This is a review of the Les Mills Coach program. While this post isn’t sponsored, there are affiliate links for the service, and I did get a chance to try out the program complimentary. I’m also including a discount code for Les Mills Coach (ASHLEY15) and a link to a free 30-day trial of Les Mills On Demand.

Hey, my friends! A full Les Mills blog post coming your way. As you know, Les Mills fitness is one of my favorite topics to cover, and today it’s all about Les Mills’ brand new Les Mills Coach program. I’m so happy I’ve had a chance to try it out and share my review with you.

Les Mills Coach is a way to add human connection and accountability to your virtual/home workout life with Les Mills. And it’s a really smart offering, especially for anyone new to fitness or new to the Les Mills difference.

In this post, I’m going to tell you what Les Mills Coach is, how it works, the pros and cons of participating in the program and my experience trying it out. Let’s go …

Review of the Les Mills Coach program

So what is Les Mills Coach?

Les Mills Coach is a new accountability program, where you virtually work with a Les Mills trainer who puts together a workout plan for you based on your goals and needs and then stays in touch to keep you on track with your workouts. Most (or all) of your workouts come from the Les Mills On Demand streaming service, featuring a variety of follow-along workout formats — so you have a chance to truly unlock the potential of Les Mills On Demand (which is now called Les Mills+).

A Les Mills Coach is not your personal trainer, because they are not there working out with you or watching you work out. But instead, a Les Mills Coach gives you a personalized workout plan specific to you and your goals featuring workouts from Les Mills On Demand. A Les Mills Coach also helps you move through that plan over a certain amount of time. You can do your workouts from anywhere, and you don’t need a gym membership, but you do need the Les Mills On Demand service.

Les Mills Coach offers a variety of options:

• 30-minute kick-starter video call and a workout plan from Les Mills On Demand ($39.95)
• 4-week program with a workout plan and regular video call accountability check-ins ($179)
• 8-week program with a workout plan and regular video call accountability check-ins ($299)
• 12-week program with a workout plan and regular video call accountability check-ins ($349)

What do you get when you sign up for Les Mills Coach?

You get a mixture of technology, along with guidance and human support from a super-experienced fitness professional, right from the comfort of your own home.

First of all, you get access to the Les Mills Coach app, which is powered through Trainerize. This is where you will communicate with your trainer, view your workout plan, use the chat function and access the video call feature.

When you sign up, you’ll choose an expert coach who resonates with you. And then you’ll begin the program with a 30-minute consultation “get-to-know-you” video call with your coach via the app. Then, your coach will create a workout plan for every week of your program customized to your goals and specific needs, and you’ll get each week delivered one at a time, laid out clearly in the app.

Moving forward, you’ll do a weekly 15-minute check-in video call with your coach. And your coach will update and modify your workouts as needed and deliver another week of workouts via the app 48 hours after your call. 

At the end of your program, you’ll get a wrap-up congratulations email from your coach and an invitation to continue at a discount. (There’s also a private Les Mills Coach Facebook group, which is just getting started, but could be a good resource once it’s more populated in the future.)

Please note: You do not get access to Les Mills On Demand (which is where you’ll do your workouts) when you purchase a program from Les Mills Coach, so you need to sign up for that separately. I do have a special 30-day trial you can use for Les Mills On Demand here, which would pair perfectly with the 4-week Les Mills Coach program.

Who are the Les Mills coaches?

Right now, there are more than 60 coaches available to work with. Each of these coaches is a Les Mills trainer, presenter or assessor across the United States. They are diverse, and they are used to working with people of all fitness levels.

The Les Mills Coaches are fitness professionals who hold personal trainer certifications, as well as group fitness certifications, and they often have additional credentials. Some of them have particular skillsets, like pre- and post-natal fitness or strength and conditioning or other. They have all been through rigorous fitness assessments in order to be considered a Les Mills Coach, so they know their stuff.

