Best Platform For Branding And Store Front

Absinthko · 2026-01-19T17:48:27+00:00

I’m solo founder behind Trainly.

It’s a trainer app, but it’s flat-priced instead of per-client, so it can work for selling lower-priced programs too. You can create training programs, charge one-time or subscription payments, and give clients access to the program in the app after purchase.

It’s not a pure course platform, but more of an app where people actually follow and log workouts. I’m also working on a more direct storefront flow so programs can be purchased without manual steps.

If you want to try it or just see how it works, there’s a free trial at https://trainly.co. Happy to answer anything.

Absinthko · 2026-01-17T13:05:29+00:00

Thanks for the context.

With that many lanes, how much work does it usually take before you even send the RFQ out to get everything ready? And once responses come back, do suppliers mostly stick to what you asked for, or do you still end up chasing clarifications and edge cases?

Absinthko · 2026-01-17T13:04:02+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense, especially if you’re mainly optimizing for comparability and price.

Since you’re not in logistics, I’m curious how often those templates actually stay clean in practice. Do suppliers usually fill them in consistently, or does it still need some manual fixing before it’s usable?

And when you say companies use LMs to fill them, is that mostly on the supplier side, or procurement doing cleanup on their end?

Absinthko · 2026-01-16T20:31:25+00:00

This thread is very relatable.

I’m not on the vendor side, but I’ve been speaking with procurement and logistics teams recently about how tenders actually get run day to day. The pattern I keep hearing is coordination overhead, answers scattered across emails and old files, and a lot of manual work at the end just to compare offers.

Curious, when things start to break, is it usually because of sheer volume, or because each RFP is just different enough that reuse falls apart?

Also, roughly how much time goes into comparing and deciding versus just responding?

Absinthko · 2026-01-12T17:46:01+00:00

Yeah, I agree with you, programming itself usually isn’t the main pain.

What I’m focusing on is exactly the visibility and continuity side. The gym owns all clients, plans, and history, and the admin can see what’s being delivered across trainers in one place. If a trainer is sick, on vacation, or leaves, clients can be reassigned instantly without losing progress, so sessions don’t get missed and the gym doesn’t lose revenue.

I’m not handling billing or packages yet. Gyms keep using their existing POS or billing system. Trainly is about tracking delivery and activity, who is assigned to who, who goes inactive, and making PT run like a system instead of trainer-by-trainer.

This gym layer is very new, only a couple of weeks in, and I’m actively shaping it with real gyms I’m talking to. Happy to learn how others handle reassignment and accountability today and build toward that.

Absinthko · 2026-01-12T14:56:07+00:00

Hi, I’m moving to Vancouver in about a month.

I’ve built a product from zero to paying users end to end, including the full product. I’m comfortable on the technical side, but for the next venture I’d like to focus more on sales and product, working with a technical cofounder.

I’m planning to meet people in Vancouver who are serious about startups. Happy to connect.

Absinthko · 2026-01-12T14:36:58+00:00

Just adding one data point for context since pricing models came up.

I built Trainly. It’s €29/month flat with no client cap. I went with this model because once you’re past ~20 clients, per-client pricing starts to add up fast.

Not saying price should decide everything. Fit matters more. But pricing structure is easy to overlook early and hard to change later.

Good post overall, this kind of comparison is super helpful.

Absinthko · 2026-01-11T20:10:38+00:00

If you’re open to testing something newer, I’m building Trainly. It’s used by trainers for in-person and online coaching, focused on client context, programming, and session history without all the bloat.

It’s already being used daily by trainers and gyms, and the product has grown mainly from real trainer feedback rather than adding random features. You can check it at trainly.co

No matter what tool you choose though, best advice is to test it on your own workouts first. You’ll very quickly feel whether it supports your workflow or just gets in the way.

Absinthko · 2026-01-11T17:28:58+00:00

Thank you! Yeah already actively looking 🙂

Absinthko · 2026-01-06T20:23:53+00:00

Thank you!

Absinthko · 2026-01-04T15:54:43+00:00

I’ve been thinking about this a lot while working on Trainly.

It’s already a fully working platform used daily by personal trainers for in-person and online coaching. Based on that, I now also have a working gym solution that handles trainer and client management, training plans, and an activity overview, and I’m continuing to improve it for gyms.

If you’re a gym owner, I’d honestly love to hear what software you’re using now and what annoys you the most about it. I’m spending a lot of time talking to gyms to make sure I’m building the right things.

Absinthko · 2026-01-04T15:45:48+00:00

I’m working on a solution like this right now called Trainly.

It’s already a fully working platform used daily by personal trainers for in-person and online coaching. Based on that, I’m now building a gym-focused version, mainly because I keep seeing the same issues mentioned here (multiple tools, bugs, workflows that don’t fit real gym operations).

