How to choose the best platform to build workouts for clients

Search for the best platform to build workouts for clients and you'll find a page of comparison lists, most of them written by the platforms themselves. They all say they're simple, powerful and loved by coaches. That doesn't help you decide.

We make one of these platforms, so take this with that in mind. We've tried to write the guide we'd want if we were picking. It covers what matters once a tool is in daily use with real clients, and a checklist you can run against any option, ours included.

Start with the client's side of the app

Trainers usually judge a platform by the builder, because that's the part they use. The part that decides whether it works is the app your clients open in the gym. If logging is slow or fiddly, they'll stop logging after a fortnight. Then you're coaching from guesses again.

Pick up the client app and log a workout with it, properly, between real sets. Does it show what they lifted last time? Can they finish a set with one tap? Does the rest timer still work when the phone is locked and in their pocket? Is there anything that makes them want to open it again, like seeing a personal best or a chart that's going up?

Also check that it runs on the phones your clients actually own. A brilliant app on the wrong platform isn't much use.

Then test the workout builder

Build a real session you'd give a client tomorrow, not a demo. You'll quickly notice where the tool slows you down.

The exercise library matters more than it looks. You want a big list with clear names and the equipment spelled out, so "incline dumbbell press" is one search away rather than something you type out every time. Sooner or later you'll need something that isn't there, so check you can add your own exercises.

Then look at the details you program every day. Can you mark warm-up sets, drop sets and sets to failure? Can you link two or three exercises into a superset without a workaround? Can each exercise have its own rest time? Can you set target reps, or time for holds and carries, and optionally a target weight?

Plans are where most tools struggle

Building one workout is easy in nearly any app. The test is a twelve-week plan. You want to pick the training days, give each day its workout, and split the plan into phases (say, a muscle-building block, then strength, then a lighter week), with the app keeping track of which week the client is in.

Pay attention to how many steps it takes. Some builders make you create every workout separately before you can assemble a plan from them, which turns a four-day program into a long afternoon of clicking. Being able to build the whole week in one window is a big time saver. If you run group programs, you'll also want to send one plan to several clients without rebuilding it each time. For the programming side of this, see how to write a periodised training plan.

It should help you coach, not just program

Programs are half the job. The other half is noticing when somebody is struggling, and a good platform helps with that too. Look for a weekly check-in your clients can send quickly. Look for a dashboard that surfaces problems rather than just listing names: who hasn't trained this week, whose check-in was rough, whose plan is finishing. And look for somewhere to keep private notes.

If a platform only helps you write programs, you'll end up running the coaching side in DMs again. Our guide to managing personal training clients online covers what that routine looks like.

Ask hard questions about privacy

You're handling other people's training data, and often their health information. Find out whether clients choose what you can do (view only, or view and edit), whether they can remove you, and whether your access really stops when they do. Find out where data is stored and read the privacy policy. Would you be comfortable sending it to a client?

If the platform has AI features, ask exactly what gets sent to the AI provider. You should never need to type a client's name or medical details into a prompt. More on that in our guide to using AI to build workouts.

A 10-point checklist for comparing platforms

Give each platform a point for every one of these it does well:

1. Clients can log a set in a few seconds, with last session's numbers shown.
2. A large exercise library, plus your own custom exercises.
3. Warm-up, drop and failure sets, and supersets.
4. Plans with a weekly structure and phases.
5. You can build a whole week in one place.
6. One plan can go to many clients.
7. A weekly check-in that clients actually complete.
8. A dashboard that shows who needs attention.
9. Private coach notes.
10. Client-controlled access and a privacy policy you'd show a client.

Where Valleur fits

We built Valleur with this checklist in mind. Clients train in the Valleur app on iPhone. It has an illustrated library of nearly 200 exercises, supersets, a plate calculator and a rest timer that shows on the Lock Screen. Trainers coach from Valleur Coach in the browser, with the same account.

The obvious limit is that Valleur is iPhone-only for now. If most of your clients use Android, that matters more than any feature list, so weigh it honestly. Whichever platform you choose, trial it the way your clients will use it: on a phone, mid-session, with chalky hands.

Frequently asked questions

What should a personal trainer look for in a workout app?

How quickly clients can log a session, an exercise library you can add to, plans with weekly structure and phases, a weekly check-in, and clear client control over what you can see. The client-side experience matters most, because a plan nobody logs gives you no data.

Is a spreadsheet good enough for client programs?

It works for a handful of clients. The trouble is getting results back: clients rarely fill in spreadsheets at the gym, so you lose their real numbers. An app that pre-fills last session's weights fixes that.

Do I need a separate app for check-ins?

Not if your training platform includes them. Keeping check-ins next to training data means you can see a rough week and the missed sessions together, which is usually where the real story is.