The admin problem
The spreadsheet works until the twelfth client
One tab per client is fine at three. At twelve it is a Sunday evening spent reconstructing who trained, who went quiet, and which version of the plan you actually sent.
Get the app
It is not the spreadsheet. It is the second place.
A sheet holds data well enough. The trouble starts because the coaching does not happen in it, so every client ends up split across two systems that never agree.
- The plan exists twiceOnce in the file, once in the message you pasted it into. Edit one and the other is quietly wrong.
- The record is a matter of trustA cell says the session was done because you typed it there after asking. That is a memory of an answer, not a record.
- Context is stranded in threadsWhy you dropped the volume in March is in a conversation you would have to scroll to find, if you remember it happened.
- Nothing tells you who is driftingThe sheet answers questions you ask it. It never raises one.
Where each thing ends up
The same five things a coach reaches for every week.
| What you are looking for | A sheet plus a chat app | IronFit |
|---|---|---|
| This week's plan | In an exported file, or pasted into a message | On the client profile, in its current version |
| Whether they did it | You ask them, and you record the answer | Completion logged against the plan itself |
| Last month's notes | In whichever thread you were using then | In the follow-up record under their name |
| A plan you already wrote | Copied out of another client's tab and edited | In the plan library, ready to assign again |
| Who needs attention | Reconstructed by hand, usually on a Sunday | Visible across the roster without asking |
Moving a roster across
There is no import button. There is an order that makes it painless.
-
Start with the plans, not the people
Rebuild the three or four plans you actually reuse. Most coaches find the list is shorter than they expected.
-
Add clients as they come up
Add each one the next time you would have opened their tab anyway, rather than setting aside an evening for all of them.
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Let the old sheet go read-only
Keep it for history. Stop writing to it, or you will keep both alive forever.
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Give it one full cycle
The value shows up when a week's completion arrives without you having asked anyone for it.
Fair questions
My spreadsheet works fine. Why change?
If it works, that is a real answer and you should keep it.
The coaches who switch usually do it at a specific moment: when the admin around coaching starts taking longer than the coaching, or when they get something wrong in front of a client because two versions of a plan disagreed.
Can I import my existing sheet?
There is no spreadsheet import. Clients and plans are set up inside the app. If you are moving a large roster, send an enquiry describing what you have and we will tell you what it involves.
Can I get my data back out?
Ask us before you commit a roster, and we will tell you exactly what the published build supports rather than promising something that is not approved yet.
Can I run both for a while?
You can, and most people do for a cycle or two. The one thing worth avoiding is editing plans in both places, because that reintroduces the disagreement you were trying to remove.
Put the roster somewhere it can answer back
Start with one client and one plan. That is enough to tell whether it fits how you work.