When you sign up for Les Mills Coach, you get to choose which coach you work with. In order to choose, you can watch a short video from each coach on the Les Mills Coach website to see if they look like a fit for you and your needs — you can get a vibe from them based on what they share in the video. You can also select to have a coach chosen for you, if you’re not sure who you want. 

Who can sign up to participate in Les Mills Coach? Do you need to have exercise experience?

Right now, this program is open to anyone in the United States.

There are no prerequisites for participating in the Les Mills Coach program. You can be totally new to exercise and totally new to Les Mills as a brand and a company. You don’t need any Les Mills group fitness experience in order to try this program.

In fact, if you’ve never tried a Les Mills workout before and just need a plan, this could be an awesome way to get introduced to the Les Mills way. Because it’s for beginners all the way to advanced exercisers, anyone can get something from working with a coach. Take it from me, having a professional support you in your efforts is important no matter where you are in your fitness journey.

While many of the workouts on Les Mills On Demand require equipment, if you don’t have much at home, your coach will work with you to use what you have on hand.

(The above image shows just a few of the workouts my coach selected for me from Les Mills On Demand. I also did a lot of Les Mills GRIT Strength, including releases #16, #17 and #32.)

How does the coaching relationship work?

Your Les Mills Coach is not your personal trainer, and they won’t assess your exercise form. In fact, they aren’t there with you when you are doing your workouts either. However, your coach is an accountability partner, and they are a resource you can use to ask fitness-related questions. 

What your coach does is search through the more than 1,000 workouts on Les Mills On Demand and find the perfect ones for your needs and then schedule them in a smart way — based on the time you have available to work out.

From what I understand, every Les Mills Coach may do things a little bit differently, but my coach emailed me after I signed up and sent me a fitness test to complete before our first 30-minute consultation call. The test included holding a single-leg wall sit, doing as many push-ups as I could, holding a plank for as long as I could and running a mile. Because our air quality in the Bay Area was really poor during this time, I actually skipped the running a mile test. My coach said that she used the fitness test results to decide my fitness level to see which programs she should could assign to me. We didn’t redo the fitness test at the end of the program, but I think that would have been a good idea to see if I made any progress. 

During my 4-week program, I could ask my coach questions via the app in between our weekly calls and I would usually get an answer in about 48 hours or less. During our weekly 15-minute video check-ins, she would ask me how my workouts were going, whether I wanted to change anything and whether I had any additional questions.

These calls were a great chance to explain how I felt during certain programs or hard workouts and get her tips and support. 

My experience going through the 4-week Les Mills Coach program

I was very excited to try out Les Mills Coach, because I’m a huge Les Mills fan. If you’re new around here, I’ve been a Les Mills instructor for 11 years, and I’m certified to teach Les Mills BODYPUMP, BODYATTACK and CXWORX. I always enjoy sharing my experiences with all things Les Mills, so this was a perfect fit for me.

Let’s be honest here: Because I have fitness experience and I’m a fitness professional, I don’t think I got as much out of Les Mills Coach as your everyday exercise enthusiast might. I already know how to structure my workouts, I already know what I need to be doing, and I’m already familiar with all the Les Mills programs.

That being said, I still did get a great benefit from Les Mills Coach. I came to my coach with the goal to continue building my strength. I told my coach that I had 30 minutes available to work out six days a week, which left room for me to also fit in teaching my virtual classes and doing a couple other things that are already in my workout schedule. Based on that, my coach put together a plan that wasn’t all that different from what I had been doing on my own, except for one big additional element: Adding CXWORX.

Adding CXWORX twice a week to my routine

Even though I’m certified to teach Les Mills CXWORX (a 30-minute core workout program using resistance bands and a weight plate), I stopped doing it regularly seven months ago when our gyms closed down for quarantine, and I just never really went back to it. My coach thought it would be a good idea to replace some of the cardio I was doing on the bike in the evenings with two CXWORX classes a week to really strengthen my trunk and core, which would then help me to have more overall strength.

