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It’s 2024, and the days of requiring multiple sessions with a personal trainer each week are over. With the rising popularity of online personal trainers, anyone can now hire a coach to provide custom workouts, nutrition advice, and ongoing accountability and support directly from their phone.
In our guide to the best online personal trainer, trainwell (formerly CoPilot) won the award for best personal trainer for weight loss, but the trainers in this fitness app can help you reach nearly any type of health and wellness goal. We’ll cover who should use this app, how it works, and all of the pros and cons in this trainwell fitness review.
Honest Feedback From an Expert Product Tester
As always, we’ll never review any app or coaching service that we haven’t personally used and tested. Our testers include certified personal trainers, nutrition coaches, registered dietitians, and weightlifting gym owners.
We have plenty of experience in the fitness industry, and many of us are coaches ourselves, who know how to spot both good and bad coaching. For this review, Lindsay Scheele, certified personal trainer and lead reviewer of Garage Gym Reviews Everything, spent a week working with a trainer through trainwell, carefully paying attention to specific aspects like:
- Pricing
- Accountability
- Access to your coach
- Equipment requirements
- The overall coaching experience
Trainwell
Trainwell Fitness
Product Highlights
- Dedicated fitness coaching, personalized workouts, and nutrition guidance
- Easy ongoing communication with a coach through text, video messages, and live calls
- Fitness plans tailored to your individual goals
- Built-in flexibility for home or gym workouts
- Includes a library of exercise demos
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No contract required
- No equipment needed
- Personalized training plans
- Feedback from coach
Cons
- Expensive
- Reports that the rep tracking is inaccurate
Bottom Line
The trainwell Fitness app (formerly CoPilot) provides dedicated coaching, personalized workouts, and nutrition guidance with one-to-one communication with a coach. There is no free version and it does cost $99 per month so it may not be a great choice for those looking to keep costs down.
A Quick Look at trainwell Fitness
While plenty of apps deliver streaming workouts and pre-made lifting programs to follow, trainwell (formerly CoPilot) pairs you with a certified fitness coach who will build custom workout programs for you, help you build healthy habits, and, in some cases, offer nutrition coaching.
There’s no community or accountability aside from your coach, but you’ll receive unlimited interaction with your coach in the form of text messages, program feedback, and even video calls.
The best part? Trainwell is only $99/month, which isn’t exactly cheap, but still far more affordable than many of the other options on the market. If you’re looking for a custom training and nutrition plan built for your individual goals and needs, trainwell fitness is a great option to use.
RELATED: Best Workout Apps
Before You Subscribe
- Trainwell pairs with you a certified personal trainer, many of whom also have nutrition certifications they can use to help with your food intake.
- You can receive a free 14-day trial to experience the coaching before committing to the monthly plan.
- The app works very well with iOS and the Apple Watch, though some Android users report the app can be a bit glitchy at times.
Is the Trainwell Fitness App Worth It?
Before you spend $99 per month on your fitness goals, it’s important to make sure that trainwell (formerly CoPilot) delivers what you’re looking for. While this is still a significant investment, it’s a fraction of the cost you’d pay to work with a trainer in the gym, where personal training sessions can cost anywhere from $30 to over $150 per session, depending on the training market where you live.
There’s no community aspect, so the only accountability you’ll receive is directly from your coach. If you’re looking for group accountability and support, trainwell isn’t the app for you. However, if you feel comfortable training on your own, and simply want to follow a plan tailor-made for you by a certified personal trainer, trainwell is one of the most affordable options for accessing an online coach.
Finally, if you’re on a tight budget, there are plenty of free workout apps you can use to get started.
Great for:
- Those who want a personalized workout and training plan without the cost of hiring an in-person trainer
- Anyone who can commit to training on their own, without in-person guidance or group support
- Anyone looking for both training and nutrition advice from certified professionals
Not recommended for:
- Anyone on a tight budget
- Those who want a lot of accountability and community engagement
- New exercisers who would benefit from in-person coaching and supervision
Trainwell Fitness App Specs
| Pricing | $99 per month |
| Trial period | 14 days |
| Type of training | Strength training, cardio, mobility |
| Access to professionals | Yes |
| Custom nutrition coaching | Yes, from certain coaches |
| Accountability | Unlimited messaging and feedback from your coach |
| Available on | iPhone and Android |
Getting Started With the Trainwell Fitness App
Setting up your trainwell account is simple and easy. Whether you set up your account on the app or website, you’ll begin by answering a series of questions that ask about your goals and training preferences. You can also select preferences for your coach, including gender, background, communication style, and preferred time for your onboarding call.
