What is Live 2-Way Virtual Training?
On demand fitness programs have exploded but if you glimpse into the near future you will see live virtual training on the horizon.
What exactly is live 2-way virtual fitness training?
In the last few years automated online fitness programs and on demand video programs have become hugely popular for getting into shape at a low cost. They are great and can be effective but they lack two key elements that most people require: accountability and realtime instruction. You are principally on your own and the Virtual Coach is a little too virtual. Step into the future and interact with a real trainer virtually…still at a lower cost but closer to the real thing.
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of online options; an unlimited stream of incredibly useful exercises and expertise but without accountability most would-be clients won’t get the full benefit of the programs.
Live 2-way video connected training is the answer to putting the trainer and the client together at a lower cost than traditional in-person classes and personal training.
This type of live interactive online format is very new to the market and only offered inline with a client management system by one company, gymGO. For this reason there is no single term to search for online. The online marketplace is currently undefined but soon we will see a common term emerge and this style of training burst out of the gates as a staple for the majority of fitness and wellness clients.
Many trainers have been providing live video training but in a roundabout manner using 3rd party payment systems, online calendars, and free video meeting platforms to conduct sessions. This lack of business management tools doesn’t drive the per session price down for personal training sessions. Trainers still have a lot of logistical cost in time and client management and can’t pass any savings on to their clients.
It is also very difficult to conduct classes in this manner, which drops the price point down in in-person sessions to make high priced trainers & and coaches affordable to a broader market of potential clients. Trainers and wellness professionals have sorely been lacking the online tools to provide live online training sessions, until now.
Live, interactive virtual training with a system like gymGO, with its inline payment processing and client management system, brings the logistical cost of conducting a live session way down. It takes virtual personal training and virtual classes to the next level both in price and in delivery.
With payment, client management, and live 2 way video delivery all in-one intuitive system, gymGO puts the trainer in the room with their client(s). It gives their clients the accountability of an in person fitness session with the convenience of an On Demand workout. Clients get their workout anytime or anywhere, live streaming through their smartphone, tablet, laptop, or even TV.
They schedule an appointment with the fitness professional of their choice through their schedule. When it’s time for the appointment or class, they go back into the schedule and join the virtual session. It’s that easy!
The clients will see a live stream of their trainer in a large window on their screen. The trainers will see a live stream of their clients in a large window on their screen. The aspect ratio makes it easy for trainers to demonstrate exercises for their clients, motivate them, and watch their form. A live professional will make sure their clients are doing the exercises properly, injury free and at the right intensity.
Is live virtual training for everyone?
As a personal trainer for more than 22 years I see people struggling to find the workout that fits them. Everyone is a little different and what works for one person often doesn’t work for another. You search YouTube for hours and not find a suitable workout and when you start, nobody holds you accountable. Your workout needs to fit your goals and a fitness professional is the person that will get you there the quickest.
With live virtual fitness you are no longer bound by geography when searching for the fitness professional that suits your needs. Now you can find the right trainer instead of the closest trainer. When you start with the fitness professional that fits your goals best you can get straight to the workout that will reach your goals.
Many people, much like they do with nutrition, spend money testing out a number of workouts that will never be right for them. Instead of trying a bunch of different styles of training that lead you nowhere, live virtual fitness gives you a smart search tool to find the workout that fits you.
If you don’t have the time or desire to head to your local gym or fitness studio nor the inclination to pay big dollars to a staff trainer then virtual training is for you.
Accountability is Key!
Most people don’t have the will power to workout on their own, they need accountability. Live, interactive virtual training is all about accountability and it makes it easy since clients don’t have to drive to the gym or studio. They can be held accountable and can be motivated wherever they happen to be.
Two principle ways that live virtual training will unlock the potential of highly skilled trainers is via online coaching and live interactive sessions. Online coaching is restricted in that trainers can create and deliver workouts to a large audience of clients but there is no up-sell. With a live virtual system trainers can now deliver the workout as well as provide a value added service by giving their clients a short training session in which they demonstrate the exercises, assess their client’s form and set the intensity of the exercises.
This is a huge value add for fitness apps and websites that feature celebrity trainers or fitness influencers who have yet to monetize their services into a high value hourly revenue stream.
Live 2-Way Virtual Training is the Future of Fitness.
It’s cost effective
The overhead for live, interactive virtual training is much lower than the gym or studio; trainers can charge less while earning more, it’s a win-win for personal trainers and their clients.
