Hevy Coach vs. TrainHeroic: An Overview
TrainHeroic is advertised as the world’s best coaching platform, designed to give you the tools to grow your business and provide an outstanding client experience.
But how well does the platform do these and other things? More importantly, how does it compare to Hevy Coach?
TrainHeroic has a few things going for it. The platform has an informative dashboard and activity feed, client analytics and reporting options, and a flexible workout builder. However, while good in some ways, Hevy Coach is the better alternative for personal trainers and strength coaches.
Hevy Coach lets you prescribe more variables together (e.g., load, reps, RPE, and rest periods), organize programs in folders, edit the highly curated exercise library (unlike TrainHeroic), track performance and body composition in the detailed client profiles, and manage a team of coaches and their clients.
| Features Comparison | ||
| Feature | Hevy Coach | TrainHeroic |
| Client Activity Feed | ✅ | ✅ |
| Individual Exercise Performance | ✅ | ✅ |
| Body Measurements | ✅ | ❌ |
| Progress Photos | ✅ | ❌ |
| Program Folders | ✅ | ❌ |
| Drag and Drop | ✅ | ❌ |
| RPE | ✅ | ✅ |
| Automatic Rest Timers | ✅ | ❌ |
| Manage Coaching Teams | ✅ | ❌ |
| Lead Generation | ✅ | ❌ |
User Interface and Navigation
At first glance, TrainHeroic appears like any other coaching platform. Its main menu has several options: dashboard, client list, team section, library, analytics, and gym tools.
However, as you navigate the different areas, it can be confusing to figure out where everything is and what function each feature serves.
That said, the platform’s dashboard is neat and organized. It displays your clients’ latest activities with an option to click on each for more details. Next to the activity feed is a section that lists clients who need a new program.
Hevy Coach has a similarly sleek interface that’s more straightforward to figure out and navigate. Like TrainHeroic, the primary menu allows you to navigate to several important sections: dashboard, client list, program and exercise library, client chats, lead generation, and team feature.
However, unlike TrainHeroic, everything is laid out, and Hevy Coach is free of features you don’t need, making for a gentler learning curve.
The dashboard is just as informative and simple to navigate. It displays your active and inactive clients, their logged activities on a feed (with an option to click on each for details), and a graph of weekly active clients.
“It’s a simple and easy dashboard that has a very clean app with UI. It has all the tools required to track progressive overload and ensure clients enjoy their workouts. Compared to other apps, they’re either too confusing or have too many bells and whistles that confuse clients. Hevy does a very good job at keeping things simple but extremely effective and easy to use. My clients love it.”
-Rashid K. (Source: Capterra)
Program Library
Programs in TrainHeroic’s library are displayed with their name, difficulty level, primary focus, description (available on mouseover), and creator.
On the right, you can access some quick actions:
- Edit
- Message all athletes currently running the program
- Change settings (write a description, change the difficulty, set a duration, select a focus, and upload a cover image)
While editing a program, you can schedule workouts for specific days by building from scratch or importing from your library, repeat (copy one session to as many days in as many weeks as necessary), and delete, edit, or copy workouts to your library.
However, unlike on other platforms (for example, WeStrive), you cannot freely add, remove, duplicate, or rearrange weeks. The only option to change the number of weeks is to navigate to the settings tab.
For instance, changing the duration from eight to six weeks automatically removes the last two.
This makes program creation somewhat clunky because you don’t have a streamlined way of creating weeks, duplicating them, and making minor changes to training variables, such as prescribing increasingly higher loads, more reps, or a higher RPE from week to week.
Instead, you must manually add workouts, and the only way to simplify the process is to copy individual sessions across multiple weeks, which can be time-consuming.
Hevy Coach’s program library displays individual plans with individual workouts. You can organize your programs in folders based on experience (e.g., beginner), goal (e.g., build strength), or something else.
Each program comes with additional options: edit, duplicate (also available for folders), move to a specific folder, assign to clients, and delete.
You can also access the Hevy Coach program library and import more than a dozen training programs. These are organized by experience, goals, and available equipment.
