BUSINESS PLANNING AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT

My business model required a software where we can prescribe and schedule exercise for business travellers and the Virtugym software has way exceeded our expectations and in fact has shaped our business plan much more than we could of antipated.

Pros

The software is extremely versatile which has shaped the business direction of our physical activity intervention for the corporate market. The number of exercises and activities listed in the library is amazing, you can really shape your fitness programming to any demographic, we specialise in corporate health and the library provides everything and more for our exercise prescription. Finally, I find that the using the animated personal trainer is really motivating for clients as they are not intimidated by a perfectly toned personal trainer, which can be demotivating, this tool enables you to look at the character and visualise that you can do the exercise demonstrated by looking at an illustration.

Cons

In the membership phase of setting up the software, it would be useful if you can delete membership you no longer wish to keep active, you can only disable them. However, when I asked a member of the customer support team did explain that other users accidentally deleted memberships, so this is why Virtuagym implemented the disable option. So I guess the users need to be more carefull.

Nutrition App/Meal Plans

Overall my experience has been well! For the most part about 90% of my clients have been successful using the app. The other 10% really struggle since they are used to the easiness of MyFitness Pal's tracking features.

Pros

I only use the Calorie Counter app and meal plan software. I like that I can see all of my clients food logs, load foods into their meals plans, and customize their macros. It makes it easy to monitor my clients intake to ensure they are hitting their goals to lead to results. Being able to save meals is great, especially when I have clients who eat the same meals a lot, or if I want to save a quick meal for my clients to have access too. I also like how my clients can see the little icon (yellow) to let them know I personally input that food item or created a meal. Overall I have enjoyed using the software!

Cons

There needs to be a way to create a recipe. One like MyFitness Pal, where you load all of the bulk ingredients of the recipe, then attach the number of servings the entire recipe creates so you can log the single serving. It is too challenging for my clients to log food if there is a recipe involved because it is a VERY length process to create a meal based on serving size when it is cooked in bulk. I believe there also needs to be a feature to track the 3 macros in grams versus percentages. Clients have a better understanding when they know "I have to hit 150g of carbs" versus seeing 100% at the top once carbs are hit. In the app, when you click on the percentage circles it gives a large range of macros to fall within. This does not allow for accuracy to truly see fat loss or muscle gain. When it comes to grams of macros, there is a very small window (5g of Pro/Carbs and 2g Fat) to ensure calories are not way over or under. Right now the app can fluctuate 80g which is HUGE that is 320 calories plus or minus on both carbs and proteins , fats fluctuate close to 22g which could be a 198 calorie difference. If someone continually hit high on those macros they would never lose the fat they desired When people input foods, there seems to be a lot of confusion when attaching a portion, or just in general since it autofill's to Macros Based on 100g. I have seen many food items input completely wrong, this could really put someone in a bad position when logging .

Great App, horrible customer service

I rate is a 5/5 for the App and a 1/5 for customer service.

Pros

I wish I could rate this App 5 stars for everything as it has been an asset to my business. I use it every single day to run my online business, the app itself is very user-friendly for my clients and easy to use on the back end. It has many great features that make creating and following workouts very easy.

Cons

If you are looking or in need of good customer service, this app isn't for you. They have failed me many times in the customer service department. Slow to respond, sometimes days when I need assistance urgently. My app was down for a month and a half earlier this year, what should have been my best month of the year ended up being my worst of all time. They have a great product, just need to put a lot of work into their customer service.

Perfect for a boutique fitness center

The setup and support have been amazing. It was so easy to set up personal training packages and sign up new members.

Pros

Keeping track of invoices and member sessions is a breeze. I love having a branded app to share homework with members and the ability to use it to help create community.

Cons

The integration of zoom for online training is not automatic. You still have to send them the link. Two different schedules is kind of confusing as well. Workout handouts aren't easy to read for members and there is no way for me as a coach to create a favorites list of exercises.

Slow Start

Client engagement is active with use of the platform.

Pros

Our studio loves the Community feature of this product to share information, updates, and ease of engagement with clients. Ease of scheduling classes and other functions increases the more you use the platform. The use of groups for specific modalities and increased engagement with instructors is another plus. The mobile app and additional Nutrition App through the PRO feature is also a great feature to pair fitness and nutrition.

Cons

The financial set-up was a nightmare at the start as we were not able to use US payment systems. The turn around time from PaySafe was not at all conducive to good business practices. This seems to have been recently rectified with the addition of other payment options.