Most trainers are giving 35-65% of their earnings back to the gym or studio they train for or have to give up 25-50% of their income to cover the overhead of their small studio. On average, trainers are keeping 92% of their income with an in-line management to virtual system offered by companies like gymGO.
This means that trainers can charge less for their services and earn a higher salary, a very unique solution to expanding the market to people desperately in need of fitness and wellness services.
It’s simple for clients
Clients login to their account, pay for a drop in, package or membership, join the live virtual session, and trainer is there, ready to conduct the workout. You can literally be anywhere an internet connection is available and train with your favorite trainer.
With the advent of live virtual training there will be a move to providing “smart searches” for trainers and fitness programs in general as well. Currently, potential clients browsing for fitness services are bound by their geographic location. It will be an incredible stroke of luck if a suitable trainer or program is situated within 5 miles of their location. With live virtual training, clients will be able to conduct “attribute” or “goal” oriented searches. This means they can put in the biometric data and goals and the best fitness professional will be pushed to the top of their results, not the closest.
Lifestyle ready
Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom who has to use their wiggly baby as a weight or you are the “As Seen on TV” impulse shopper that has everything from a Shake Weight to Chuck Norris’ Total Gym, your trainer can tailor the workout to what you have available to you as well as fit it into your personal goals.
Imagine having your nutritionist in the kitchen with you go over cooking techniques, appropriate serving sizes, or maybe just evaluating your pantry and fridge as you pan your phone through your kitchen. The possibilities are limitless when fitness and wellness professionals are given a useful tool for enhancing their service offerings.
Even if you are a busy professional, flying all over the country or the insatiable wanderer always taking a vacation to a tropical paradise, your virtual trainer will be with you everywhere you go. Sometimes you may need to work around those timezones though.
Highly flexible
Forget needing to reschedule appointments with your personal trainer because your kids have come down with a wicked avian flu bug or having to drive like a maniac after work to meet your trainer during rush hour. You can schedule your workouts to fit in with your schedule. There’s no need to pay for appointments you can’t keep. It doesn’t matter where in the world you live; you can have a Thai Chi teacher from Indonesia and a Yoga teacher from India if you want, as long as you have access to the internet.
It’s great for your trainer as well. Since I’m conducting the training sessions from my own home, if someone cancels or we have to reschedule the workout, I haven’t wasted time and gas driving into the studio and setting up. I was at home all along so handling a client’s ever changing schedule is a breeze.
It’s for everyone
Nutrition and exercise are important to everyone but not everyone is interested in going to a gym or joining an exercise class. With live, interactive virtual streaming fitness and wellness professionals will have a passive tool in their arsenal to market to the majority of people that are non gym goers.
When I say passive, I mean that trainers will be able to access clients in the comfort of their own homes without drawing them into an uncomfortable situation or facility that they may feel uncomfortable in.
The tools are now available for traditionally reluctant non gym goers to get affordable, effective workouts wherever and whenever they are comfortable as long as they have the desire to live their healthiest lifestyle possible.
The live virtual training business model will expand fitness and wellness service to potential clients in remote locations, people with disabilities, populations with chronic health concerns, and low income populations that may not have appropriate facilities available.
On the horizon
The only company today that provides an in-line system by which a fitness or wellness professional can list, charge and conduct a live virtual system from their own client management system is gymGO.
There are a number of apps and websites that a trainer can sign up for and offer their services but these platforms don’t address many of the fundamental hurdles that live online fitness faces such as cost and flexibility.
gymGO is poised to explode on the scene as it offers trainers and small studio owners a fitness business management system that will handle all of their in-person client management needs but also has all the features required to launch a virtual fitness studio.
As healthcare costs rise and insurance companies are more likely to subsidize preventative training and nutrition programs, the demand for live virtual services is only going to grow. Trainers and wellness professionals that are early to adopt these types of online or cloud systems will be the first to reap the financial reward as well as have the personal satisfaction of knowing that they are changing lives for the better in greater volumes than ever before.
On demand fitness and online fitness programs designed by celebrity trainers and Instagram influencers has paved the way for online fitness programs. It will be exciting to see the next wave of online fitness and wellness services crash across the digital seascape providing long sought after services that have been, up until now, un-affordable to many or just out of reach by geography for others.
The future of fitness is online and there is hope that the internet may just be the solution we have been looking for to ultimately cure the current obesity epidemic our country is in the midst of and bring healthcare costs down for everyone.