The Online Coaching Advantage

By: Michael Burgos, BLOC Exclusive Coach

The “I Hate Reading” Synopsis:

Online coaching offers a superior experience compared to in-person training. It is more affordable, flexible, and accessible—and it empowers clients to own their fitness journey. While in-person coaching provides immediate feedback and more organic socialization, online coaching’s benefits outweigh these drawbacks while still facilitating frequent communication. With the right coach, you can achieve mind-blowing results from anywhere in the world, on any equipment, on your schedule at less than half the cost of traditional personal training.

Online Coaching Is Superior

“Online coaching is better than in-person training.” A bold claim. It was a tough one for me to accept, given my many years as a strength and conditioning coach and occupational therapist. While some might find the idea controversial, it is instructive to objectively examine the positive aspects and compare the points of contention.

In-person coaching is undoubtedly valuable, and many people will always choose it. However, I believe online coaching offers unique advantages that make it viable and, in most cases, the preferable option. Let’s start by discussing what is likely top of mind for many: the financial cost.

Online Coaching Is More Affordable

If you have ever hired an in-person coach or personal trainer, they often sell “packages” of training sessions. These packages typically range from $45 to $120 per hour or session, with a frequency of two, three, or four times per week. Let’s consider the annual cost breakdown for a package that costs $60 per one-hour training session. At $1 per minute, this seems like a reasonable starting point.

Hiring a personal trainer or in-person strength and conditioning coach can be a significant financial investment. As shown above, annual costs range from several thousand dollars to the price of a used car. If you opt for four weekly sessions at $120 each, the total annual cost would be a substantial $24,960—making it a major commitment for an activity that you might not sustain long-term.

High-quality online coaching typically ranges from $150 to $350 per month. This translates to an annual cost of $1,800 to $4,200. Even at the highest price points, online coaching is significantly more affordable than in-person training. While the frequency of coach-client interactions may vary depending on the service, the cost savings of nearly 50% are undeniable.

The Value of Online Coaching

When someone suggests hiring a professional at a discount, the old adage “You get what you pay for” often comes to mind. If online coaching is a more affordable version of personal training, consumers may reasonably expect lower quality. Fortunately, this is not the case.

The main reason why is that online coaching is just as convenient and flexible for the expert coach as it is for the client. Not having to meet a client in person allows them to coach whenever is best for their schedule, and not needing to provide a gym space drastically reduces costs.

High-quality online coaching, like good in-person training, emphasizes a customized program designed specifically for your individual needs. Additionally, online coaches provide thorough feedback, ranging from weekly interaction to as rapid as 24-hour post-training feedback videos.

Additionally, with online coaching, there is often no limit on training frequency. Unlike personal training packages that charge per hour or session, online coaching typically allows for unlimited training within a set monthly fee. This flexibility enables you to train as often as you and your coach deem safe and sustainable or as little as is necessary for your current life situation while still progressing toward your goals. The adaptable nature of online coaching represents its largest advantage over traditional personal training.

Flexibility: Online Coaching’s Greatest Strength

Modify Your Training Schedule without Consequence

If you purchase a package of personal training sessions, you are expected to show up for them. Missing a session often means you have lost the opportunity to train with your coach and the money you paid for their services. In most cases, your trainer or their facility will retain the fee for the missed session. This is especially true in chain commercial gyms, where refunds and rescheduling are often not possible. Whether you missed the session due to work or family matters, the policy typically stands.

Similarly, if your coach has an emergency, your appointment may be rescheduled or canceled. This is a complete non-issue with online coaching, as your coach does not need to be physically present for you to train effectively.

With online coaching, your program is provided well ahead of arriving at the gym. You are encouraged to execute the program on your planned training days. However, it is not mandatory. If something unexpected arises, like a traffic jam or a family emergency, you can simply message your coach to let them know you will train tomorrow instead. No big deal.

You Can Hire Anyone

Have you ever been interested in learning a specific skill? Online coaches come in all flavors, sometimes being highly specialized. They may have expertise in a particular sport, work with injured or disabled athletes, or hold advanced degrees and certifications. Some online coaches are physicians! With technology, you have access to trainers and coaches worldwide, not just those in your local area.