After you answer your questions, trainwell will help you choose a coach who’s a good fit (you can see their credentials first), and you can switch your coach at any time during your membership if you want. Trainwell says that less than 3% of coaches who apply for the platform are approved, so you’ll be working with verified professionals who have been carefully vetted ahead of time.
Finally, you’ll schedule an onboarding video call with your coach to discuss your goals and program. Your coach will build your program in the app, and you can message them anytime you have questions or concerns. Many of the coaches also have nutrition certifications and may be able to assist with meal plans, macro goals, or other types of nutrition coaching.
Experience With the Trainwell Fitness App
Certified personal trainer Lindsay Scheele spent a week using trainwell’s coaching, after setting up her account and initial onboarding call. Overall, she was very impressed with the whole experience.
While there is no community access for support and accountability, the coach was very helpful. She designed a custom plan for Lindsay based on their discussion, helped set up macro targets for her nutrition plan, and Lindsay was able to use in-app messages to send her coach questions about her nutrition plan.
RELATED: 8 Reasons an Online Personal Trainer Can Be Great for Beginners
Lindsay also noted that the app is very body-neutral. There was no shaming or judgment, and her coach even encouraged her to eat more food to reach her goals, as she had been slightly undereating.
The app was very smooth and easy to use, with video demonstrations for each workout. She noted that it was a very impressive app that was simple and easy to use, integrating perfectly with her iPhone and Apple Watch. We didn’t test the app on an Android phone, but it’s worth noting that some Android users report the app can be a bit glitchy at times.
Interactive Features
One of the most impressive aspects of trainwell is the app itself, which we found very easy and fun to use on the iOS ecosystem, scoring a 5 out of 5.
When I went through the onboarding process myself (although I didn’t sign up), one of the questions asked if I would be using an Apple Watch, so it seems like the watch integration is a big feature of trainwell.
Our tester said: “The app was great! It is a very easy app to use, the workouts that were programmed had videos to follow along with, and if you have an iPhone and Apple Watch the experience goes over the moon. The paired iPhone and Apple Watch use the motion sensors in the watch to help dictate ROM on the movements that are programmed within the app, which allows the AI on the app to give real-time feedback to either slow down, speed up, or go deeper into the stretch of the movement.”
The app also tracks basic metrics, like step count, estimated BMR, and heart rate.
RELATED: Best Workout App for Men
Programming
Your program is designed after you answer questions and have a video onboarding call with your coach, so you’ll always receive a custom program built for your individual goals, training history, equipment access, and schedule. No premade template can beat a custom training plan, so for the programming and instruction, trainwell earns a rating of 4 out of 5.
We only tested the app for a week, so we can’t say how often the workouts change, however, the coach is available anytime if you have questions, or need program modifications. Each workout includes video demonstrations to help ensure you’re using good form, although you won’t have someone watching you to correct your form if needed.
RELATED: Best Online Workout Programs
To help know when to make adjustments, you’re also asked to take your measurements and progress photos throughout the week. The coach explained that scale weight will fluctuate, so using progress photos and measurements was a key part of tracking progress.
As a fitness coach myself with over 11 years of experience, this is very impressive, as far too many apps only focus on the scale, which truly does fluctuate day to day and doesn’t tell the entire story.
Finally, you don’t need to have a gym membership or any special equipment to use trainwell. Your trainer will build your plan based on your goals and preferences, whether you prefer bodyweight training, kettlebells, free weights, or any other type of workout routine.
Accountability
While you can reach out to your coach anytime, there’s no community or social aspect. This isn’t a bad thing for those who can motivate themselves, and it’s nice to know you have a real person who cares about your goals supporting your journey.
That said, other training apps do include social features and a community, which may be better for those who love regular engagement and support from other users.
For accountability, trainwell earns a 3-out-of-5 rating.
Pricing and Subscription Options
Trainwell offers a 14-day free trial, and the membership costs $99 per month, earning a score of 4.5 out of 5.
