Project Description:

We focused on the coach’s desktop experience for writing and reviewing workouts. The goal is to provide more control when building training sessions to help save time and limit the amount of notes coaches need to write. Our second goal is to revamp the workout review and analysis experience to allow coaches to give more in-depth and personalized feedback. By providing a better experience to coaches, athletes will benefit as well.

Tools Used:

Adobe XD, Photoshop and Illustrator, InVision

My Roll:

As a personal trainer, weightlifting coach, and regular user of the TrainHeroic platform, I led the user research, brainstorming, and redesign of the web application. I was able to utilize my fellow coaches and their various athletes throughout the entire process.

Team Members:

Jon Goodan
Zach Lemis

Overview

Background

TrainHeroic is an all-in-one software tool for personal trainers, strength coaches, and gym owners. It helps coaches grow and scale their practice by empowering them with tools that save time and allows them to engage with their athletes. They provide the tools to program workouts, review video, chat, and track the performance of their athletes.

The Problem

Coaches are spending too much time and taking too many steps to program workouts and provide quality feedback while athletes are struggling to adequately track their workouts.

The Problem

Coaches are spending too much time programming workouts and have to take too many steps to provide quality feedback while athletes are struggling to adequately track their workouts.

User Research

Usability Testing

I had 4 coaches, who work with athletes remotely, utilize the TrainHeroic platform to program and review a workout for a fictional athlete. I was able to learn their workflow while discovering their frustrations and limitations with the software.

I compiled the testing notes into an Affinity Diagram and discovered five major takeaways that will guide our redesign.

Building a Workout

“I want more options to control aspects of the workouts and exercises I create to make tracking progress easier and speed up my workflow.”

Reviewing a Workout

“I want to provide quality feedback quickly and easily. I shouldn’t have to hunt for which comment or video goes to what exercise.”

User Interface

“I want to build and review workouts efficiently. I like being able to see the big picture when working on the specifics.”

Tools Used

“I require a lot of tools to provide value to my clients. It would be nice to only have to use one.”

Wanted Features

“More robust video analysis and recording tools would save a lot of time and allow my athletes achieve their goals quicker.”

Survey Insights

We surveyed 22 participants consisting of 14 athletes, 4 coaches, and 4 who identify as both. The survey was posted on social media and sent directly to individuals who fit the criteria.

Our goal was to discover the current tools they use, how they give or receive feedback, and current frustrations and desired features to make training easier.

Do you provide or expect video demos of the movements in the workout?

Because coaches rely heavily on demo videos, they need more control over what videos are shown for specific movement variations and lifting complexes.

What tool(s) do you use to program (coach) or track (athlete) workouts?

Expanding the feature set to give coaches and athletes more control over their training will convince more people to switch from the free tools.

Do you provide/receive feedback on your workouts?

By giving coaches more tools to easily provide high quality text and video feedback their athletes will reach their goals faster.

When doing/receiving video analysis, do you or your coach:

Coaches need to take extra steps and time to provide higher quality feedback. They typically provide text feedback to save time due to their busy lifestyles.

Empathy Map

There are various users for TrainHeroic both on the coach’s and the athlete’s side of the platform. We delve deeper into these different users and how we can best redesign TrainHeroic to meet their individual needs later in our design process. For now, we are focusing on Griffin, a fitness and nutrition coach, who works with clients in-person and online and loves making deeper connections beyond the typical coach/athlete relationship.

Says

“I love helping others with their health and wellness”
“I want others to move well and feel good”
“I consider my clients friends and we connect beyond fitness”

Thinks

I need to keep my clients on track and accountable
I need to grow my business so I can continue to do this full time
I want to create a more personalized training experience for my athletes

Does

Lives a healthy lifestyle to be a role model for others
Has to use multiple apps and programs to provide all services she provides for her clients
Records herself performing movements and giving feedback
Coaches group classes in addition to working one-on-one with athletes

Feels

I don’t like to spend too much time on my computer
I want my programming to feel engaging and look professional
How can I reach more people and stand out from the crowd
I need to spend more time on other aspects of my life outside of the gym

