Fitness app WeTrain wants to democratize personal training

If you can order a pizza through an app, shouldn’t you also be able to order a personal trainer?

In October 2015, Jon Sockol, 29, and Zachary Hertzel, 28, started WeTrain under that very premise. Hertzel, a U.S. Army veteran, and Sockol, who had just lost 60 pounds, bonded over their love of fitness and joined forces to try and provide a cheaper alternative to personal training and overall fitness.
Users pay a $50 per month subscription fee to have a access to a database of 100 trainers, who will meet anywhere — homes, parks, participating gyms — and provide personalized training sessions for 30 minutes ($15) or up to an hour ($30). No equipment necessary. Sockol and Hertzel say the platform currently has 600 active users.

Personal training shouldn't be something that only affluent people can have access to.

“Personal training shouldn’t be something that only affluent people can have access to, and that’s what we’re trying to change,” said Hertzel.
The IRL service is currently available only for the Greater Philadelphia Area, but WeTrain is also trying to get users off the couch no matter where they are: through a virtual platform, users can have a video-call training session with certified trainers from the database.
According to Sockol, instructors go through a six-step vetting process which includes a background check and in-person interviews. They say only 10 percent of applicants make the cut.
Although funding for the company is currently undisclosed, a friends and family round was reportedly already closed, with a second one in the works.
WeTrain has six full-time employees working out of Benjamin’s Desk’s Curtis Center location.