Personal training is losing its appeal, according to research – and AI apps could be to blame

On October 29, we reported that nan American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) had published nan yearly study of its predicted apical fittingness trends for 2025. The investigation provides “valuable information for fittingness professionals, business owners and workout enthusiasts,” designed to “help pass captious business decisions and master improvement plan”, according to nan ACSM report. These trends varied by region, but we’ll mostly beryllium discussing nan United States-orientated trends successful this article.

While wearable exertion (such arsenic nan best fittingness trackers) remained astatine nan apical spot, “mobile workout apps” aka nan best fittingness apps came successful astatine number 2 and “data-driven training” astatine number three. These 2 often spell hand-in-hand, pinch apps and wearables providing easy ways to grounds granular accusation astir your training, from bosom complaint to explosive power, and usage those metrics to guideline you into training much effectively.

Wearables, apps and (by extension) data-driven training person gotten smarter, frighteningly so. In-app AI chatbots tin tie from your individual information recorded via nan app, often pinch an attached wearable, and urge nan adjacent steps to your training. You tin usage virtual pacers to title against yourself. Within apps for illustration PUSH and Garmin Connect, training plans tin return your past fewer sessions’ worthy of capacity into relationship and set themselves automatically.

One class that didn’t make nan apical 10 this twelvemonth is “personal training” which fell to number 15. While still prevalent successful galore countries and celebrated capable to compression its measurement into nan apical 20, its crisp autumn from nan apical 10 “warrants attention” according to nan report, which besides noted “employing certified workout professionals only appears arsenic a apical 10 inclination successful Portugal and Australia”.

Cause and Effect

Looking astatine nan highest trending topics, it’s easy to spot relationship and causation. According to nan US National Strength and Conditioning Association, hiring a individual trainer (PT) tin costs anyplace from $25-$100 a session. This is presumably connected apical of a gym rank aliases time rate, which you’ll request to entree nan space.

When you tin get a YouTube transmission that shows you nan moves for free, aliases an AI-powered fittingness app that provides you feedback for $8.99 a month, it’s difficult for galore group undergoing a costs of surviving situation to warrant hiring a PT arsenic thing different than a awesome luxury, for illustration a massage aliases a spa day.

To opportunity that you tin get nan afloat acquisition of in-person individual training from an app connected your telephone would beryllium an reproach to nan hard-working individual trainers who are awesome coaches, motivators and experts successful their field. However, there’s nary denying that individual training, erstwhile nan bastion of nan fittingness industry, is losing popularity, and PTs are having to diversify their gross streams to make it successful 2024. This income tin travel from offering online classes, penning books to amended marketplace themselves arsenic experts, creating their ain training app aliases societal media community, aliases becoming part-time contented creators.

Very fewer PTs are apt to person signed up knowing they’ll request to beryllium effective writers, programmers, salespeople aliases on-camera talent: location was a clip erstwhile each you needed was to beryllium very bully astatine training people, but those days are agelong gone. The astir successful PTs now are nan astir effective brand-builders and contented marketers, not needfully nan champion coaches.

Now that data-driven apps and wearables tin supply passable programming and moreover feedback via a chatbot, nan fittingness manufacture has go nan latest successful a agelong statement of sectors to beryllium deed difficult by automation and AI. I’m not judge what nan reply is for each those talented PTs and coaches retired there, but I don’t envy them trying to support an analog business successful a world that, pinch nan advent of AI, has go genuinely digital-first.

You mightiness besides like...

• Best moving watches of 2024
• Why nan Samsung Galaxy Ring, 2024's biggest (and smallest) wearable, is our Health & Fitness Device of nan Year
• I wish this smart heart-rate sensing mouthguard had been invented years ago