For example, I’m an occupational therapist, strength and conditioning coach, and martial arts practitioner. I combine elements of all three disciplines in my practice. One of my colleagues, Erin Stanton, is a Professional Barbell Coach (PBC) on the other side of the United States. She is a world champion and world record-holding powerlifter, certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, and doula. Another colleague, Ben Patterson, is a PBC and purple belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu. He specializes in working with grappling athletes of all types. Yet another colleague, Jonathan Sullivan, is a renowned physician, PBC, and author of The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40. Sully’s passion is working with the older adult population. With online coaching, you have access to any of these professionals and many others worldwide.

Train Anywhere in The World, on Any Equipment, or No Equipment at All

Once you’ve hired your coach of choice, you can train at any gym you prefer. You are no longer limited to a specific location simply because your coach works there. If you are dissatisfied with the equipment, members, or atmosphere of a particular gym, you can change gyms at any time. You can even train at a home gym and not have to deal with other people at all.

If you are traveling or on deployment, you can still train under your coach’s guidance. I live in Hampton Roads, Virginia, but I have been able to serve clients in Slovakia, Korea, the Philippines, and Kuwait, among many other locations. Hotel gyms can be accommodated, and programming can be adjusted to kilograms if you move somewhere that doesn’t use ‘Murican Freedom Units (pounds). If you do not have access to training equipment, your coach can program calisthenics, plyometrics, or other bodyweight-only training.

Online Coaching Is Effective

The effectiveness of online coaching is often questioned. It might seem counterintuitive that complex movements can be learned and performed under heavy loads remotely, across time zones, and without real-time feedback. Years of experience and client anecdotes demonstrate that online coaching works. Teaching and learning skilled movement are the norm in the online coaching profession.

My clients, most of whom I’ve never met in person, have achieved remarkable results. One client, for example, recently deadlifted 500 pounds for multiple repetitions. This strength places him several standard deviations above the world’s general population.

Charlie pulling the big, mean five-hundo.

Other clients have earned a full front split, while others (even those over 40) have reported a functionally significant increase in their energy levels. Some clients have delayed or canceled entire surgical plans due to improvements in their daily lives and function.

A client working on squaring her hips off in the front split.

Matt, a very busy and very important man. He rarely misses a workout. No one works harder than he does. Be like Matt.

I have enjoyed providing results like these completely remotely. It happens frequently. I acknowledge my bias and know it might sound like bragging or exaggeration. However, having coached hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds and professions, I believe I can speak for many of my colleagues: online coaching is effective. Personally, I think it is effective because it is empowering.

Empowerment Through Online Coaching

Online coaching provides a framework that incentivizes self-efficacy from the start. With an in-person coach, you know they are waiting for you at your scheduled appointment time. They may have arrived early or been there all day working with other clients. If you do not show up, their time and your money are wasted. These motivators are external pressures that can drive you into action.

After hiring an online coach, there is no one physically waiting for you at the gym. The weights remain racked, the treadmill sits idle, and your shoes stay untied in the foyer. The only person who can make you train is you—but this has always been the case. Even with an in-person coach, you could still choose to park it on the couch and doomscroll instead of going to your appointment.

Online coaching cuts to the core: your relationship with your behavior. The decisive moment that you begin to modify your own behavior, empowering yourself through self-love, is choosing to act when all prior choices have been to procrasturbate or something else equally unproductive. Choosing to act requires some mental effort, so not everyone chooses their long-term best interest over immediate comfort. But every time you win that mental battle, there is a small tailwind behind you.

You have to do it whether you like it or not.

For some, having to motivate themselves is a huge plus. They perceive it for what it is: immediate empowerment, a realization and a celebration of personal responsibility. For others, this is a drawback. They might ask, “If I have to motivate myself, then what is the point of having a trainer in the first place? Their job is to watch me and make sure I do things correctly. How can I feel confident if it is just me?”

That is valid. I have hired in-person coaches myself, and my biggest perceived value was their physical presence. Similarly, my clients’ biggest perceived value when I practiced in-person coaching was my being there. I was constantly guiding their movements and providing feedback. The ability to immediately relieve anxiety with reassurance is also irresistible for those who are intimidated by the gym. I’ve been told I have a calming voice and demeanor, which can put people at ease. So, I concede that there is no substitute for physical proximity and instantaneous feedback. I just don’t think it matters that much.

