When most people first think about hiring an online personal trainer, they are not entirely sure what they are buying. Is it just a PDF workout? An app that spits out the same plan as everyone else? Some bloke who texts you “well done” once a week and takes your money?
I get asked about this a lot, and I understand the confusion. Online coaching has grown massively over the last few years, but some people are unsure about what actually happens once you sign up. So that is what I want to do here. No sales pitch, just an honest look at how it works, what it costs, and how to tell a good one from a bad one.
I work as both an online personal trainer and an in-person trainer here in Farnborough, so I am not going to pretend online is always the right answer. For some people it absolutely is. For others, in-person is the better call. I will be straight with you about both.
What Is Online Personal Training, Really?
At its simplest, online personal training is where a trainer plans, coaches and supports your training and sometimes your nutrition remotely, rather than standing next to you in a gym.
That is the one line version, but it does not really tell you much, because the quality varies wildly. At the cheap and cheerful end you have apps that hand you a generic plan with zero human involvement. At the other end you have proper one to one coaching, where a real person builds your programme around your goals, your equipment, your schedule and your life, then adjusts it as you go.
When I talk about working with an online personal trainer, I mean the second kind. A real coaching relationship. You are not buying a document. You are buying someone who takes the time to understand where you are now, where you want to get to, and what is realistically going to work for you, then keeps you on track and accountable while you do it.
The training side is only half of it for most people too. The food is usually where they are stuck, which is why decent online coaching tends to cover nutrition as well as the workouts. Being a Level 4 qualified nutritionist as well as a trainer, that is a big part of what I do, but more on that later.
How It Actually Works Week to Week
This is the bit some people may struggle to picture, so let me walk you through what it actually looks like in practice.
It usually starts with a proper conversation. For me that is a free Zoom call where we talk through your goals, your history, any injuries, what you have tried before and what your week actually looks like. There is no point me writing you a five day gym plan if you can realistically train twice a week around the kids and a full time job.
From there you get a training programme built for you, delivered through a coaching app on your phone. That app is where a lot of the magic happens. You can see your workouts, log your sets and reps, watch video demonstrations of each exercise, and message me whenever you need to. If you are not sure whether you are doing something right, you film a quick set, send it over, and I check your form and tell you what to tweak.
Then there are the check ins. These are the part that actually drives results, and they are where an online personal trainer becomes more of an online fitness coach than just someone handing you workouts. We look at how the week went, what is working, what is not, how you are feeling, what the scales and the photos are showing, and where your head is at. Then I adjust things accordingly. Training, nutrition, habits, whatever needs it.
A few things you can typically expect from me when online training:
- A training plan built around your goals, equipment and available time, not a copy and paste template
- Nutrition guidance that fits how you actually eat, rather than a rigid meal plan you will abandon in a fortnight
- Regular check ins to review progress and adjust the plan
- Ongoing messaging support so you are never stuck wondering what to do
- Form checks on your lifts through video
The bit that surprises people is how much contact there is. Done properly, online coaching often involves more communication than seeing a trainer once a week in person, because you are in touch between sessions, not just for the hour you are paying for.
How Much Does an Online Personal Trainer Cost?
This is the question everyone wants answered and the one nobody seems to give a straight answer to, so here goes.
Online personal training in the UK typically runs somewhere from around £80 to £200 a month, with some higher touch or specialist coaching going way north of that. Where you land in that range depends on a few things: how much one to one contact you get, whether nutrition coaching is included, how experienced and qualified the coach is, and how bespoke the whole thing actually is. A lower priced plan might be training only with a monthly check in, while a higher priced one usually means daily contact and full nutrition support on top.
It is worth comparing that to in-person personal training so you can see why the numbers look so different. A single in-person PT session usually costs somewhere around £40 to £60 depending on the length of the session and where you are in the country, and sometimes more than that in central London. If you trained with someone twice a week in person, you are easily looking at £350 to £500 a month or more.
So on the face of it, online looks far cheaper. But that is the wrong way to think about it, and I want to be honest with you here because it matters.
Online and in-person are not the same product at a different price. They are two different things that solve different problems. With in-person training you are paying a premium for hands-on coaching in the room, someone physically spotting you, correcting you in real time and pushing you through the session itself. That has real value and for some people it is exactly what they need.
With online coaching, you are paying for the programming, the nutrition, the accountability and the support across the whole week, not just for one hour. The value is in the consistency and the structure between sessions, which for most people is actually where they fall down. You are not getting a cheaper version of in-person. You are getting a different thing entirely.
The other big difference is the contract. A lot of my coaching is monthly with no long lock-in, which I think is how it should be. You should stay because it is working, not because you are tied in.
Online vs In-Person: Which Is Right for You?
Right, this is where I keep myself honest, because online is not automatically the better choice and I would be doing you a disservice to pretend otherwise.
