ClassPass The latest Digital Fitness Platform To Launch PT Sessions

NEW YORK, United States — Fitness and wellness marketplace ClassPass has become the latest digital platform to launch personal training sessions, as coronavirus continues to upend the fitness industry.

Via a partnership with personal training service Find Your Trainer, ClassPass members will now be able to use their credits to book digital training sessions with qualified personal trainers. The move follows the announcement of similar initiatives from brands including Gympass, Barry’s, Fiit and other industry leaders.

Last month, corporate fitness platform Gympass announced its clients in the UK would now be able to access up to eight online personal training sessions per month as part of their existing membership, following a successful rollout of the feature in Brazil and the US.

Read More: Gympass’ New Feature Reflects Rise In Fitness Professionals Unlocking Their Personal Value

Elsewhere, Fiit — the UK’s number-one-rated digital fitness app, announced the launch of on-demand group classes that will enable users to schedule private group workouts so they can exercise with a select group of friends. 

The new feature is further evidence of how digital fitness brands are innovating to stay ahead of growing online competition and, according to Fiit co-founder Ian McCaig, caters for a specific type of “new digital fitness consumer” that has emerged since lockdown shook up the industry five months ago. 

Read More: Online Platforms Battle To Win Over The “New Digital Fitness Consumer”

According to ClassPass, its latest feature has been in the pipeline for some time. “We’ve been thinking about adding personal training to the platform for quite a while now, and this seems like an excellent time to do so to really diversify our options to our members and give them a wider set of opportunities to work out and keep their workouts,” Kinsey Livingston, ClassPass VP of Partnerships told TechCrunch.

“Especially during quarantine, training sessions can be really interesting and motivating and give them that extra accountability that only comes with a personal trainer.”

To begin with, the company revealed that the personal training program will include just 10 trainers, who will host several hundred sessions per week. However, it intends to scale up operations as needed. 

Once a ClassPass member books their session, they’ll be connected with a trainer to discuss their fitness goals before a personalised session takes place via Zoom. Mirroring the traditional in-person approach, users will also have the option to choose which trainer/s they work with.

Despite ClassPass launching a raft of digital features over the past 5 months, to better support its clients and customers during this unprecedented time, as rules and regulations around social distancing continue to lift, it hopes to offer in-person training sessions too.

Like many of its peers within the industry, it’s betting on an omnichannel approach that’s better equipped for the future landscape.