Removed the old link for “My Page” and instead integrated the fields from that page into the “Profile” page.
Created a separate “Settings” page where we put Automated Email Settings and Client Permissions Settings.
We have made it easy to update both of these pages by making the site automatically save information as you enter it.
Profile Page
To access the Profile page on fitsw.com, click the Account button in the upper right and in the dropdown click Profile. On this page, you can update the traditional fields of Display Name, contact email, phone and password.
We have also added the Personalized Page section on this same page for Trainers to create their own Personal Profile Page at fitsw.com/XXXXXX where XXXXXX is whatever the trainer chooses. This page is helpful to share with potential or existing clients. On this page, trainers can decide what information to share: services offered, country, zip (to help when clients are searching their area for trainers), General Information, Specialties, and certifications. All of these fields are optional and the site saves data as you enter it.
The data entered here can also be shared with current clients in our iOS app and Android app if the client goes to the “My Trainer” menu item.
We have updated the Profile page to enable trainers to update their personal trainer profile page from there.
Settings Page
The “Settings” Page can also be accessed underneath the Account tab. On the settings page, Trainers can set their Automated Email settings for both themselves and their clients. They can set their client permissions as well. They can also Update Payment information and change / cancel their accounts.
This page also automatically saves changes – no need to hit a save button.
The Settings page lets clients configure automated email settings, client permission settings and more.
Periodically we allow FitSW users to submit guest blog posts. Today’s guest blog post is by Wendy D who discusses Fitness For Seniors and what seniors should take care of when it comes to fitness and health:
It’s never too old to get in shape. As seniors age, many fall into the mindset that they should be cutting back on their physical activity levels. This is a mistake and one that leads to many health risks. While many seniors worry about pain, weight gain, or injuring themselves, that shouldn’t hold them back from living an active lifestyle.
Getting active is the best way to stay healthy as you enter your golden years. Not only is a higher activity shown to increase energy levels, but it will protect your heart and keep your weight in check. Your health is your most valuable asset, so don’t lose it to a sedentary lifestyle! Here’s what you need to focus on when it comes to your fitness as you age and how a personal trainer can help you.
Getting active is the best way to stay healthy during the golden years
Finding Health Insurance
Your first step to health and fitness as you age is to create a plan for health insurance coverage. WIthout health insurance, you’re always one mistake away from a financial and health catastrophe. Whether you find insurance under the federal program Medicare, designed specifically for those 65 and older, or you opt for a private plan, make sure you’re prepared for anything. Learn here from overview of each of the parts which of the 4 plans is most suitable for you and how to get the best health coverage for your needs so you can make your health a priority.
The best way to prepare is to prepare early. Medicare enrollment starts a few months before your 65th birthday and continues a few months after. If you miss this enrollment period, you’re subject to fees and other complications. Don’t delay when it comes to your own health insurance.
Fitness for Seniors
A British study reveals that seniors who study for at least 3 hours a week are more likely to live longer. Yet, so many aging people still avoid things like strength training, cardio, and aerobics. This sedentary lifestyle shortens your lifespan and wrecks your quality of life. If you want to be fit, you don’t have to commit to an over the top fitness routine. Instead, look at these easy ways to stay in shape as you age.
Swimming
Swimming has long been the best full-body workout you can do for your own health. It’s perfect for all bodies, but especially for seniors since it’s easy on your muscles and joints. You can do a water aerobics class, swim laps or even just spend time in the water. As long as you’re moving, you’re staying active.
Yoga
Another option for seniors is yoga. While this is a more holistic approach to fitness, yoga is a great way to build muscle strength, work on your balance, and maintain mobility, all important things as you age. Like swimming, yoga is low impact. It’s a gentle way to get moving every day, and it’s easy to get started.
Yoga is a great low impact activity for seniors.
Bodyweight Training
Severe muscle loss is a serious issue as you age. The best way to combat this is to regularly work with your bodyweight to train strength back into those tired muscles. You don’t need to lift anything crazy to feel the effects, and it’s perfectly acceptable to start small with exercises like squats, single-leg stands, and stair climbing. A personal trainer is the perfect person to guide you.
Beware of Injury
While staying active is a must, you also need to be vigilant about preventing injury. Common injuries for seniors include broken bones, torn tendons, and sprains. While most injuries are minor, it’s best to avoid them if possible.
Here are some valuable tips for staying safe while you get active:
Always talk to your doctor before beginning a new routine.
Don’t just do one activity. Instead, find a balanced exercise plan that strengthens your whole body. A personal trainer can really help here.
Always warm up and cool down before and after your activity.
Work out regularly to avoid stiff muscles.
Listen to your body and don’t push yourself too far. Personal trainers can develop plans that work your muscles the right amount.
