The future of personal training is here, and it’s on your iPhone. The Future App is an online personal training service that is designed around both the iPhone and Apple Watch. This review will cover everything you need to know about the Future app and my experience over the past few months.
The Future of fitness
The term “connected fitness” describes a relatively new industry rooted in combining fitness with technology. It means fitness equipment that is connected to live and on-demand classes, like Peloton, iFIT, and others. But there is also another subcategory of connected fitness that most people are unaware of, and that’s connected fitness personal training.
A lot of equipment makers might claim that it’s personalized training, and that is true to some degree. Some have auto-adjusting resistances. Others have AI tech that helps you select workouts, count reps, and choose weights.
While all of that is advancing, it’s important to remember that nothing still comes close to delivering the results you can achieve while having an educated and experienced professional work with you. Someone who develops a custom workout plan while providing accountability and guidance, as well as a little bit of tough love when you need it to stay on track.
The problem with having a personal trainer is it can be expensive, especially if you want someone who is really good. That is why I was so excited to try the Future app.
Future coaches
After asking about your goals and previous exercise experience, you will be matched with several professional trainers from which to choose. Luckily, if you pick someone you do not love, they make it really easy to switch coaches.
However, I haven’t needed to switch from my coach, Chris, because he has been absolutely phenomenal to work with. He is a strength and conditioning specialist that had worked with several Major League Baseball teams over the years. I need someone who knows the best training practices to help me reach my goals while also keeping me healthy and injury free. Baseball is a sport where injury prevention is critical. So I felt like a strength specialist with that background would be a perfect fit.
I am using dozens of connected fitness products for reviews and he understood the complexities of my training. He was able to help fill in what I was missing to keep my body balanced and strong. Plus, he also helps me figure out how much I should be doing on my other devices.
He constantly checks in throughout the week to make adjustments and keep me accountable. We also set up a meeting on FaceTime every few weeks to go more in depth. That one-on-one accountability with Future makes a huge difference because I know the work that he puts into designing my training.
Now, this type of online personal training has been around for a while. In fact, this is a service that I myself offered to remote clients for many years. But what makes Future different is just how well designed the app is and how integrated it is with Apple products. They have been able to make everything very personalized, and what might be most impressive is how affordable it is.
Future app
On the Future app, I am able to message Chris, and he gets back to me quickly – a lot quicker than I usually get back to him. In our message thread, I can also view the workouts he has written for me. When I’m ready, I start the session, select the type of music I would like, then start following along to the workout instruction. It seamlessly takes me through a custom warmup, workout, and cool-down.
Before each section, the coach leaves personalized notes on what I should be doing. He tells me what I should focus on and even sometimes just sends words of encouragement. It really helps, too. Sometimes he might want me to focus on certain areas or movement positions that he knows I need to improve on. He knows this because in the app during the workout, I can take a video of my set, trim it down, and send it to him in our message thread.
Future workouts
While I do the workout, Chris often gives me recommendations for weights. I can also change them as I go through the sets so he knows what I did and adjusts future workouts accordingly. What I found really cool is I can do all of this from my Apple Watch. I can see the movement I am on and how long the rest is. It vibrates to alert me when I should start or stop a section and I can pause the workout if I need to adjust the weights that I am using.
Usually, during strength sets, there is no time limit per set because it is based on reps. When I am done with a set, I can just move ahead to the next part of the workout. Each movement in the workout also has a video and various audio instructions so you can see and hear what you should be focusing on. I really enjoy this feature and think it has done really well. It does not give too much feedback to where it gets annoying, but enough so that you actually appreciate what it is telling you.
What is so impressive to me here is that Future makes the experience of working out with an online personal trainer so much better than I have ever seen. As soon as I press start I am led right through a warmup, workout, and I get personalized instructions that play automatically. I can also message my coach and send videos in seconds.
Future pricing
With Future, you get a highly experienced coach. You have hundreds to choose from and you will find the right one for you. They will provide personalized feedback, programs, accountability, and advice. You also have this integrated system that works smoothly and makes it all so simple to follow. I do a lot of workouts weekly, and the ones designed for me by Chris on Future are the ones that I look forward to the most.
You get all of this for $149 per month. That might not seem cheap to everyone, but here is why I think this price is unbelievable:
If you were to pay for in-person, personal training, it would cost $1,000 or sometimes much more per month. Plus it is most likely with someone not nearly as qualified or as good as the Future trainers. I know there are still some benefits to personal training, so stay with me on this.
I have had numerous online coaches throughout the years and am friends with many. The average price for a good online trainer like this is closer to the $300-400 per month range. I also know of many coaches who charge closer to $1,000 per month. I know what they do, what they provide, and honestly it is not as good as this.
Connect the Watts’ Take
Overall, Future really impressed me. I don’t know how they have managed to make it happen, quite frankly. But they have. While I love using my Peloton, Tempo, Ergatta, MYX II, and all of this other amazing tech, Future is something very different. It is something I think a lot of people might prefer if they knew just how good it was.
Join Future here and receive your first month for only $19
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