What is a personalized workout plan?
I’ve seen more than a few influencers offering “personalized workout plans” and frankly, its pissing me off.
Before I got into why its pissing me off that a random fit-bodied person has decided to sell a '“personalized” online program, let’s define the term.
What is a personalized workout plan?
A personalized program is an exercise routine that meets the following criteria:
Takes your experience with exercise into consideration.
Takes your injury history and medical concerns into consideration.
It includes both exercises that move you towards your specific goals and exercises that the trainer suspects that you need based on your injury history, movement capabilities, and pain. If the trainer is skilled, there will be lots overlap in the exercise selection between the categories of what you want and what they think you need.
Takes into consideration the equipment you have access to and the time you have available to you.
Workout plans can also be referred to as an exercise program, workout program, homework, etc…
Here’s why I’m irritated
Level 1: Annoyed
It is my strongly-held belief that a trainer has no business doing online programming for remote clients until they have at least 2 years of “floor training” experience. This means that they’ll have at least two years worth of experience with in-person clients; watching how people move, seeing what works and what doesn’t, learning how to cue, learning how to adjust on the fly.
The first two years of being a personal trainer really set up just how good you’ll be throughout your career. By that I mean as a movement professional, not just someone who is a good salesperson. I know folks who are wonderful people to spend an hour with, skilled at selling their services, but are pretty average trainers. These folks know how to not hurt someone, but God forbid a client gets injured or has a new goal, they have no idea what to do.
Level 2: Irritated
Layered on top of that are the young fitness influencers, some of whom may have their base-level personal trainer certification, many of whom do not. Sometimes they call themselves trainers, but frequently they refer to themselves as “coach.” Unfortunately, on the flip side, there are some really legit, amazing movement professionals out there who have “coach” in their bio, so it creates a lot of confusion.
Anyone can label themselves however they want on social media with little-to-no repercussions, so it really is up to the consumer to do their research.
Level 3: Now you’ve really pissed me off
Its one thing if you’re young, hot, and fit on the internet. Its another if you wear the term “coach” as a costume, but don’t really do any client work. Its a whole different thing to have no practical experience, have a large following on social media, and then try to sell your followers something “personalized.”
As a consumer, the product you’re getting is likely a template. Templates aren’t inherently bad, I use them for my clients, but I also have 300 different variations I can integrate when I inevitably have to blow up 2/3 of my template because Rick has no spinal disc between L5 and S1. Or because Kelsey has Chron’s and has varying energy levels day to day. Or Eric receives a Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis 6 months into our work together. Programming isn’t hard, but paying attention to your client enough to make sure that the program you give them is safe and appropriate is a learned skill.
Level 4: Burn it down
Most of them are stealing from you. Or, at the very least, are overcharging for their experience and knowledge level. You’re likely getting the same program as everyone else.
Little caveat here: there are some folks—both new to training and experienced—who sell a template program and are totally upfront about it. I feel fine about that because its honest (and I can’t be rip-roarin’ mad about everything). Further, there are some large, really experienced movement folks who sell template programs and I feel ok about those as well—because you know what you’re getting, but also the source is has more experience and a longer history of positive results.
How to spot a legitimate professional selling a workout program
This can be really challenging, but you’re increasing your odds of success if you vet out the education and experience level of the person writing your program (instead of just buying something from StephanieOnline because she’s hot and has the glutes you want).
Someone who does intro calls and check-ins
You’re either meeting with them or, if they’ve grown their business, maybe one of the coaches on their team. You’re doing an initial assessment and they’re talking you through what types of exercises you can expect to see and why.
Someone who talks about their experience working in a gym
This just shows that they have worked with people in an in-person capacity.
Someone who is honest about putting out “general” programs
Some of the bigger names in the online fitness space have general programs, but they’re not lying about it. This is going the be the folks who sit more in the exercise/fitness education space and their business is more about general education, but they want to offer some kind of program to their followers. Some offer different pricing based on the amount of customization and personalized attention you’ll receive. Green flag.
Someone who is probably charging more than the other “coaches”
This isn’t true 100% of the time, but its mostly true of the trainers and coaches who are not super famous. Those of us who train both in-person clients and remote online sessions and/or programming-only clients (fully customized), must price base on experience but also a reasonable hourly rate for the work.
For example, in 2025 my rate for an in-person client session, is $130/hr. I know to make a program for an existing client (generally easier to program than a new client), it’ll take me about 2 hours to make the program, gather the demo videos, make any notes, format, and upload into their shared document. I charge $200 for that work. Some folks are on 4-week cycles, some are on 8-week or 12-week, so not everyone is going to be paying that $200 monthly.
Some of my favorites like Jeff Nippard and Meg Gallagher have had long careers in online fitness education and their programs are extremely affordable. They also have teams, aren’t hyper-customized, and sell enough volume that they’re able to keep the price lower.
TL;DR
If you want a workout plan that’s actually personalized, don’t just fall for any jacked/toned influencer. Look for experience, pre-workout assessments, and communication with a real person. The right coach or trainer will adjust as your goals, injuries, and life change, not hand you the same template they gave100 other people. Bottom line: do your research, ask questions, and make sure the program you’re paying for is truly yours.