A little bit of self-awareness goes a long way in the fitness world. It’s okay to start small and to build your plan as you gain confidence. Never push your body harder than it can go, and seek medical help immediately if you notice a problem.
Staying Healthy
We all want to live long, healthy lives. With an active lifestyle, it’s completely possible to maintain fitness for seniors. Don’t succumb to a sedentary lifestyle as you age. Get out there and enjoy the best life has to offer, whether that means taking yoga classes are going for a walk every day. Even small steps equal great strides for your health.
Creating Workout Plans for Multiple Clients at Once
We have recently enabled Personal Trainers and Fitness Coaches creating workout plans for multiple clients at once in our iOS app, Android App and at fitsw.com. In the same way, Trainers and coaches can also add diet plans and tasks / goals for multiple clients at once. This feature makes it easy for trainers who have clients on similar fitness plans to build out workouts and plans. The trainer can then customize the workout with specific weights later by editing it individually. Below are the details on how to create workout plans for multiple clients at once:
Creating Workouts for Multiple Clients at Once on the Website
First go to the Add Workout screen as you normally would.
Click the “Select Additional Clients to Apply Workout to” link shown in red below:
Click the link shown in red to apply the workout you are creating to multiple clients.
You will then see a list of your clients to choose from. Select as many as you need to.
Select all the clients that you would like to apply this workout to.
Then when you click the Save Workout button, the FitSW will apply this workout to all the clients that you selected.
When you click “Save Workout”, this workout will be applied to all the clients that you had selected.
You can apply Diet Plans and Tasks to multiple clients at once in the same way.
iOS & Android App Creating Workout Plans for Multiple Clients
Creating workout plans for multiple clients on the iOS and Android apps works much the same way.
Go to the Add Workout screen as normal.
Click the “Apple Workout to Additional Clients” button seen below in red:
Press the “Apply Workout to Additional Clients” button in order to create this workout for multiple clients.
Select all the additional clients you would like to apply this workout to and then click Done.
Tap to select all the clients you would like to apply this workout to.
The app will display the names you selected right under the main client you were adding this workout to.
All clients you selected are will be show underneath the main clients name.
Tap “Add” like you normally would to add a workout and the workout will be added to all the clients you selected.
Trainers can add diet plans and tasks for multiple clients at once in the same way as above.
Fitness Coach Meal Planning Feature Updates Mobile App
We have made several updates to the iOS and Android apps lately including some to the Diet and Food List tabs. These fitness coach meal planning feature updates make it easier for coaches / dietitians to plan and create diets & meal plans. Here are the details of these changes – let us know what other changes you would like to see.
Adding Foods to Food List on the Fly
Previously, in order to add a new food that wasn’t already in their food list, coaches would need to go to their Food List tab. They would have to add the new food to their Food List. Only then, could they add it to a diet plan. We have now enabled adding a food with its macro info while adding it to a diet plan. Here is how:
Add / Edit Diet plan screen. You can add foods on the fly after you click the “Add Food” button.
Click the Add Food button on the Add / Edit Diet screen like you would do for a food that already existed.
Click the “+” button in the upper right of the Food List menu (before this “+” button didn’t exist on this page.
Enter in the specific food details and macros and then hit the “Done” button. Your food will be added to your Food List and also added to the current meal plan you were editing.
You can specify food details and macros. Tap done and you will add them to your Food List and the current meal plan you were editing all at once.
Macro Nutrients Info Displayed while in Food List
To make meal planning easier we have now added macro-nutrient details to the food list. Coaches and clients can now save time while building meal plans with that information displayed right on the Food List. We also improved the display of foods with longer names.
Macronutrients displayed in the Food List make building meal plans easier.
Updating Personalized Personal Trainer Web page in iOS & Android Apps
Every personal trainer that uses FitSW has the opportunity to create their own personalized personal trainer web page. This page allows them to share details on their Personal Training Services, Specialties, Certifications, Contact information and more. The trainer can specify the web page address so that it can be at https://www.fitsw.com/NAME where the trainer can choose what NAME is. The trainer can then share this page with potential or existing clients. If the trainer has enabled it, they can even accept client payments on this page. Now, we have enabled trainer to quickly update the information that appears on this page right from there phone in a minute. More info on Trainer Pages and how to update them on the website can be found here.
How to Update Your Trainer Page from the FitSW Mobile App
The Personal Trainer Web page can be updated from the Profile Screen in the mobile app. In iOS you can access this screen by clicking on the “More” button in the lower right and then selecting “Profile”. In Android, the Profile screen is accessible from the side bar. On that screen you will see your profile information. If you want to enable your Personalized Page, ensure that the switch is turned on.
Ensure the Personalized Page switch is on to show your page details.
Everything below that switch is related to your personalized page.
The Your Page field lets you specify the address for your page.