Does

Lives a healthy lifestyle to be a role model for others
Has to use multiple apps and programs to provide all services she provides for her clients
Records herself performing movements and giving feedback
Coaches group classes in addition to working one-on-one with athletes

Feels

I don’t like to spend too much time on my computer
I want my programming to feel engaging and look professional
How can I reach more people and stand out from the crowd
I need to spend more time on other aspects of my life outside of the gym

Pains

Too many accounts and log-ins for all the different tools I need
Tons of questions from clients about movements, formats, and tracking
Spending more time formatting content instead of creating it

Gains

Extremely fulfilling work, helping others reach their goals
I can continue working with clients, even during the pandemic
Creating templates and plans help speed up work flow

User Persona

Griffin Z.

Age: 33

Job: Fitness & Nutrition Coach

Status: Married

Location: Denver, CO

“One tool to manage and connect with my clients, provide visual feedback, and write a comprehensive fitness and nutrition plan would make my life so much easier.”

Bio

Griffin was a gymnast from the time she could toddle until she was a 14-year old Level 9/10. She was forced to quit due to scoliosis and the inevitable, spinal fusion surgery. After surgery, she moved on to power tumbling, competitive cheerleading, and competitive dance, but gymnastics was a passion that, years later, she still hasn’t gotten over.

Griffin earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Longwood University and Master of Art in Organizational Behavior and Program Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University. She did program evaluation work in the public sector, both at the federal and local levels, for six years before acknowledging that the fitness world was where she needed to be.

Griffin was introduced to CrossFit in 2011 when she stumbled upon crossfit.com and started doing the WODs at her local globo gym. She was immediately hooked. After moving to Colorado in 2014 she joined her first affiliate at CrossFit Ken Caryl, and a few months later, found her place at CrossFit 720.

Introvert / Extrovert
Sensing / Intuitive
Thinking / Feeling
Judging / Perceiving

Goals

• Efficiently build and deliver workouts

• Develop a clear nutrition plan for my athletes

• Quickly provide feedback and video analysis

• Spend less time on my computer and more time working with clients

Frustrations

• I need too many tools and accounts to provide all of my services

• My clients like to use many different channels to communicate and receive feedback

• I spend more time formatting spreadsheets than writing workouts and meal plans

Favorite Brands

Definition & Ideation

User Insights

Coaches need a better way to effectively and efficiently create and review workouts because currently they have to rely on many different tools to provide high-quality remote coaching.

User Journey Map

We wanted to show the experience Griffin has using TrainHeroic in its current state. While it is still an adequate platform for her to use with her clients, she still finds a number of frustrations that makes her question why she should not go back to sharing programming via spreadsheets.

The Scenario

Griffin, who just started using TrainHeroic, was contacted by an athlete, Ben, looking for a new coach to help him get in shape and prepare for a Spartan Race coming up in 6 months. Ben has a garage gym to train in and has some lifting experience. Griffin wants to utilize all the features of TrainHeroic to give Ben an enjoyable and professional experience while keeping him accountable and tracking his progress to help him reach his goals faster.

Brainstorming & Feature Prioritization

In addition to focusing our redesign around our user, Griffin, we wanted to explore other use cases for TrainHeroic so we can plan our designs to benefit multiple groups of coaches and athletes. We developed two more personas consisting of a Powerlifter competitor and a Weightlifting team coach.

Looking at the various needs of our personas, we developed three “How Might We” statements to brainstorm features and benefits for our users.

We then took select ideas from our “How Might We” statements and organized them in an Impact – Effort Matrix so that we may guide our design process focusing on the high impact, low effort ideas.

Storyboard

We revisited Griffin’s experience of preparing Ben for his race using TrainHeroic but now with our additional and updated features that solve the issues we discovered during our user research.

Griffin gets an email from a new prospective client, Ben, who just signed up for his first Spartan Race and is in need of some coaching.

Using the TrainHeroic App, she utilizes the calendar to outline a 6-month program that will help Ben prepare for his race.

Because she’s able to quickly and easily write workouts, Griffin is able to spend her added free time on her other passions.

Griffin is able to annotate Ben’s videos while filming a voiceover, giving Ben the best possible personalized feedback.

With improved tracking analytics, Griffin is able to find the areas where Ben still needs more work and determines how to improve them.