Online personal training tends to suit you if you want flexibility around when and where you train, if you have your own gym (or some basic kit at home) or a decent local one, or if cost matters to you. It also works brilliantly if your main sticking point is nutrition and consistency rather than not knowing how to do the exercises, because that is exactly what the coaching relationship fixes.
In-person can be the better call if you are someone who feels lost in a gym and wants someone physically showing you the ropes or if you simply know yourself well enough to admit you will only show up if someone is stood there waiting for you. Some people need that physical presence, and there is no shame in it. Knowing that about yourself is actually a strength.
The honest answer is that the best option is the one you will actually stick with!
Does Online Personal Training Actually Work?
The short answer is yes, but with a caveat. It works when the coaching is good and when you do your bit.
The reason it works comes down to the thing most people are actually missing, which is rarely information. Most people roughly know they should eat a bit better and move a bit more. What they are missing is structure, accountability and someone in their corner adjusting things when life gets in the way. That is exactly what online coaching provides, and you do not need to be in the same room as someone to provide it.
I have seen this play out hundreds of times. People who have started and stopped a dozen times on their own finally get somewhere once they have a plan built for them and someone checking in. Not because the plan was magic, but because the accountability stopped them quietly drifting off the wagon after one bad week. If you want to see what that actually looks like in practice, I have written up some client case studies you can have a read through.
Where it does not work is when someone signs up expecting the trainer to do it for them. I cannot eat your meals or lift your weights. What I can do is make the path clear, keep you on it, and adjust it when it needs adjusting. The people who get the best results are the ones who engage with the process, message me when they are struggling, and treat it as a partnership rather than a vending machine.
Do You Need a Gym, or Can You Do It at Home?
This one comes up constantly, and the answer is that it genuinely depends on your goals.
You can get a long way at home with very little. If your main aim is to lose weight, maybe train to support a sport or just get a bit fitter and feel better, a decent set of dumbbells, maybe some resistance bands and a bit of floor space is plenty to be going on with. A good coach will build your plan around whatever you have rather than assuming you have a fully kitted out gym.
That said, if you are serious about building noticeable muscle or getting properly strong, a gym does make life easier, simply because you have access to heavier weights and more variety as you progress. You can still do a lot at home though.
I coach people across the whole spectrum here. Some train in commercial gyms, some have a couple of dumbbells in the spare room, and I run my own coaching from a converted garage gym myself, so I am a big believer that you can do a lot with a little. The key is that the plan matches your setup, not someone else’s.
How to Choose a Good Online Fitness Coach
Not all online coaching is created equal, and because anyone can call themselves a coach these days, it is worth knowing what to look for. If you are going to hand over your money and your trust, a good online fitness coach should tick most of these boxes.
Look for someone who is actually qualified. That means recognised personal training qualifications at the very least, and ideally proper nutrition qualifications too if they are going to advise you on food. Ask. A good coach will happily tell you.
Look for someone who builds things around you rather than selling you a one size fits all programme. If the plan they are offering is identical to the one they sell everyone else, you are buying a template, not coaching.
A few other things worth checking:
- They are insured and, if relevant, DBS checked
- They are upfront about what is and is not included, with no vague promises
- They do not lock you into a long, unbreakable contract
- They have genuine reviews or case studies from real clients
- They are honest about what they can and cannot help with, and will refer you on if you need something outside their scope
That last point matters more than people realise. A good coach knows where their expertise ends. If you have a clinical condition that needs a medical professional, a decent coach will tell you that rather than winging it. Honesty about scope is one of the clearest signs you are dealing with a professional rather than someone just after a quick sale.
And trust your gut on the consultation call. You are going to be working with this person for months (or maybe even years), so they need to be someone you actually feel comfortable being honest with, especially on the weeks when things have not gone to plan.
How I Work
I keep my own coaching fairly simple. We start with a free, no obligation Zoom call so we can work out whether I am the right fit for you, with no pressure either way. From there I build your training and nutrition around your goals and your life, deliver it through a coaching app, and stay in regular contact to keep you moving in the right direction.
I offer a couple of online coaching tiers so you can pick the level of support that suits you, from a more training focused plan, right up to daily contact with full nutrition support for people who want their hand held a bit more. Both are monthly with no notice period, so you stay because it is working, not because you are tied in. You can see the full detail on my pricing page.
I work with people online right across the UK and Europe, and in person from my studio here in Farnborough if you would rather train face to face or do a bit of both. Whether you want to lose weight, get fitter and stronger, or get ready for an event, the approach is the same: something realistic that fits your life, not a perfect plan you cannot stick to.
If any of this sounds like what you have been looking for, you can book a free Zoom consultation and we can have a proper chat about it. No hard sell, just an honest conversation about whether I can help.
