individualized), Caliber can be an excellent tool for guiding your fitness journey. The prescribed workouts can be tailored to your available equipment, and you’re in constant communication with your personal trainer through the app’s chat feature and video call capabilities.
Shop Caliber
Specs
- Cost Per Month: $200 for one-on-one training; $19 for group training; Free version
- Type of Training: Strength and conditioning, nutrition
- Compatibility: iOS and Android
- Required Equipment: Bodyweight, home gym, or commercial gym
Pros
- Your certified nutrition coach can help you track macronutrients, learn to build a balanced meal, and reach daily targets for nutrients like fiber and protein.
- Chat with your coach 24/7 in the app.
- Your coach tailors your fitness plan to equipment you already have access to.
Cons
- The price point for one-on-one training is high.
- Apple Watch is the only compatible wearable device.
- Caliber coaches are certified nutrition coaches, not registered dietitians.
We chose Caliber as the best online personal trainer for weight loss because it integrates nutrition with its personalized exercise programs. Your certified nutrition coach creates a nutrition plan that factors in your current eating habits, level of activity, and weight loss goals. Because exercise can have such a positive effect on weight loss, you’ll also receive a custom-built workout plan. (2)
Only registered dieticians can prescribe specific diets and meal plans, but your certified nutrition coach can provide general nutrition advice. Specifically, they will teach you how to track macronutrients and will set daily macro targets for you. (3) Your coach will help you learn how to build balanced meals to reach targets for specific nutrients, like protein and fiber.
They also provide advice for selecting healthier options at the grocery store or at restaurants, as well as educating you about positives and negatives of different types of diets. Our tester — a certified nutrition coach and personal trainer herself — used Caliber premium for 21 days. She said, “My coach gave me sound advice and it actually helped a ton.”
Our tester explained to her coach that she was hesitant to commit to a structured plan. “I shared that I had a history of disordered eating, but wanted to give the nutrition plan a shot,” our tester explained. “After I tracked my macros for a few days, I started to feel guilty about some food choices. I told my coach I wasn’t comfortable tracking my food and she was so compassionate and understanding — exactly what you want in a coach.”
“We agreed that I would send pictures of each meal to help keep me accountable,” she said. However, she was no longer worried about counting calories or tracking her macros. Our tester shared part of her story and her coach responded with compassion and flexibility. She later shared, “This was a highlight of my experience with the Caliber app.”
You’ll experience this same flexibility with your workout plan. According to Caliber, most of its users are gym members, but your coach can build a program with just bodyweight workouts. Our tester said, “I appreciated that the fitness plan is centered around weight training.” If you don’t at least have dumbbells, kettlebells, or a barbell with weight plates at home, joining a gym may be a good option for you, also.
For accountability, our tester rated Caliber a perfect 5 out of 5. She said, “My trainer held me accountable because she could keep track of all my activity,” she said. “The weekly asynchronous check-ins were my favorite part. My coach communicated regularly with me in the chat and sent videos, too. She recapped that week’s workouts, checked all my logged data, and gave me great feedback.”
Our tester rated the instruction 5 out of 5 because each exercise in your daily workout features a video to demonstrate proper form. She was disappointed that her fitness tracker wasn’t compatible with Caliber. It syncs with an Apple Watch, but would not with her Garmin, prompting a 4 out of 5 for ease of use. She wasn’t thrilled about it, saying, “I do have to manually input my workout data in the app after I’ve logged them on my watch, which is annoying.”
Caliber Premium’s nutrition component — coupled with its exercise programs — makes it unique among the best online personal trainers. Our tester rated Caliber 4.68 out of 5 overall, despite the price tag, saying, “The difference with Caliber Premium that I loved is that you have a completely individualized training plan designed around your goals because you’re being coached one-on-one.”
Best Online Personal Trainer for Beginners: Aaptiv
Aaptiv
Aaptiv
An audio-focused streaming workout app that lets you take your workouts anywhere you want to go.
Shop Aaptiv
Specs
- Cost Per Month: $15; $99 per year
- Type of Training: Walking, running, stair climber, stretching, barre, boxing, rowing, meditation, strength, pilates, yoga, mobility, cycling
- Compatibility: iOS and Android
- Required Equipment: Bodyweight or free weights
Pros
- Aaptiv features educational resources for beginners looking for fitness tips.
- There are over 8,000 on-demand classes and workouts to explore.
- It offers audio-only workouts that some users may prefer.
Cons
- There is no option to connect with live personal trainers.
- It has a community feed to interact with other users, but otherwise no interactive features.
- The focus on audio-based workouts may limit those who need video instruction.
Aaptiv is a solid launch point for beginners because its huge library — over 8,000 classes and workouts — allows beginners to gain experience in different types of exercise. What set it apart as the best online personal trainers for beginners was its educational resources. Our tester — a certified personal trainer and NASM-certified nutrition coach — rated the value a 4.5 out of 5. She said, “I think $15 per month is such a good deal for this app.”
The app’s “Magazine” resource can help get you up to speed on the why, what, and how of personal fitness. With articles like, The Beginner’s Guide to Navigating the Gym Floor, or Why Form Matters and How to Improve Yours, beginners can find expert answers to specific questions that they might ask a live personal trainer. Our tester was impressed, saying, “I think this is easily the best value of all the apps I have tried.” This separates Aaptiv from other apps with on-demand workouts.
Since there are no live personal trainers, you won’t see much interactivity. Our tester rated this just 3 out of 5, and she said, “I could pretty much just see other people’s workouts and interact within a community feed.” We don’t feel like Aaptiv is the place to come for personal interaction, but for beginners, it’s a great place to start without breaking the bank for a personal trainer in a gym. The workout variety earned a 4 out of 5 from our tester. “There’s a lot to do in Aaptiv. I think it would keep most people satisfied for at least a year or more.”
Another defining feature is its emphasis on audio-only workouts. Some types of workouts are best suited for video. Learning a strength training movement — like how to do a deadlift — definitely needs a visual. But if you’re on a treadmill, stair climber, exercise bike, or meditating, it can be distracting to watch a studio full of people working out, too.
Aaptiv does offer video classes — for barre, yoga, pilates, strength training, and stretching — but having so many high-quality audio-only classes makes it a great pick for beginners. The instruction overall — for audio-only and video workouts — got a 4 out of 5 from our tester. She pointed out, “Some of the workouts have a small animation to demonstrate the movements that include a voice-over of the trainer. I think this could throw some people off.”
In terms of the actual workouts, you’ll find most classes are around 15 to 30 minutes, but they range from less than 10 to 60 minutes. There are also plenty of bodyweight exercises if you don’t have any equipment yet. For beginners, picking up some wins can boost your confidence and motivation, so you might want to go after some of Aaptiv’s challenges and set up reminders to keep you on track. Our tester loved that integration saying, “It was helpful that I could join periodized, structured workouts and add them to my calendar as ‘appointments’ inside the app.”
For a beginner, the combination of Aaptiv’s educational resources and workout types can jump-start your fitness journey. Even without a dedicated personal trainer in the app, our tester raved about the quality of instruction, saying, “I thought the trainers who created the workouts were clearly knowledgeable.” We chose it as our best online personal trainer for beginners because you can learn, practice, and experiment without the investment of a live trainer.
Best Online Personal Trainer for Cardio: iFIT
$25 Off
IFIT Class Subscription
...
Click here to view the article.
