Sessions: Personalized Mobile Coaching Helps You Stay Active

Sometimes you get busy. For most people, the first thing that gets pushed off is regular exercise. For me, this generally happens when my schedule becomes travel heavy or I don’t have a running event I’m training for. In the past six months, I traveled to Asia for a month, moved not once but twice, and spent approximately 85% of my weekends away from San Francisco. And so my regular exercise became my commute, which didn’t amount to very much.

I needed someone to encourage and gently remind me to set aside 30-40 minutes a few times a week to hit the pavement. Sessions, did just that.

The 16 week program is targeted towards steady lifestyle improvements. My coach, Glennis, who is also the Director of Coaching at Sessions, has worked with hundreds of people in my position. She essentially became my online and mobile personal trainer. Every Sunday I would plan out my workouts for the week through an online user portal we shared. Before each run, Glennis would text and email me reminders and tips. She helped me create a plan for running on weekdays, and after I moved she gave me route ideas for my new neighborhood. By syncing RunKeeper to Sessions, she knew when I exercised and encouraged my progress.

There were definitely days I did not want to run, especially on Sunday afternoons. But then I would get a text from Glennis asking if I was ready, which always kept me honest. Along with Sunday check-in’s, there are quick weekly assignments that ask introspective questions about my habits and find potential improvements to them.

All messages and exercise sessions are recorded on one dashboard in Sessions, where you can track your progress.

Here are some stats on how the program really does change behaviors:

• 90% of people complete the entire program which is 10-20x higher than most health and fitness products
• 94% of people are very likely or extremely likely to recommend the program to friends and family
• On average, people send a message to their coach daily
• There is 80% compliance with Sessions plans
• People visit the site an average of nearly 10x/week
• Sessions is currently enrolling in a Randomized Clinical Trial with Mayo Clinic

Sessions is a great way, for a fraction of the price, to work with a personal trainer and health consultant. The best part is that after only a month of Sessions, I’ve still kept up with my new fitness goals.