Athletics & Recreation has recently added TeamBuildr to all Personal Training services offered at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).

TeamBuildr is an online platform that allows personal trainers to program workouts and communicate with their clients through an app, helping keep them on track to reach their fitness goals both during and in between one-on-one sessions. The TeamBuildr software, which is included in all Personal Training services at the ARC, has been used successfully for years by A&R's Strength & Conditioning program for their work with Queen's Varsity teams and athletes.

"I was introduced to TeamBuildr in my second year with S&C," said personal trainer and S&C intern Noah Gittens. (Strength & Conditioning coaches) Colin (McAuslan) and Evan (Karagiozov) use it a lot and one of the first things about the internship is become familiar with TeamBuildr because it's such an essential part of it."

"It's a software that allows you to program lifts for many different people at the same time and they use it for all the varsity athletes."

With TeamBuildr, trainers can build and schedule workouts for their clients when they are not in a one-on-one session, and clients can track their progress as they work towards their goals in the gym, all from an app. The TeamBuildr software bundles personal training services into a convenient and modern experience.

"Before it was kind of a mixed way of how trainers would program their workouts. Some would use pen and paper, others would use Excel, others would use different apps and stuff," Gittens explained. [With TeamBuildr] it's a program that everyone can use and everyone's familiar with. It's keeping up with the technology in that way."

Along with Queen's Varsity Sports teams, TeamBuildr is also used by a number of professional sports teams from the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. It also offers goal setting, evaluation, and Sports Science features.

"My favourite thing about the app is its ability for the user to enter the number of reps and weight for an exercise. It's an excellent feature for staying consistent with your workouts and tracking new personal records.

"I recommend Teambuildr to other personal training clients. Unlike traditional methods like filling in an excel sheet, Teambuildr offers a user-friendly experience, especially for newcomers to the gym, to build confidence and get the most out of workouts." - Personal Training Client

Through the app, trainers and clients can communicate as well, commenting on specific workouts done outside of one-on-one sessions.

"There is an option to add notes and context to your workout. I often leave notes, saying you should be doing 75 per cent of your one rep max, or telling you to drop the weight a little bit in an exercise."

Along with the virtual interaction between trainer and client that TeamBuildr provides, other benefits of the software include an online exercise library, where trainers can upload workouts they've enjoyed and had success with, as well as video tutorials of exercises to show clients proper technique.

Gittens said his clients have really enjoyed the convenience of TeamBuildr and have taken advantage of the numerous features it provides.

"My clients have found it pretty easy to use. I explained a few things to them but they found it pretty user friendly and got about the hang of it pretty quickly.

"It's nice too that they can have a copy of their workouts on their phone. It's a little bit more user friendly than an Excel spreadsheet; it looks nicer for sure. You get a little green checkmark every time you complete a workout, which gets pretty satisfying."

Gittens is entering his final year with S&C and is continuing his work as a personal trainer. He said after graduating from Queen's, he wants to stay in the fitness arena, helping people get more confident and healthy in the gym. He said he loves the TeamBuildr app because it's another tool for clients to take advantage of that help them learn and build confidence.

"It's really trying to emphasize autonomy in the gym, with a personal trainer but then also without a personal trainer. Our whole goal is to get these people active for life and being able to slowly get more comfortable.

"[TeamBuildr] is a luxury to have. For clients, it's definitely something that helps them stay consistent. It helps them feel a sense of pride. I think it's just something that the clients enjoy a lot and I can't wait to get more people on."