As the popularity of freelancing, crowdsourcing, and self-employment continues to grow, the normalcy of a 9-to-5 workday is quickly fading. So how can personal trainers accommodate the growing number of Americans working odd hours that lack easy access to around-the-clock gyms like 24 Hour Fitness? Why, you get them delivered to your home, of course.
A Philadelphia-based fitness startup company called WeTrain created an app that literally sends a certified trainer to your house if you live in Philly and certain areas of New Jersey, regardless of the time of day. Although delivery services are only available to these residents, WeTrain also offers virtual sessions, which have no geographic boundaries.
The brains behind WeTrain, CEO Jon Sockol and Co-founder Zach Hertzel, may strike some as an unlikely team. Sockol used to be just another overweight workhorse on Wall Street struggling to shed pounds. On the other hand, Hertzel was a former Army medic and gym trainer.
Hertzel helped form WeTrain after feeling that the gym lacked interest in clients, underpaid its trainers, and cared more about money than actual health. So, applying military concepts, Sockol and Hertzel devised a performance-base reward system for their employees, giving them a percentage of the company’s financial value in exchange for quality work.
According to their website, WeTrain pays trainers twice the going national rate. In 2015, the United States Department of Labor reported that personal trainers earn an average annual salary of $36,160, which suggests that WeTrain offers its trainers roughly $72,000. WeTrain claims it has never cancelled a delivery order due to a lack of on-staff trainers, so clearly the salary incentive is working handsomely.
As for the customers, the occasional user is charged $30/30 minutes or $50/60 minutes and those that pay a $39/month flat rate fee can get unlimited sessions for either $15/30 minutes or $25/60 minutes.
With these rates and on-demand conveniences could personal trainer delivery apps become the next big trend in fitness? If the mounting success of WeTrain is any indication, you can bet your treadmill on it.