When you open a program, you can import workouts from other programs, create new ones from scratch, remove sessions, rearrange them through drag and drop, write a program description, set a duration, see a summary on the right, and even copy an existing workout to another training program in your library.
Workout Builder
TrainHeroic’s workout builder is quite flexible and boasts a range of useful functions for various types of coaches. At the top of each workout, you can write up to 10,000 characters of instructions or tips for your client.
Below, you can add exercises from the library. One drawback is that you must add an individual block for each exercise, which adds a layer of complexity and may not always be needed. For example, if the client does multiple movements for the same outcome (say, to build muscle), it defeats the purpose of having an individual block for each.
Another drawback is that movements appear with just a name in the search field, and it may not always be clear which one to pick. In contrast, Hevy Coach exercises load with an image, making it easier to visualize each result and pick the correct one.
Once you’ve added a movement to a workout, you can easily add or remove sets, choose which two training variables you want to display, assign the training targets for each set based on the assigned variables, and write a custom note with additional tips or instructions. Having two exercises allows you to link them into a superset.
Unfortunately, while you can easily add or remove sets, the builder doesn’t offer options to adjust the rest period for each movement or mark sets by type––for example, to failure or drop set.
Also, while you can select which two variables to use for each movement, you are limited to two variables. So, if you want to prescribe more variables, such as weight, reps, and RPE, you can’t.
The final significant drawback is that you can’t rearrange movements or blocks through drag and drop, which can be frustrating if you’re building a workout with five or more activities and want to change their order.
One nice touch about the TrainHeroic workout builder is that you can save an exercise prescription for future use. For instance, let’s say you prescribe eight sets with a specific rep and weight target on each. You can save this as a setting for other exercises or workouts.
The Hevy Coach workout builder is more streamlined but just as functional, especially when coaching traditional strength training. At the top of each workout, you can select a name, write a description, and enable RPE.
Below, you can add movements from the library. As briefly mentioned, the search bar is intuitive and provides relevant results, each with an image to help you navigate and select the right one.
Once you’ve added a movement, you can write a custom note, adjust the rest timer, and add specific load, rep, and RPE targets for each set.
You can also easily add or remove sets and mark each by type: normal, drop set, to failure, or warm-up.
Clicking the three dots icon on the right of each movement reveals additional options:
- Add to superset
- Replace exercise
- Remove
- Edit (change the how-to instructions and attach a video)
You can also easily rearrange movements through drag-and-drop.
So, if you’re a coach with more varied needs, including the ability to program interval workouts, AMRAP, and EMOM, TrainHeroic could be the better option. But if you’re a traditional trainer or strength coach who values and relies on the basics, Hevy Coach provides all the tools you need in a simpler format.
“The best coaching app I’ve used (and I’ve used a few!). The ability to write up client workouts so that all they have to do is hit “start routine” is such a time saver on their side! It’s just super easy to use and intuitive.”
-Dan I. (Source: Capterra)
Exercise Library
TrainHeroic’s exercise library holds all the movements, finishers, and circuits. You can click on each for some basic information:
- A handful of tags
- Some bare minimum written instructions
- Two default parameters (e.g., weight + reps)
- A brief demonstrational video from YouTube
The library has many entries, but many lack essential information, such as how-to instructions and a video demonstration.
The search experience is not always the best for two primary reasons:
- Some popular terms don’t bring up any results (e.g., barbell squat)
- Results don’t appear with an image or illustration, forcing you to go by name alone
You cannot edit any of the details of existing entries, but you can create custom exercises and circuits. Include a title, video link, two default parameters, how-to instructions or tips (up to 10,000 characters), and tags when adding a custom movement.
The Hevy Coach exercise library is curated, and each entry is of much higher quality. It includes how-to instructions on setup and proper form, a demonstrational animation, and information on muscles trained, equipment needed, and type (e.g., weight/reps).
You can also edit the how-to instructions on the existing entries and add a video, either a YouTube link or a video file.