She identified two CXWORX releases that are exclusive to Les Mills On Demand that I would have never found or done on my own — CXWORX for Runners #1 and CXWORX for Runners #2. These particular CXWORX releases have an additional track and are really hard. I did each of those releases three times over the course of my 4-week program. And boy did I feel it. Based on this work, I truly think I felt a little improvement in some of the other fitness goals I’m working on, like pull-ups.

I really liked this change and could see me sticking with at least one additional CXWORX class in place of cardio moving forward.

Finding and identifying the metabolic BODYPUMP workouts 

I also let my coach know that even though I love BODYPUMP, I wanted to find 30-minute versions on Les Mills On Demand that included more legs, as the typical 30-minute release has only one leg specific song, which is squats. She identified the metabolic blast BODYPUMP releases on Les Mills On Demand featuring lunges and added those to my plan, and I loved them. I will definitely be doing those moving forward as well.

Laying out a weekly plan with everything decided for me

Overall, my favorite part about Les Mills Coach was having my workouts for the week written out and planned for me, placed in an app, so that I didn’t have to think about anything. I would get a notification in the morning from the app automatically with a reminder of what was on tap for me that day, which my coach had laid out in the beginning of the week.

It felt good to take the decision making out of what I should do, which can be a big hindrance to motivation. I didn’t have to search through the 1,000 workouts on Les Mills On Demand. I had them selected for me, based on my needs. And that’s awesome.

Staying in touch with weekly video check-ins for face to face

I also liked the very short 15-minute video phone call check-ins I had with my coach to discuss how my plan was working. This gave us a chance to assess what I was doing and whether we needed to change anything. She was super knowledgable not only about Les Mills, but also about fitness in general. And she told me on our first call that she recognized my name because she had read several of my posts about Les Mills years ago, so that was cool.

But overall, the video calls were just another great opportunity to connect. The human element is important, and that’s definitely there with Les Mills Coach. My coach was rooting for me, and that made me want to work hard. And I think that’s a big selling point with this program.

(The above image shows an example of a portion of a week of workouts in the Les Mills Coach app. I did five Les Mills workouts per week, with some additional non-Les Mills workouts as well. The “general” workouts were not from Les Mills.)

Pros of Les Mills Coach

Let’s break down the good stuff, because there’s a lot of it …

• Expert customized help: It’s amazing to get professional help sorting through the more than 1,000 workouts on Les Mills On Demand, so you can do the best workouts for your goals and needs. Les Mills On Demand is an awesome program, but it can be very overwhelming to know where to start.
• Smart programming: You don’t want to do the same workout every single day, and you need to smartly vary the formats of your workout in order to get the results you want. A Les Mills Coach will put together a line-up in the right order, so you get the most bang for your buck with what you do on which days.
• Accountability: You’re much more likely to stick to your workouts when you have a specific daily calendar of what’s on tap and someone to check in on you.
• Human connection: It feels great to know that someone else cares about your workouts, so the regular video chats with a Les Mills expert are nice for that face-to-face interaction.
• Fitness support: While you’re not able to get nutrition advice from your Les Mills Coach (some coaches have nutrition credentials, but nutrition is not part of the program), you can certainly ask about all aspects of your workout program and fitness level during your video calls. And who doesn’t like that? My coach gave me the best tip to improve my pull-ups — holding my body in a hollow hold position — that’s been super helpful for my technique, and it came up in one of our coaching calls.
• Daily notification reminders: If you turn on the Les Mills Coach app notifications on your phone, you’ll get a little message in the morning with an automatic reminder of exactly which workouts you need to complete that day. Love this feature from the app.
• Extra push to do more: I’m self motivated, but my coach added pull-ups to my plan three times a week, which is not something I would have made myself do on my own. I loved the extra assignment, and I fulfilled it every week, in addition to the CXWORX, which I already mentioned. Yay for that!