The Headline is what shows as the title of your page
The General Information, Specialties, and Certifications fields allow you to write in details about you and your business.
Additional Fields on your Profile page lets you further customize your Personalized Trainer Page
Specify whether you offer online training and whether you offer In-Personal Training.
Select your location so that potential clients can find you.
Specify what information you would like to share on your page. You can share or hide your phone, email, or profile picture.
Clients View Your Page in App
Not only can people view what you share at your personalized web address, existing clients can view the information you would like them to see in the mobile app. We added a new page for clients called “My Trainer” that lets them view what you have share on your personalized personal trainer web page. If you have enabled it, they can even Call, Text or Email you at the tap of a button.
Clients can view the “My Trainer” page in app to see information that you have chosen to share.
App Setting Page Updates
You may have noticed that with the above Profile Page changes we moved some Settings to their own page. Here you can control things like automated mailings.
New Settings page lets you control things like automated emails.
We recently made several improvements to the workout creator in our iOS and Android apps along with several updates in our web app at FitSW.com. These personal trainer workout creator improvements include the ability to have more than 5 different reps and weights specified for each exercise and the ability to add exercises on the fly while building a workout.
More than 5 Different Reps and Weights For Each Exercise
We have now added the ability for users to specify many different weights and reps for each exercise. Previously the app only allowed users to specify up to 5 different weights and reps. Now users can add up to 10. For example users can now create a workout that looks like this:
Trainers can now create workouts with more than 5 different reps and weights per exercise.
Users can create workouts like this by simply entering commas between each rep or weight will adding the exercise. It should look like this:
Enter multiple reps and weights for an exercise by separating each instance with a comma.
Add Exercises on the Fly while Building Workouts in Mobile Apps
Website users have been able to add exercises on the fly while building a workout for a while. Now, this same personal trainer workout creator improvement is available on the app. Trainers no longer need to first add an exercise to their exercise list before they can use it in a workout. Now, a trainer can build a workout and add an exercise right there from the Workouts tab and it will be added to their workout. The app will save the exercise to the trainer’s exercise list. Here is how to do it:
Users should tap the Add Exercise button like they normally would while creating a workout.
Tap Add Exercise as normal
Then when the Exercise list comes up, the trainer just needs to hit the new “+” button in the upper right to add to this exercise list.
Click the “+” button to add an exercise that doesn’t already exist to the workout on the fly.
The app will then display the Add Exercise screen for the trainer to add the exercise name, a demo link and the muscle group.
The Add Exercise screen works the same way as the Add Exercise screen from the Exercise List tab. Enter exercise name, demo link, and muscle group.
Complete the above 3 steps and the exercise will be added to your workout. It will also be in your exercise list going forward.
We have added a new feature to Workouts in addition to the ability for personal trainers to build workouts on FitSW. We have now added client workout results tracking. Personal trainers or clients can fill in the actual results during or after their workouts and then compare with the original plan. Below is what it looks like.
Enable recording of what actually happened during the workout by clicking the button with the red square around it. This will bring up the “Actual Results” fields.
Enter Actual Results for Your Chosen Workout Fields
Personal trainers or their clients can activate this feature for any workout by clicking the button with the red square around it. They can then enter in the actual results for any field they would like. All fields are optional so you or your clients can fill out whichever fields you would like. Maybe you only want your clients to enter the number of reps they did with the specified weights – then everything else can be left blank. Its completely up to you – no fields are required.
Saving Workout Result Data is Simple
We made entering workout results data as easy as possible. The webpage will automatically save the data as the trainer or client enters it. There is no need to click a save button.
Easily Remove hide Fields for Simple to Read Workouts
Hide the “Actual Results” by again clicking the Workout Results Tracking button highlighted in red. The website will save all the data entered into the “Actual Results” fields. Clicking the same button again will then show the saved data again.
Hide the “Actual Results” fields by clicking the button highlighted in red again. The website will save the data even though it has hidden the fields.
Client Workout Results Tracking on Mobile View of the Website
This feature is also available on the mobile view of the website using the same button. This feature on mobile website viewing works the same way. The only difference is for cases where there are multiple reps or weights for a specific exercise. This is shown as comma separated on desktop (example: 12,10,8) but on mobile there are individual fields for each rep count as seen below. Trainers or clients can record actual results for each of these fields.
Recording Workout Results is also easy to use on Mobile and works similar to the Desktop view..
Sometimes its just easier, faster and more convenient for personal trainers to have their clients pay them with credit cards or debit cards. FitSW enables trainers to accept payments from their clients directly at FitSW.com. In a previous post ,we had talked about enabling trainers to accept payments from their clients. This feature has been in beta for several months and is now available to everyone. Below we will give more details on accepting payments from personal training clients.