Fewer but more relevant entries mean each search brings up the correct variation of any exercise you want to add to a workout. Even a simple term like row or bench press brings up your desired result. Plus, the entries load with an image, making it easy to navigate to the correct exercise.
Like on TrainHeroic, the Hevy Coach library allows you to create unlimited custom exercises with:
- Name
- Image
- Type
- Equipment needed
- Primary and secondary muscle targets
- How-to instructions
- Video (link attachment or file upload)
Client List and Client Profile
TrainHeroic lists clients by name, along with their email addresses, the number of teams they are part of, their assigned tags, and their last login date. Three icons allow you to access the client’s calendar, chat with them, and examine their training performance.
Opening your client’s profile shows all their scheduled workouts with an option to click on each for more details and to leave a comment.
Clicking on a client opens their profile in a popup window with several tabs:
- Exercises – find movements and examine your client’s performance: 1 to 12-rep max, working max (which you can manually set), and most recent best lift
- Circuits – examine your client’s performance on circuits you’ve prescribed previously
- Notes – write and store notes for clients (only visible to you)
In contrast, Hevy Coach’s client list and individual client profiles are far more informative and relevant for personal trainers and strength coaches.
First, the client list shows clients with their name, training program, progress (e.g., Week 6 of 8), activity in the past seven days, status, and coach (in case it’s a professional from your team; more on that below).
Right away, you get plenty of actionable information and can track clients at a glance.
Second, client profiles provide more tabs with all the information you need to track their performance, body metrics, and body composition:
- Overview – it displays clients’ recently logged activities on a feed, their workout plan (with an option to edit), notes you’ve written, and an overview of some stats: time spent training, volume load, sets completed, body weight, and workout consistency displayed on a calendar.
- Workout Program – see a summary of their training plan and edit, remove, or replace it. On the left, all the workouts completed by your client are displayed on a feed with an option to review each.
- Exercise Statistics – examine your client’s performance on any exercise they’ve done.
- Advanced Statistics – monitor your client’s set count per muscle group, time spent training, volume load, sets completed from week to week (separate graphs).
- Body Measurements – monitor your client’s body weight, body fat, and circumference measurements on separate graphs.
- Progress Pictures – access all progress photos uploaded by your client and compare them side by side to track visual changes.
Client App
TrainHeroic’s app allows clients to see their assigned workouts, log them, and monitor their performance.
To log a session, your client must navigate to the Training tab and select Start Session on today’s workout. Then, the client will be taken through a short survey regarding sleep, mood, energy levels, stress, and soreness.
They can then access their workout and start logging sets one at a time. Clients can also add sets and write a custom note to any exercise.
There are also built-in timer settings for clients to track rest periods, AMRAP, duration, tabata-style intervals, custom intervals, and EMOM-style sessions. Rest timers have a quick start option, which is a nice touch.
Clients can also tap the three dots icon on any exercise to reveal additional options: leave a comment, swap, see the performance history, open the percent calculator, access tips, or move the exercise to the end of the session.
Something we noticed during our tests is that the exercise swap feature doesn’t always work. Sometimes, the library doesn’t load.
Once the client completes all activities, they can select an intensity score from one to ten, adjust the workout’s duration if necessary, and write a brief comment. They are presented with a quick summary of the session.
Beyond logging existing workouts, clients can create and log improvised sessions, review their exercise performance, chat with you, and browse through the existing library.
Overall, the TrainHeroic app is sleek and has a good collection of features and options for your clients. Let’s see how the Hevy client app stacks up.
First is Hevy’s workout logging. Your client must navigate to the Coach tab, select the workout for the day, and start it. A stopwatch will track the session’s duration, and your client can click on it for additional options:
- Pause the workout timer (for example, to finish the workout later)
- Select a start date and time (for instance, to log a previously completed session)
Your client can see the workout with all the details, including custom notes, the number of sets, rest periods, exercises, weight, repetition, and RPE targets. Clients can write the training values and mark sets as complete, triggering the rest timer.
