As we start 2022, lots of us will be resuming the battle to lose weight and get fit. A wealth of high-tech fitness apps are now available to help, but are they anywhere near as good as hiring a human personal trainer?
Four years ago, Jenny Wiener was in a fitness slump.
She wanted to improve her physical and mental health, but her workouts lacked intensity without a proper training programme to follow.
When she went to the gym she says she often chose “easy” options, like jogging on a treadmill, to avoid more daunting exercises.
A personal trainer who might push her was out of the question because of the high cost – typically prices start from £30 an hour.
Ms Wiener, 32, who works as an events manager in St Albans, then discovered fitness app Freeletics.
To use the app you first input information about your previous training experiences and preferences, and goals. A virtual coach then used that information to suggest a personalised training regime.
At the end of each workout, the Freeletics app then asks Ms Wiener to provide feedback about its suitability and difficulty. The app’s artificial intelligence (AI) software system then uses her answers – plus those from its other 53 million users around the world – to adjust future training sessions.
“The AI aspect is one of the main things that got me interested,” says Ms Wiener. “I was going to the gym every day before, but seeing zero results.
“When I found Freeletics, I was like ‘OMG it’s a PT [personal trainer] in my pocket, my gym buddy’.”
She adds that she finds the workouts exciting, because no two are ever the same. And that, as a result, the app has helped her to lose four-stone.
Freeletics’ digital personal trainer app, called ‘The Coach’, costs from £1.78 a week. The firm’s chief product and technology officer, Kornelius Brunner, says it “gets smarter and better” as users give it more and more feedback.