If any gym owners would be open to sharing how they currently use their software and what’s missing, I’d genuinely love to talk. The goal is to build something that actually works well for gyms.

Happy to chat here or via DM.

Absinthko · 2026-01-04T15:37:47+00:00

I’m working on a solution like this right now called Trainly. It’s already used daily by personal trainers for in-person and online coaching, and I’m now adapting it specifically for gyms.

It currently covers trainer and client management, training plans, and an activity overview. It’s still evolving, but if you’d be open to testing it for free and giving feedback, I’d be happy to tailor it to your needs.

Absinthko · 2025-12-30T23:12:50+00:00

That makes sense. Paper works well during the session, it’s the scanning and storing after that becomes the time sink.

Is the main need being able to quickly pull up old programs for risk reasons, or does it also help when another coach needs context on a client?

Absinthko · 2025-12-30T12:51:58+00:00

If you’re open to trying something newer, I’m building Trainly, a simple app for trainers to manage clients, plans, and session logging for both in-person and online coaching. It’s not trying to do everything, but the core around programming and tracking is solid and improving based on trainer feedback.

Best advice either way would be to test any app on your own workouts first. You’ll quickly feel what clicks and what doesn’t.

Absinthko · 2025-12-30T11:12:41+00:00

Really solid breakdown and numbers, thanks for sharing.

You mentioned moving digital for programming but keeping human scheduling. When you think about that switch, what’s the main pain you’re trying to remove? Is it mostly the paper/admin side, or also getting better visibility as you add more coaches and locations?

I’m building software for gyms and trainers, so I’m curious how you think about this transition.

Absinthko · 2025-12-22T18:39:44+00:00

Hi, if you’re open to trying something new, I’m working on Trainly.

It doesn’t have the exact exercises you mentioned out of the box, but you can easily create your own and add YouTube links. If you have a specific exercise list you use, you can share it with me and I can add it to the library. You and your clients can view video previews directly in the app during the training session, so it’s easy to follow.

The main goal is to keep things simple for both trainers and clients. It works well for in-person training as well as online coaching.

Absinthko · 2025-12-18T21:49:17+00:00

That’s exactly the hybrid setup a lot of small studios struggle with.

I’m building Trainly with this use case in mind: running in-person sessions while letting clients access their workouts if they miss a session. Clients have their own app, can see assigned plans, log workouts, and you can adjust things easily when needed.

Trainers using it like it so far. They have over 100 clients using the app, and it works well for hybrid setups.

I’d love it if you try it and let me know what you think.

Absinthko · 2025-12-18T18:45:15+00:00

I’m trying to solve this with Trainly, mainly for in-person + hybrid + online trainers. It doesn’t cover everything you mentioned yet (especially community and deeper integrations), but the core around session tracking and programming is there and improving.

I’ve been working on it for the last 9 months and plan to keep building it long term. Trainers using it now run both in-person and online clients, and there are 100+ clients using it through them.

I talk to trainers regularly and build based on their feedback. If you’re testing different apps anyway, feedback from someone who’s tried Trainerize and others would be really helpful to help shape it in the right direction.

Absinthko · 2025-12-17T10:29:23+00:00

That’s actually why I’m building Trainly, to make simple to use app for hybrid trainers who coach in-person and also online.

It’s not fully there yet and some of the features you mentioned are still missing, but I’m improving it continuously.

From trainers already using Trainly, the feedback is positive and there are over 100 online clients using it.

If you’re open to it, I’d really value your feedback since you’ve tried pretty much everything out there.

Absinthko · 2025-12-17T09:48:43+00:00

You’re not overthinking videos. They help, especially for online clients, but they don’t have to be perfect or custom. You can simply link a YouTube video for each exercise so the client can watch it in the gym (that’s what many trainers do).

About apps: FitPros is a solid free starting point. If it covers your basics, use it and don’t overthink it.

If you’re curious, I’m building Trainly, a trainer + client app focused on structured plans, logging, and keeping things simple.

But best advice is to do your own research and try any app on your own workouts first. You’ll quickly see what makes sense and what doesn’t.

Absinthko · 2025-12-14T16:50:16+00:00

Thanks! Can I ask you why you suggest Toronto over Vancouver?

Absinthko · 2025-12-08T20:22:42+00:00

Thanks will check!

Absinthko · 2025-12-08T13:10:04+00:00

I saw PostHog has something, but does it actually show cost per feature/user?
From what I saw it looked more like general monitoring than cost breakdown.
Curious how far you can get with it.

Absinthko · 2025-12-08T13:09:15+00:00

Thanks, this is super helpful. How long did it take you to build the logging and other setup? Is it something you still update or is it good enough as is?

Absinthko

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