Like many people, I gained weight during the lockdown. I not only gave in to comfort food and eating stress, but also stopped exercising. In addition to those extra weight, I also became more and more slow and grumpy as world events continued to depress me. Last October, I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when I saw an ad for Future, an app that offered individual remote personal trainers. Intrigued, I signed up for a free trial. I’ve been busy with this for a few months now, and although I haven’t exactly lost a ton of weight, I feel much superior than before. It costs a pretty penny (150 months a month), but I think I’ve finally found a fitness solution that works for me.

I’ve always had a love-dislike relationship with sports. Especially dislike. I tried going to the gym a couple of times, but it never stuck. Group classes scare me, and I’m usually intimidated by machines and weights. The only time I exercised regularly was when I had personal trainers who not only held me accountable but also mixed my exercises so I never got bored.

Unfortunately, personal trainers are expensive, so I also canceled these sessions. I also decided to cancel my gym membership to save even more money. Instead, I invested in a peloton (I know this sounds counterintuitive, but paying for the bike with an installment plan was inexpensive than my monthly fitness fee). It worked for a while, but even then I couldn’t quite push myself to get on the bike regularly. It seemed to me that my biggest obstacle to training was not only motivation, but also responsibility.

That’s why I was attracted to the future at first. After I signed up, I was asked to choose a personal trainer. The app offers a number of possibilities with a short biography for each person. I chose Ashley mainly because she and I share an alma mater. Shortly after, she contacted me through the app and we arranged a FaceTime video call to review the plan. Then, during the video call, I set out my goals, as well as a list of various injuries that could make some exercises more difficult than others. For her part, she wanted to know what kind of equipment I had at home so that she could send me the right workouts. I told her that I had dumbbells, a yoga mat, a foam roller and a peloton bike, and she said it was perfectly fine to start with.

An interesting advantage of the future service is that each member will be offered an Apple Watch Series 3 on loan for the duration of his subscription. You would deposit a deposit of 200, which you would then receive back if you decided to cancel. Alternatively, you can pay the difference in the middle the deposit and the retail price of the watch to buy it directly.

The reason why Future offers the Apple Watch is that it is the main way that future coaches keep up with when they train and perform well. I already had an Apple Watch Series 5, so I withdrew from the offer.

After the call, Ashley started sending me workout routines through the app. A typical workout would involve a short heat-up followed by a few minutes of training followed by stretching or foam rolling. Each routine is accompanied by a video instruction as well as a recorded voice guidance. From time to time, Ashley added verbal encouragement or a few tips on how to keep fit. After each workout, Ashley can see my heart rate (thanks, Apple Watch), and I have the opportunity to leave your feedback on how I think it went.

At first it was a little difficult. I couldn’t do some of the workouts she assigned me (the jumping jacks were a little difficult, for example, because of plantar fasciitis) and the routines sometimes lasted almost an hour, which was a little too much for me. After some discussions, she agreed to shorten the routines to about 30 minutes, but to have more throughout the week (so instead of three times a week, it would be four). She has also modified workouts to superior meet my needs, such At first it was a little difficult. I couldn’t do some of the workouts she assigned me (the jumping jacks were a little difficult, for example, because of plantar fasciitis) and the routines sometimes lasted almost an hour, which was a little too much for me. After some discussions, she agreed to shorten the routines to about 30 minutes, but to have more throughout the week (so instead of three times a week, it would be four). She has also modified workouts to superior meet my needs, such as. Knee push-ups instead of regular push-ups, and a general focus on low-impact workouts that are much superior for the plantar fasciitis mentioned above.

In addition, Ashley constantly sent me messages, either to remind me of my training, or to ask me why I had skipped on a particular day. There were days when, despite the feeling of exhaustion, I still squeezed myself into a workout, because I did not want Ashley to make me feel guilty the next morning.

After a while, I trained almost every day. (She eventually increased the routine to five days a week.) I actually started enjoying it so much that I bought more training equipment (I bought a suspension trainer and a kettlebell) and asked Ashley to incorporate them into the routine so I had more variety. She agreed and I am currently very satisfied with the variety of workouts.

What I also love about the Future system is that I can train on my own schedule whenever I want. If I decide to take a group class or add cardio to my routine, I can just add it without Ashley having to assign it.

As great as I think the future is, nothing smacks a personal personal trainer who can adapt to your training on the fly.