Just because I can guide you to correct movement within a few minutes does not mean you can do it independently. What good does it do for you if you only move well when some gym wizard is calling out magic spells that make you move how they want you to move?

You are not a bystander in a video game. Don’t behave like a target. The ability to skillfully move every part of your body with skeletal muscle is a trainable skill. It requires practice and teaching.

Good Online Coaching = Good Online Teaching

All coaching is teaching. Teaching and learning occur through various methods, but the most common in personal training is the use of verbal or tactile coaching cues. Cues are the bread and butter of in-person coaches and personal trainers. A hallmark of an incredible coach is the skillful use of cues to modify a trainee’s movement efficiently. Coaching cues are so universally important in the field that some coaches believe that if you are not cueing, you are not coaching.

Online coaches do not have the ability to provide synchronous coaching in the same way as in-person coaches. Even with video conferencing tools, there can be slight delays. This can initially make online coaching feel less effective due to the lack of immediate feedback. However, online coaches facilitate learning through other methods.

Some online coaches use text feedback. This works really well for clients who learn more easily from reading. For many people who don’t enjoy reading, though, image feedback is a better option. Image feedback is ideal for visual learners, especially when they see themselves as the example. This approach can be highly effective for this population.

A local client of mine, Dallin, squatting over 425 lb. In this feedback, I use the above image while discussing in writing the difference between squat depths for powerlifting competition and depth that I consider useful for the general population.

Great online coaches provide video feedback. The coach often includes a forward-facing camera feed of themselves demonstrating proper movement while the client watches the coach evaluate their video recordings in real time. This allows all the same learning advantages afforded by text and image feedback with a much more personal and engaging experience. The coach can actively use themselves and their unique personality to connect with the client on a deeper level. Often, online coaches will ditch the “coach voice” in favor of a more conversational tone. My clients love it when I do a video breakdown. This creates a more connected and human experience, similar to in-person coaching.

This connection bridges the cap for online coaching’s greatest criticism: the impersonal and parasocial nature of asynchronous communication. “Bro, there are times I will be watching your feedback video, and I’ll accidentally forget it’s a recording and speak to respond to you. Then my wife walks into the room wondering who I’m talking to.” I’ve heard this or something similar many times, as have many of my colleagues.

Online Coaching Encourages Better Habits

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

Habits are everything. Healthy people maintain healthy habits, which include regular physical activity and good nutrition practices. These habits are the result of consistent patterns of behavior. The first several months of physical training often involve learning new movements, techniques, and tools. Once tool acquisition is complete and basic proficiency is achieved, the coach’s role transitions from instructor to consultant, focusing on consistent application of the learned tools.

Throughout the time horizon of your training career, which ideally spans until you drop dead, the coach’s role is to foster consistency. This consistency helps form habits. If we really are what we repeatedly do, as Aristotle suggested, then all coaches—regardless of their platform—serve to reinforce their client’s identity as someone who trains their body purposefully. Excellent online coaches do this very well.

I have ten clients who have trained for over 1,000 workouts. One is closing in on 2,000. Ten more have completed over 500. Together, we have crushed strength training, increased flexibility, increased energy throughout the day, trained through hardships and heartaches, and for some, grown from boys to young men. As people change, so does the nature and structure of their training.

Personal trainers measure their client retention in weeks or months. I measure mine in years. High-quality online coaching forms good habits.

Online Coaching is Good for You

Online coaches are more affordable, more accessible, and more flexible across many contexts than their in-person counterparts. The process of online coaching empowers clients from the start, and good online coaches connect deeply with their clients across borders. Perhaps my rose-tinted bias-noculars are clouding my logic, but it appears online coaching is a great option to consider over personal training.

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Some dead guy, probably

I believe my job is to teach people how to train by creating situations that facilitate learning and understanding of training tools and their applications. I think that for most people, this process fosters belief in oneself. Specifically, I think it helps people believe they have the capacity to produce their own outcomes. It does you no good to be dependent on me. After all, being asked to manufacture dependence on my expertise is the reason I left my clinical practice in 2018. At the end of the day, coaching is not about me. It is about you—online or not.