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 foods with its macro info while adding it to a diet plan. Here is how:

Click the Add Food button on the Add / Edit Diet screen like you would do for 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 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.

Fitness Coach Meal Planning Add Food on the Fly — Add / Edit Diet plan screen. You can add foods on the fly after you click the “Add Food” button.

Fitness Coach Meal Planning Add Food on the Fly Screen — 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.

Fitness Coach Meal Planning Improved Food List with Macronutrients. — Macronutrients displayed in the Food List make building meal plans easier.

Personalized Personal Trainer Web Page Update on Mobile

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.

Personalized Personal Trainer Web page Activation Switch — 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.

Personalized Personal Trainer Web page Client View — 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.

Personalized Personal Trainer Web Page Settings Page — New Settings page lets you control things like automated emails.

Personal Trainer Workout Creator Improvements

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:

Personal Trainer Workout Creator Multiple Reps Weights — 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 while adding the exercise. It should look like this:

Personal Trainer Workout Creator Multiple Reps Weights Entry — 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.

Client Workout Results Tracking – New Feature

New Fields: Client Workout Results Tracking

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.

Client Workout Results Tracking Record Results Button — 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 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. It’s 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.

Client Workout Results Tracking Hide Results — 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.

Client Workout Results Tracking Mobile View — Recording Workout Results is also easy to use on Mobile and works similar to the Desktop view.

Update: This feature is also now available in the iOS app and Android app and is described in this blog article.

Android Tablet Personal Trainer Software and Other Improvements

Android Release: Android Tablet Personal Trainer Software Improvements and more

We have released a new Android beta for the Android Application that adds a few highly requested features such as landscape orientation. We have also improved the app so that the android tablet personal trainer software is easier to use. Also in the update is an updated Profile screen where Trainer’s can now edit their Personalized Page. We have also added the ability for clients to manage Payments within the app. Below we will go into detail of the new changes with the latest release. Information about the beta is at the bottom of this blog post.

New Personalized Page and Settings Menu

We have added the ability for Trainer’s to modify their Personalized Page within the app on the Profile screen. Also added in this release is an updated Settings menu, with some of the options that were on the Profile screen being moved to Settings.

Accepting Payments

Customers can now manage payments through the Payments screen, which is on the side menu. More information about payments can be found in a previous post where we go into detail about the feature and how it works.

Landscape and Large Screen Support

We also added Landscape and large screen support. Users can now switch between portrait and landscape orientations throughout the app.

Android Tablet Personal Trainer Software Android Beta Tablet Support — This image displays the new landscape orientation support on a large screen

Accessing the Android Beta

We have decided to release to the beta for this release to allow us to better monitor crashes and stability issues.

To opt-in to the beta visit the following link click here. After visiting the link click “Become a tester”. Users can enter or leave the beta whenever they like. To do so, click on the same link above and opt out of the beta. We appreciate any feedback that you have regarding the app, which you can report through the “Feedback” popup within the app.

Accepting Payments From Personal Training Clients

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 set up the ability to accept payments, click on the “Payments” tab when logged in and then click the “Begin Accepting Payment” button.

Accepting Payments From Personal Training Clients Payments Tab — Click on the Payments tab to set up Payments. Then click the “Begin Accepting Payments” button.

You will be taken to a page where you can quickly enter the necessary information with our payment processor and your account will be setup.

Payments Page after Account Setup

After your payments account is set up, 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.

Accepting Payments From Personal Training Clients After Setup — 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 payments have been set up by the trainer). This is the personalized page that trainer can set up using the My Page tab. Using this method, the client doesn’t need to login but the trainer does need to have set up their personalized page. At the bottom is the place to make a payment.

Accepting Payments From Personal Training Clients Make Payment Personalized Page — 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 log in to their account and then click on their own “Payments” tab.

Accepting Payments From Personal Training Clients Make Payment Payment 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 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.

Personal Trainer Client Messaging in iOS and Android Apps Messages Menu — 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.

Personal Trainer Client Messaging in iOS and Android Apps Client LIst — 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.

Personal Trainer Client Messaging in iOS and Android Apps Chat Screen — 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.

PAR-Q Android App – Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire

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.

PAR-Q Android App Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire Access Menu — 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.

PAR-Q Android App Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire Fill Out Form — 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.

Easily Share Personal Training Client Progress in iOS & Android Apps

FitSW is awesome at tracking progress with progress graphs, progress photos and before-and-after images. Now we have made it easy to quickly share personal training client progress on social media using our iOS and Android apps (the website already did this as outlined here for graphs and here for photos). You can share it on any social media platform you prefer at the click of a button. There are three beneficial reasons to share client progress on social media (after you have made sure your clients are ok with it of course):

Recognize your client for their hard work. A lot of clients like to have their friends see how far they have come in their fitness journey. Having their trainer highlight this on social media can be both motivating and rewarding.
Expose you to more people in your clients network. What better way for potential clients to see how great of trainer you are than for them to see how you have helped their friend / acquaintance.
Show your social media followers what you can help people accomplish and the types of people you work with.

Sharing Progress Photos and Comparison Images

Sharing Progress Photos and comparison images is now as simple as clicking a button in your iOS or Android app. First go to your Comparison Images and choose the image you would like to share.

Easily Share Personal Training client Progress Comparison Image — To share a comparison image, click the Share button in the upper right.

After clicking the “Share” button in the upper right, you will see the below screen that will allow you to choose which Social Media platforms to share the image on.

Easily Share Personal Training client Progress Comparison Share — You can choose which social media platforms that you would like to share the image on.

Sharing Progress Graphs

You can also Share Personal Training Client Progress Graphs in a similar way.

Sharing Progress Photos and Progress Graphs — Tap the “Share Progress” button in the upper right of the Progress Graph that you would like to share.

After tapping the Share Progress button, you will see the following screen where you can select which social media platform to share on.

Sharing Progress Photos and Progress Share — Personal Trainers and clients can choose from a variety of social media platforms to share on.

Uploading Personal Trainer Forms Like PARQ and Contracts

In our web application at fitsw.com, we have now added the ability for uploading personal trainer forms in addition to the Personal Training Contract form. Previously, we allowed trainers to upload filled out Personal Training Contracts for each client. Trainers can save these online and access from anywhere. We also allow Personal Trainers to save Online PAR-Q data on our website. We have now given you another field where you can upload your own personalized PAR-Q form or any other type of form you would like. I have highlighted this field in red in the image below.

New File Upload Field Form / File Types

This additional upload field can be used for any type of file you would like to upload for your clients. It could be your own customized PAR-Q if you have additional questions you like that are not on our existing Online PAR-Q form (which is based off of NASM‘s). Or this additional upload file could be a release form, another contract or any other type of customized form that you would like to save for each of your clients.

How Do I Upload A Personal Training Form

Uploading a Personal Training file or form for your client is easy.

Login to FitSW.com and then click on a specific clients name that you would like to upload a form for. FitSW will take you to the “Edit Client” page.
Toward the bottom of the “Edit Client” page, click the “Choose File” button. Then select the Form / File that you would like to upload.
Click the blue “Save” button. FitSW will save and upload your form.
You can access this uploaded form at any time by going to the “Edit Client” page. Then click the “Exiting Upload” button.
To overwrite the existing form, follow steps 1-3 again and select a new file to upload.