They can also add or remove sets and mark them by type: normal, to failure, drop set, or warm-up.
Additionally, clients can add, remove, and rearrange exercises, pair them in supersets, adjust their rest periods, and write a custom note for any movement. As a bonus, clients can use the built-in plate calculator to determine what combinations of weights to add to the bar to achieve the desired load.
Plus, setting a new PR – for instance, a new one-rep max – shows up as a notification, which can motivate your client.
Before marking a workout as complete, your client can upload videos and images and write a note of feedback that is only visible to you and them.
As a side note, clients can access their chat with you through the same Coach tab.
In addition to workout logging, clients can create and log other workouts, track their performance on any exercise (similar to TrainHeroic), upload progress photos, and log body measurements.
Your clients can dive deeper into analytics and examine their set count per muscle group, muscle distribution, main exercises done, active workout streak, and consistency displayed on a calendar.
When examining individual exercise performance, clients gain access to valuable data:
- Heaviest weight lifted
- Best 1RM
- Best set and workout volume
- List of individual best performances
- Performance on the specific lift from workout to workout
- Animation and how-to instructions
Each is also available when the client taps on a specific exercise while logging a workout.
Additionally, your clients can enjoy Hevy’s social aspect by following others in the community, building a following, and showing support through likes and comments. Of course, those uninterested can set their profiles to private and only use the app for workout logging, in-depth analytics, and chatting with you.
“My clients love using the app, from simple tracking and social sharing to more advanced features like 1rm predictions and workout muscle usage charts.”
-Pete S. (Source: G2)
Coach App
TrainHeroic’s coach app is similar to what your clients get. It has four main sections and the same sleek user interface.
The Home section shows your clients’ completed workouts, the number of completed blocks, their readiness score, duration, intensity, and volume load. You can expand each workout to see all the details and leave a session comment.
The Training tab displays your clients’ scheduled sessions, organized by date. You can browse through each and log them for clients, first completing the same pre-workout survey mentioned above.
Before marking the session as complete, select an intensity, adjust the workout’s duration, and write a brief comment for future reference.
You can also open your clients’ profiles to get a summary and insight of their training performance, volume, daily readiness, and self-reported sleep quality.
The app also lets you chat with clients and access the library section to see exercises, workouts, training plans, and circuits. However, while useful, it’s easier to edit the library section on desktop.
In contrast, the Hevy Coach app is simpler but just as functional, allowing you to:
- Access your client list
- Invite new clients
- See each client’s assigned training and program notes
- Track their training volume and time spent training on individual graphs
- Chat with clients
Most importantly, you can log workouts for clients while coaching them in person. Simply navigate to the Clients tab, select the right person, pick today’s workout, and begin logging it set by set just as they would through the client app.
Like the client app, you can add, remove, swap, and rearrange exercises, add and remove sets, mark sets by type, pair movements into supersets, pause the workout timer, change the start date and time, and upload media and write feedback for future reference before marking a session as complete.
You can also see your client’s previous performance on each lift to decide what the client must do in this session.
Coaching Team
Hevy Coach allows you to create or join a team of coaches and other fitness professionals. As a team’s owner or an admin, you can invite and remove coaches, change their roles, and visit their profiles.
Coaches’ profiles display their recent activities, weekly active clients on a graph, list of clients (along with their current program, progress on it, and activity in the last seven days), and training programs (with an option to examine them, assign them to clients, and import to your library).
You can also visit the profiles of clients assigned to other coaches. Doing so provides access to their data: logged activities, training plans, workouts completed, advanced stats, body metrics, and progress pictures. An admin role also allows you to assign and reassign clients.
Besides having access to all of this data, custom exercises and training plans are shared among all team members. For instance, if one coach creates a custom exercise, it appears in the libraries of all other coaches.
This creates an atmosphere based on sharing, collaboration, and mutual support. The team feature also provides you with all the tools necessary to manage a team of fitness professionals and their clients.
TrainHeroic has a team feature, but it doesn’t apply to coaches. Instead, you can group clients based on goals, experience, interests, or other criteria.
