How to build an online training program for your gym or studio

What an online program can do for your gym

Online training became a lifeline during Covid. Many gyms streamed classes for free or very little, and stopped once the doors reopened. That left a lot of owners thinking online doesn't work.

It works well when it has a clear job. The strongest gyms and studios use it to:

• Keep members training between sessions, with a simple home or gym program.
• Keep members who travel or move away, instead of losing them.
• Offer a step down instead of cancelling, so a busy spell doesn't end the relationship.
• Reach people who can't get to you at your session times, such as shift workers and parents.
• Coach people who already train elsewhere, for a sport or at another gym, and want your expertise once or twice a week.

Hybrid training simply means combining the two: in-person sessions for coaching and community, and an online program for everything in between.

It can help you keep people, too. In Les Mills' 2023 study of more than 4,000 16 to 26-year-olds, those who trained both in and out of the gym were 40% more likely to have been members for three years or more than gym-only exercisers.

Four models, and who each suits

1. A home program for members. Workouts in an app for the days between sessions, included in a higher membership tier or as a small add-on. Good for keeping members consistent.
2. A self-guided online membership. Structured programs, a follow-along video library and a community, with no personal coaching. Lower price, more people, little of your time.
3. Online coaching. A program built around one person, with weekly check-ins, a monthly call and messaging. Higher price, fewer people, and a real coaching relationship.
4. Hybrid coaching. Online coaching plus regular in-person sessions. Usually your most valuable offer, because people get the plan and the face time.

You don't need all four. Most gyms start with one that fits the members they already have, then add another once it's running well.

Price it as a ladder

The biggest pricing mistake is putting online too close to in-person. Members then switch to online to save money, and you do more work for less.

Instead, build what I call a coaching ladder, where each step gives clearly more coaching. A sports performance clinic I work with uses this structure. The figures are round examples based on its prices:

For context, pricing guides from coaching platforms such as FitBudd and Gymkee put most one-to-one online coaching at about $150 to $300 a month in 2026, with specialist coaching higher.

A few rules keep the ladder working:

• Assessment first, always. Don't program for someone you haven't assessed.
• Online coaching costs about three times the online membership, so the difference is obvious and nobody gets personal coaching for the price of an app.
• Hybrid stacks; it doesn't discount. It's online coaching plus sessions at member rates, so no session is ever free.
• Packs never undercut memberships. When someone buys a second pack, that's the conversation about joining.
• Compare yourself with personal training, not with cheap fitness apps. Online coaching is coaching, not a subscription.

Check the margins

Online coaching often looks profitable until you count the time. Before you set a price, add up what one client takes in a month:

• Writing and adjusting their program.
• Weekly check-ins, and replying to messages and videos.
• A monthly review call.
• Your platform fees, per client.

Divide the monthly price by those hours. If the answer is well below what you earn per hour in person, the price is too low or the service is too big.

For example, an online coaching client at $299 a month who takes three hours of your time earns you about $100 an hour, before platform fees. The same client taking six hours earns half that.

Templates, a set check-in day and short video replies bring the hours down without making the coaching worse.

Choose your tools

You need fewer tools than you think. Most gyms need three things:

• A coaching app to deliver programs, track workouts and run check-ins. Everfit, TrueCoach and Trainerize are popular. At Strength Matters, we moved from TrueCoach to Everfit, and a sports performance clinic I work with uses it too.
• A home for your library and community, if you run a self-guided membership. A studio I work with keeps its follow-along video library and online community in HighLevel, alongside its members' emails and payments.
• Payments and booking that you already use for the gym, so online members sit in the same system as everyone else.

Most coaching apps charge by the number of clients, so the cost grows with you. Check each supplier's current price, and try the free trial with two or three real clients before you commit.

Choose the app your coaches will actually use every day. The marketing tools for gyms guide covers the rest of your stack.

Deliver it without losing your evenings

• Keep the content small. Three sessions a week they'll do beats a library of 300 videos they won't.
• Check in every week, on a set day, with a short form: how training went, sleep, stress, wins, and what they need help with.
• Review every month, on a call or a short video, and adjust the plan.
• Onboard properly, just as you would in person. The member onboarding guide works for online members too.
• Give them people, not just workouts, through a community, a group challenge or an occasional in-person session.
• Block your online time in the diary, so it doesn't spill into every evening.
• Let AI do the first draft, not the coaching. It can help you write program templates and summarise check-ins, but read every one and reply in your own words.

Before you start

• Check your insurance covers online coaching. Many personal trainer policies don't include it as standard, so read the wording or ask your insurer.
• Screen and assess everyone, with a health questionnaire and your assessment, just as you would in person.
• Write down what's included, such as how quickly you reply to messages, and how to pause or cancel. Clear terms prevent most complaints.

Start local, with a founding group

It's tempting to think online means clients from anywhere in the world. In my experience, starting there means competing with thousands of coaches for strangers' attention.

Start with people who already know you: current members, former members who moved away, and their friends. You'll learn what works, collect success stories, and get it right with people who are forgiving.

Invite five of them to a founding group. Charge full price, and add a bonus instead of a discount, such as an extra review call. Time every check-in, and ask for feedback each week.

Then grow through referrals, recommendations and those success stories. Reach grows naturally from results.

What to measure

• Clients on each step of your ladder, every month.
• Hours per client and earnings per hour, so you know the margins still work as you grow.
• Workouts completed and check-ins returned. These drop before people cancel, so they're your early warning.
• How many stay three months or more, and how many cancellations you saved with a step down.

The numbers every gym owner should track covers the rest of your business.

The mistakes to avoid

• Too much content. A huge library overwhelms people. They need to know what to do today.
• No check-ins. Without regular contact, online members drift away within weeks.
• Prices that are too low, or margins that don't work, so you do a lot of work for little return.
• Thinking online is easier than in-person. Done properly, it's different work, not less work.
• Pricing online so close to in-person that members switch down to save money.
• Copying your classes onto Zoom instead of designing a program for training on your own.
• Forgetting the social side. People stay for the coach and the community as much as the workouts.
• Chasing the whole world before you've proved it works with local people.

Questions owners ask