While this isn’t cheap, it’s certainly one of the most affordable options on the market if you’re looking for custom training plans and nutrition coaching, as either one of those could easily cost hundreds per month individually.
If you prefer to subscribe to a cheaper app with pre-made workout plans to choose from, there are plenty of alternatives, but for those looking for a personalized plan, it’s hard to beat trainwell.
Trainwell Fitness vs Future
102883
Future
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Incredible user interface; very well designed and intuitive
- Choose your own coach based on your personal preferences and goals
- Lots of variety in your workouts
Cons
- $199 per month membership cost
- No real-time coaching from your trainer
Bottom Line
With plenty of other online personal trainers out there, let’s compare this to another popular app, Future.
Future was named the best online personal trainer in our roundups, and GGR founder Coop Mitchell personally used and paid for Future for over three years, even paying for his wife to use it, too. It’s that good.
So, what’s the difference?
While both apps offer custom coaching and feedback from your coach, Future takes the coaching aspect one step further. Not only will you receive daily notifications from your coach and regular check-ins, but you can record videos of yourself training to get form tips from your coach.
However, Future starts at $199 per month, twice as much as trainwell. Future is the better choice for those who want the best of the best, but trainwell is better for those who want high-quality coaching on a budget.
For more, check out our written Future app review or check out Coop’s video review.
| Trainwell Fitness | Future | |
| Pricing | $99 per month | $199 per month |
| Trial period | 14 days | No trial, but you can periodically claim 50% off your first month |
| Type of training | Customized to your goals | Customized to your goals |
| Access to professionals | Yes | Yes |
| Custom nutrition coaching | Yes | Yes |
| Accountability | Unlimited messaging and feedback from your coach | Unlimited messaging and feedback from your coach |
| Available on | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
Customer Experience
We didn’t need to interact with customer support, but the overall customer experience seemed very friendly, earning a 4-out-of-5 score.
For starters, the 14-day free trial is a great option, especially for those new to coaching. The trial doesn’t begin until the day of your onboarding call, so you can try the coaching process for an entire two weeks before making a decision.
Trainwell doesn’t offer any refunds, but subscribers can select a new coach at any time, and support is easy to reach via email or live chat.
Customer Reviews
Trainwell doesn’t publish reviews on its website, so I went to the app stores to check out the customer feedback. The app has a 4.9 rating on the Apple App Store with over 3,000 reviews and a 4.2 rating on the Google Play Store with over 10,000 reviews. This makes sense, as many Android users report a glitchy app (though a trainwell representative tells us the Android app has been patched up since the name change).
While a few reviews mentioned the interface and app issues, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and users are very impressed with both the app itself and the coaching experience.
Final Verdict of Our Trainwell Fitness Review
If you’re looking for a custom workout and nutrition plan, with unlimited access to your trainer, trainwell (formerly CoPilot) is one of the most affordable options on the market. For a fraction of the money you’d spend on a trainer at your local gym, you’ll receive personalized coaching and unlimited access to your certified, vetted coach.
The app is very impressive and easy to use, especially for Apple users, though some Android users report the app often has technical difficulties. If you’re on the fence, you can try the 14-day free trial to experience every feature of the app without spending a dime.
Full Rating
CoPilot Fitness App
The CoPilot Fitness app provides dedicated coaching, personalized workouts, and nutrition guidance with one-to-one communication with a coach. There is no free version and it does cost $99 per month so it may not be a great choice for those looking to keep costs down.
Product Brand: CoPilot
Product Currency: $
Product Price: 99
Product In-Stock: InStock
4.21
Trainwell Fitness FAQs
Is the CoPilot Fitness app free?
The trainwell Fitness app (formerly CoPilot) provides access to an online personal trainer who can provide custom training plans and nutrition advice, as well as offer support and guidance through regular check-ins, all for $99 per month. There is no free version, though users can take advantage of a 14-day free trial.
What is a CoPilot workout?
Trainwell (formerly CoPilot) delivers custom workouts created by a certified personal trainer, so no two workout plans are the same. Your trainer will build you a plan based on your goals, training schedule, and equipment access.
Is Copilot Fitness good for beginners?
Trainwell (formerly CoPilot) allows unlimited access to your coach, which is great for beginners who have questions and challenges in their fitness journey. However, there is no feedback from a coach on your training form, so if you’re brand new to strength training and don’t feel confident in your form, you may need to start with a different app.
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