After following his 6-month plan, Ben enters his Spartan Race feeling confident and prepared, thankful for all of Griffin’s help.

Testing & Iterating

User Flows

We followed the typical path of how a personal trainer would use TrainHeroic when working with a new client. They would create a plan or outline of how the athlete will reach their goals. Then start building specific workouts to fit within the plan. After the athlete starts completing workouts, a coach would provide feedback on their results.

Planning & Programming

We created an easy way to guide coaches through creating a new plan for their athletes by keeping them informed on every step of the process and giving them as much or a little control as they need to create the perfect plan.

When programming a workout, we made it a clear choice on the type of exercise or format the coach can add to the session to build a comprehensive workout.

Reviewing a Workout

After the athlete completes their workout, the coach needs to provide feedback, answer any questions the athlete has, provide encouragement, and provide video analysis of their posted videos.

User Testing

Objectives

We tested 9 coaches who use TrainHeroic and other similar programs to act as a personal trainer to a new client who is looking to prepare for a Spartan Race in 6 months.

As their coach, the participant will:

Create a 6-month plan leading up the race
Build a workout for this plan
Review and provide analysis for a completed workout

Research Questions

Does the user understand each step when creating a plan for their athlete?

Do the expanded set of features used to create a session save coaches’ time?

Is providing feedback to specific movements and comments quick and intuitive?

Can the video analysis tool provide better, actionable feedback for their athlete?

User Tasks

Task 1: Create a Plan

Create a new 6-month plan, create separate training blocks within the plan, and customize the blocks with tags, volume, and intensity.

Task 2: Program a Workout

Build a workout utilizing the three different types of blocks to create a complex, a superset, and a circuit for a well-rounded training session.

Task 3: Provide Feddback

Review the results of a completed workout, comment on movements, and respond to questions the athlete had.

Task 4: Video Analysis

Use the new analysis tools to record a voice-over while annotating faults and corrections on the athlete’s video to give personalized feedback.

Paper Prototype

Create New Plan

Editing Training Blocks

Exercise Selection

Completed Lifting Complex

Key Takeaways

Add tooltips to explain interactions and inputs
Ability to quickly create equal length blocks
Better visualization of the block color tool
Filter button is used more in the dropdown
The plus sign is an easy indicator to add movements to a complex
The variations section makes selecting exercises much easier

Mid-Fi Prototype

Create a Plan

Build a Workout

Provide Feedback

Video Analysis

Key Takeaways

Helpful to visualize the steps when creating a plan
Let the user know their workout has been saved and make publishing the workout an easy task
Add more helper text in field inputs when creating a session
Video Analysis button is hard to find and the menus could use better flow
The expanded workout tools make it much easier to build the workout you want

The Solution

Empowering coaches with an expanded tool set to create and review workouts will save coaches time and allow athletes to focus on their training to reach their goals quicker.

Prototype

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Desktop

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

As a user of TrainHeroic for many years, I already had many ideas on how existing features can be improved and new functionality can be implemented. We used that knowledge as a jumping-off point but I had to step back and let the research guide our design process

TrainHeroic already has a great onboarding process for coaches new to their service. When performing usability tests with first-time users, it was a challenge to walk a fine line between letting users struggle and offering them guidance with some of the features and deciphering between usability issues versus lack of knowledge.

When working with a variety of coaches during this process, I learned that everyone has their own workflow and methods of working with athletes. It was a challenge to design for each individual but we were able to combine ideas from each style to create a comprehensive coaching solution.

Key Performance Indicators

Time saved per programmed workout.

Lower number of questions asked by athletes.

Rate of athlete progression with additional video analytic tools

Less third-party tools needed by coaches.

Faster and more concise feedback from coaches.

Next Steps

Rework the mobile app to improve how athletes leave comments and post videos to workouts.

Create a pre-set interval timer that a coach can attach to different parts of the workout.

Build nutrition coaching and food tracking tools.

Be able to link 3rd party apps and services such as My Fitness Pal and Apple Health.

Improve the analytics tools to accomodate the additional tracking metrics.

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412-874-7804

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lemiszach@gmail.com

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@zachlemisdesigns

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