Cons of Les Mills Coach

Before we begin this section, I think it’s important to note that Les Mills Coach is still very new and growing every day. I actually talked to the Les Mills folks, and some of these areas of improvement are already in the works …

• Fee is not inclusive: The fee for Les Mills Coach does not include access to Les Mills On Demand, so you have to do that separately in order to have access to the workouts. You must sign up for Les Mills On Demand in order to do Les Mills Coach, so it seems like it would be nice if they combined the two, if possible. But, you can always do my free trial paired with my discount for a big savings, so check those out below.
• Requires you to set up phone notifications: While the Les Mills Coach app does send out super helpful daily reminders and it’s very organized, it means you need to set up notifications on your phone to stay in the loop. I’d recommend doing that, as well as turning on email notifications, so you never miss a notification. Also, quick note: I found out that you can actually access the video calls from a computer too, which I would suggest for better usability. 
• Inputting other workouts is not specific: This point may not be relevant for most, because it’s very likely that if you do Les Mills Coach, all of your workouts will be from Les Mills On Demand. But that isn’t the case for me, and I found the app a bit clunky for planning and inputting non-Les Mills workouts. It’s easy to add generic cardio, but I would have liked more flexibility to describe general workouts in the name and notes. 
• No live form help: The goal of Les Mills Coach is to provide accountability, and it does that. But I think it’s super important to make sure that someone is actually doing the Les Mills On Demand workouts properly, with good technique and form. This could be something you talk to your coach about, but it’s not technically part of the program.
• Unused metrics in the app: I like data! There are a lot of features in the Les Mills Coach app we didn’t use during my program (like progress photos, tracking your sleep, etc.) and I would have liked to have used more. I believe that some coaches use more data than others, so you could probably request this, and I would suggest it.
• No final progress test: I would love to see an informal or casual assessment at the end to mark progress in some way. I think this is another development in the works.

Concluding overall thoughts on Les Mills Coach

I think Les Mills Coach is such a smart offering from Les Mills. It makes so much sense to add expert human help to figuring out Les Mills On Demand and getting more from your Les Mills On Demand workouts. 

It’s very clear that the world has adopted the virtual workout trend moving forward. And while it’s convenient to work out at home, it can be overwhelming for the average everyday exerciser to know what to do and when to do it. It can also be lonely.

That’s where Les Mills Coach comes in. You get face-to-face interactions with an expert coach who wants you to succeed. And you get to do safe, enjoyable Les Mills workouts set to music from the comfort of your home.

Les Mills Coach is an awesome chance to get professional help from a Les Mills fitness expert on your workouts. And because I’m a Les Mills fan, I’d definitely recommend it!

Here’s your discount on Les Mills Coach programs

If you want to jump in and try Les Mills Coach, I have an exclusive discount for you. Use the code ASHLEY15 for 15 percent off the 4-, 8- and 12-week programs.

You can sign on for Les Mills Coach here.

Here’s your free 30-day trial to Les Mills On Demand

Along with Les Mills Coach, you’ll need access to Les Mills On Demand for your workouts.

Here’s an exclusive referral for a free 30-day trial of the service.

Thanks for reading the blog today, my friends! I’d love to hang out with you over on Instagram, so come say hi to me there!

Other posts you may like …

• Review of Les Mills Smart Tech equipment and Les Mills Smartbar (and a promo code)
• Review of Les Mills GRIT workout class
• Review of Les Mills Barre workout class
• How to become a Les Mills group fitness instructor (and how to prepare for training)
• Everything you need to know about Les Mills workouts and how to get started
• Review of Les Mills On Demand streaming workout service
• How to work out at home safely (and effectively)
• The best workouts on Les Mills On Demand

Questions of the day

Have you ever tried a Les Mills workout?

How do you stay accountable to your workouts?

What’s your favorite way to sweat?