Grow: Generating New Leads
Hevy Coach’s Grow feature allows you to create a lead generation form with a cover image, a custom message to prospects, and an invite link. You can share your link like any other on social media, your website, and elsewhere.
People who click the link can apply for your coaching services with their name, email address, and a message explaining who they are and why they want to work with you.
All applications appear under the Leads tab within the Grow section, and you can accept or decline any of them.
TrainHeroic doesn’t offer such a feature.
Pricing
TrainHeroic offers a free 14-day trial (no credit card required) with access to all features within the platform and app. Beyond that, their plans start from $9.99 monthly for a single client. Their plans for 5 and 15 clients cost $17.99 and $34.99 monthly, respectively.
Hevy Coach offers a 30-day free trial (no credit card required) with access to all the features, including team and lead generation options.
The most affordable plan is $25 monthly for up to ten clients. As a bonus, your clients get a free Hevy app Pro subscription. Visit our pricing page for all the details.
| Table Comparison | ||
| Hevy Coach | TrainHeroic | |
| UI and Navigation | The interface is clean and provides quick access to all essential features. | It has a clean, sleek interface with easy access to the most important coaching features. |
| Dashboard | It displays your active and inactive clients, logged activities, and a weekly active client graph. | It shows your clients’ latest logged activities and information on clients who need support. |
| Program Library | Create, edit, store, duplicate, and import unlimited programs. Organize plans in folders and see what workouts are part of each program. | Create, store, and edit unlimited programs. However, you cannot duplicate programs or organize them in folders. |
| Workout Builder | Add movements from the library, mark sets by type, create supersets, and assign variables to each set: load, reps or rep range, and RPE. | Add exercises from the library, choose up to two variables per exercise, assign variables, and pair exercises into supersets. |
| Exercise Library | The 400+ entries have instructions, a demo animation, and other info. Edit the instructions, attach a video to each entry, and create custom exercises. | There are numerous entries, some of which have attached videos and basic instructions. You cannot edit the existing entries but can add unlimited custom exercises. |
| Client Profile | Monitor your client’s latest activities and workouts, write notes, see and edit their training plan, and access advanced workout statistics, body metrics, and progress pictures. | Track your client’s performance on individual exercises and circuits and write notes. |
| Client App | Clients can use the 5-star Hevy app to log workouts, chat with you, monitor their performance, upload progress photos and body metrics, and engage with other app users. | Clients can log workouts, monitor performance, chat with you, and access the library with workouts, programs, exercises, and circuits. |
| Coach App | Access your client list, invite new clients, see the workout plan assigned to each client, chat, and log workouts for clients. | Visit client profiles to monitor performance and readiness, see their assigned programs, log workouts for them, and chat. |
| Teams | Invite and remove coaches, change their roles, assign and reassign clients, and monitor all coaches and their clients. Custom exercises and workout plans are shared between all team members. | You can create groups of clients based on goals, experience, and other factors. |
| Lead Generation | Create lead generation forms accessible through a link. People can click the link to apply for coaching. | No |
| Pricing | Starts from $25 monthly for up to ten clients. | Starts from $9.99 monthly for up to one client. |
| Free Trial | 30-day free trial (no credit card required) | 14-day free trial (no credit card required) |
To Conclude
TrainHeroic is a versatile online coaching platform with a broad range of features for various coaches and their clients.
Some things that stand out about the platform are its sleek and straightforward interface, informative dashboard, functional client app, and capable workout builder, all tied to an affordable pricing model.
However, Hevy Coach is the better alternative for personal trainers and strength coaches. The platform offers the same simplicity for everyday use but provides better options to organize programs, track client performance and body composition, log workouts for clients, and build strength programs with more variables.
Hevy Coach also has a better exercise library, which you can edit and contribute to, a superior client app with more intuitive workout logging and progress tracking, as well as the ability to create a lead generation form and manage a team of coaches and their clients.
Sign up for your free 30-day Hevy Coach trial today and see what the platform is all about.
