Best apps for personal trainers: is TrueCoach on your shortlist?

As a personal trainer, you want what’s best for your clients, but what about what’s best for you and your business? In addition to having a software solution to help manage clients, there is a slew of other apps to help your training efforts. From tracking nutrition to practicing mindfulness, TrueCoach has compiled a list of apps to help you and your clients train successfully and decompress.

1. MyFitnessPal™ (Best app for tracking nutrition)

MyFitnessPal™ is arguably the most well-known app for tracking nutrition. They’ve made recording your diet and calories as easy as possible. Since it began in 2005, MyFitnessPal™ has compiled a database of over 14 million foods and their nutritional value. Keeping a handwritten food diary can range from tedious to downright impossible. With MyFitnessPal™, you can type in a food, scan the barcode of a packaged food item, or even use your smartphone camera to scan a fully cooked meal and retrieve the nutritional value (with a premium account). Do you eat out a lot? The app also has nutritional value for meals at your favorite restaurants. You can still enter nutritional information yourself if you can’t find what you need from their extensive database.  
 
MyFitnessPal™ also has a range of healthy recipes with pictures and step-by-step directions and keeps track of your metric over time, such as your weight and macronutrient intake. In addition to tracking your caloric intake, you can enter workout information such as specific exercises, and MyFitnessPal™ will subtract the calories you’ve burned from what you’ve consumed. Even better, the app can be connected to around 50 other apps, so you can see everything you need in one place without switching between commonly used applications. 

2. Instagram and Facebook (Best apps for marketing/finding clients) 

Whether you’re just starting your fitness business or a seasoned vet, you must have social media. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably already have one. But do you have a business account? Social media is perfect if you don’t have a large marketing budget or want to try and build traction organically. 
 
Of course, it requires work like having a thorough and complete bio and constant and consistent posting with relevant hashtags. Organically finding followers has become more difficult on the apps with less exposure, but more than 90% of marketers plan to use social media for their marketing efforts. Still, Facebook’s marketing platform has advanced targeting capabilities and won’t break the bank since you can set spending limits. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook (Meta), they use the same marketing platform with slightly fewer targeting features. Think of social media as the modern-day business card.

3. TrueCoach (Best app for business management) 

If you have your own personal training business, you need client management software. If you have just one client or several locations, a client management app will help you complete backend tasks in less time and keep track of your clients and their progress in one place. Whether you train in person or remotely, TrueCoach is the perfect companion. We rank TrueCoach highly because tech novices or experts can quickly master it. It trims the fat and offers everything you need and nothing you don’t.  

When coaches log in, they will be greeted with a feed like a social media platform. You can scroll through quickly and see what you’ve missed since you’ve been logged off, what needs attention, and what client messages are waiting.  

An extensive exercise library includes over 1000 videos with the capability to upload your own from YouTube and Vimeo. You can create and store workouts well in advance and utilize click to add functionality, allowing you to make and share a workout in 2 minutes flat. Need to make an edit? No problem! Sync edits across clients in seconds.  

Additional Perks 

MyFitnessPal integration to track client nutrition 
Can determine weekly compliance 
Uses Stripe to offer in-app payment that clients can set up on their own  
Real-time in-app messaging where clients can text, share photos, and videos 
Simplified menu options make it the easiest to navigate 
Custom branding with specific packages 
Easy onboarding with a top-rated customer service team 
 

4. StretchIt: Stretching Mobility (Best app for mobility)

As a trainer, you know stretching is integral to a workout. When a client only has a 30-minute or one-hour session, you often jump right into an exercise and forego stretching altogether. StretchIt is the perfect companion for pre- or post-workout stretches to aid in a successful workout and faster recovery. Even if you aren’t a regular gym member, StretchIt has programs for daily stretching that help with flexibility, pain, and reduced energy. Be warned; it is not a substitute for injury recovery or trained medical professionals. 

5. Calm (Best app for improving mental health)

Improving your health isn’t just about the physical. Mental health is vital. The creators of Calm have created an app to help you be mentally happier and healthier. 
 
With Calm, you can learn mindful movements and light stretching, practice meditation, listen to a unique library of music and sounds to help you focus on work or sleep, and more! You can participate in wellness masterclasses hosted by professionals and listen to stories for relaxation narrated by celebrities like Lebron James and Harry Styles. 
 
There is even Calm for Business that you can share with employees. They create a wellness strategy and promote stress relief and reduce anxiety in the workplace. It is worth using at the end of a long day.  
 

With all our recommended apps, you’ll be able to manage your business, get in a good stretch, achieve better sleep, and track nutrition. You can do more than just deliver a workout by focusing on you and your clients as a whole for a more successful outcome.