features
PT apps: PT on demand
Uber has had great success with its taxi on demand app, but do people need PTs at such short notice? Kath Hudson reports on the new trend for PT on demand apps
In-person PT
TruBe, founded by Swiss-born entrepreneur Daria Kantor, is a PT on demand app aimed at time-poor Millennials.
“People are so busy nowadays that time has become a valuable commodity. TruBe is a product that works around their schedule,” she explains.
Currently only available in the UK, TruBe has more than 100 highly qualified trainers, with users able to choose from PT, yoga, boxing, kickboxing and ballet fit.
They have to be able to provide the workout venue, which may be at their home, their office, their work gym or even the local park.
The fee for four sessions a month is £99, eight sessions cost £189, and it’s £269 for 12 sessions. Four sessions is the most popular among the app’s 6,000 users. TruBe gets a commission for each session.
The app launched last year and then relaunched a few months later, after taking on board customer feedback which found that people wanted it to be more visual and simpler to use.
Although the app is gaining traction, Kantor says the main challenge has been to find a large enough network of personal trainers – and that this is also the barrier to expanding more rapidly overseas and into remoter parts of the UK.
A peer network
US app VINT came up against similar problems to TruBe in terms of finding enough good trainers, even though it was using enthusiastic amateurs for a peer-to-peer approach – a model it felt would be less intimidating for users.
“We wanted to use people who were passionate about fitness to train other people in their spare time,” explains founder Louise Fritjofsson. “However, we experienced a lot of problems with our PTs not being professional enough – cancelling and turning up late.”
After two years of struggling to find sufficient numbers of reliable PTs, VINT decided to change its model. “We found we’d built a brilliant one-click class booking system, with a community-based feel, lots of pictures and the ability to send messages,” says Fritjofsson. VINT has therefore been relaunched as a bookings system and counts premium US chain Equinox among its clients. PTs and yoga teachers can still list their services and can be booked via the app, but selling one-to-one PT sessions is no longer the sole focus of this app.
Virtual approach
Dutch app Fitmo launched to consumers in November 2014, connecting people to real personal trainers, but doing so virtually – a way of getting around the issue of having enough personal trainers to meet demand.
Coaches determine their own rates and clients choose their coach; all are certified in either personal training or nutrition, or both. Fitmo then takes a 20 per cent cut of the coaches’ rates.
On offer is dietary, lifestyle and exercise advice; users receive on-demand, personalised programmes and ongoing support and advice via messages and video calls. Clients can choose the level of support that they want: packages start at US$9 a month, rising to US$250.
The average price paid per month is US$60, which offers unlimited chat support from the coach, a tailored health plan and a weekly video chat check-in. User numbers are not disclosed, but are said to be in the thousands across the world.
The app’s founder Dave Roeloeffs says his model ensures continuity: people’s training programmes needn’t be disrupted even during holiday season or if they’re travelling with work.
The app also allows users to synch wearable devices, so their personal data can be taken into account: the coach keeps an eye and keeps fine-tuning the workout programme to help the user reach their goals.
In contrast to VINT and TruBe – which both aimed to make it easy and convenient to book a PT – Fitmo is approaching it from the angle of making PT more affordable to a wider audience, to support behaviour change.
“Personal trainers are the ultimate form of personalisation, but very few people can afford one based on the current business model, where you pay top dollar to do sit-ups together,” says Roeloffs.
“We created Fitmo to democratise this elite service, by taking the overcapacity of coaches and connecting that with an unmet need among consumers looking for an affordable coaching service.”
But it’s not only users who benefit from Fitmo’s virtual model. It’s also great for PTs, who can sign up to be a Fitmo coach and do sessions in between their ‘real life’ clients. They can also reach people all over the world, far beyond the walls of bricks and mortar clubs, and could even work if they were ill or injured.
“Fitmo takes the overcapacity of coaches and connects that with an unmet consumer need for an affordable coaching service”