Setting Up The Ability to Accept Payments as a Personal Trainer
In order to use the payments feature, the personal trainer must have a premium account. To setup the ability to accept payments, click on the “Payments” tab when logged in and then click the “Begin Accepting Payment” button.
Click on the Payments tab to setup Payments. Then click the “Begin Accepting Payments” button.
You will be taken to a page where you can quickly enter in the necessary information with our payment processor and your account will be setup.
Payments Page after Account Setup
After your payments account is setup, your payments page will show you details on how your clients can make payments to you as well as a link to your Payments Dashboard. This link will show details payments received, payouts to your account, and your Payments account settings.
After being setup, the trainer Payments page will show details on how clients can pay along with a link to the trainers Payment Dashboard.
How Clients Can Make a Payment
There are two places a client can make a payment. First, is they can visit their Personal Trainers Public Trainer Page (if it has been setup by the trainer described here). This is the personalized page that trainer can setup using the My Page tab. Using this method, the client doesn’t need to login but the trainer does need to have setup their personalized page. At the bottom is the place to make a payment.
Clients can make payments 2 ways. This image shows the first way: using the trainers personalized page at the bottom.
The second way is the client can login to their account and then click on their own “Payments” tab.
Clients can also make payments by logging in to their account and clicking on their own “Payments” tab.
Both ways are very simple and the client just needs to enter the amount they will be paying, enter their credit / debit info and that’s it. The new payment feature makes it easy for both the personal trainer and their client. This feature will soon be coming to our Android app as well. If you would like to see it on iOS as well, please let us know.
Personal Trainer Client Messaging in iOS and Android Apps
This past week we released updates to our iOS App and Android App that include the ability for Personal Trainers and their clients to send messages to each other. This Personal Trainer Client Messaging allows personal trainers to stay connected with their client to keep them engaged, on-track, and motivated. It also helps trainers stay organized and keep all of their business messaging in the app so that it doesn’t get lost in personal messages. For clients, the in App messaging also helps keep them focused and organized with their messages from their personal trainer being in the same platform as all their other fitness information.
Use Messaging on Web, iOS or Android
Personal Trainers and clients can use FitSW messaging to communicate no matter what platform they are on: the website, iOS, or Android all work even if the client and trainer are on different platforms. Below is how it looks and works on both iOS and Android.
Accessing Personal Training Client Messaging in Mobile Apps
The in-app Personal Training Client Messaging can be Accessed from the sidebar menu on android and the “More” button on iOS. If there are new messages for the client or trainer, the menu item will have a badge with the number of new messages as seen below.
The Messages item is in the More tab on iOS and the sidebar for Android. Above you can see there are 2 new messages as shown by the badge.
Personal Trainer Clients Messages Screen
Tap on the Messages menu item and the app will take trainers to a page that lists their clients. Here the trainer can see how many new messages are from which client. Underneath the clients name, they will also see the most recent message sent or received.
This screen shows all the trainers clients, and the most recent message sent or received. The red square next to AC Slater show that there are two new messages from AC.
Messages Chat Screen
Click on a specific client. The app will take you to the Messages chat screen for that client. Here you can read all your messages and send new messages. Scroll up to read the older messages.
The messages chat screen shows all your messages and allows you to send new messages.
Personal Training clients will have access to a similar screen to type and receive messages to their trainers. All of these messages are accessible on any platform: the website, iOS or Android. The above images are for iOS but the Android platform looks very similar.
We have release several new features on our Android app recently, but one we wanted to discuss today was the PAR-Q Android app feature. Trainers and clients can both access the PAR-Q Screen from their tablet or phone. This allows Personal Trainers to either:
Have clients fill out the PAR-Q from the clients own device on their own time.
Fill out the PAR-Q on the trainers own device with their client.
This flexibility lets personal trainers and their clients complete the PAR-Q the way that works best for them. The PAR-Q Android App feature works just like the PAR-Q iOS App.
Access the PAR-Q Android App feature from the sidebar menu.
Saving the PAR-Q Data
As the personal trainer or client goes through the PAR-Q screen in the Android App, the information they enter is automatically saved. The trainer or client can then access this PAR-Q information at any time. The FitSW App saves all this information and helps trainers stay organized without having to carry around numerous hard copy PAR-Qs. Every thing is safely online, accessible from the trainer’s phone or computer.
The PAR-Q screen includes the standard PAR-Q questions, general client info, and General & Medical Questions.
Printing or Saving the PAR-Q to PDF
Trainers can access the PAR-Q information that was completed on a phone or tablet cat anytime from the FitSW.com website. From there, the trainer can print out or save to a pdf.. The trainer just needs to click on the particular client in their client list. Next, they click on online PAR-Q for that client. The personal trainer can print this PAR-Q information in a nice looking format or save it to PDF. For more information on how to do this, check out our post on creating and accessing the PAR-Q online from FitSW.com.
