Getting Started as a Coach

The Coach tier turns your MuscleBuddy account into a coaching account. Your clients train, eat and check in inside the same app, and you run the roster from the coach dashboard at /coach.

What the Coach tier includes

You subscribe from Become a coach (/become-a-coach). The checkout button reads Start coaching: $29.99/mo. If you already pay for Pro, starting Coach switches that subscription to Coach instead of adding a second one, and your next invoice charges the difference for the rest of the billing period.

The subscription gives you:

• Pro on your own account. Everything a Pro member gets, for your own training.
• The coach dashboard, with the client roster, alerts, the program review queue, templates, broadcasts and automated messages.
• Per-client settings. You can override progression, deloads, volume, macros and the automatic adjustments for each client.
• Paid coaching through MuscleBuddy, if you want it. Clients can subscribe to you at a monthly rate you set, and MuscleBuddy pays you out through Stripe. The platform keeps a share of that client billing. Get paid through MuscleBuddy has the numbers.

Clients you bill outside MuscleBuddy cost you nothing extra. An invited client can work with you on a free account; the roster marks them Free instead of Paid.

The 20-client limit

Coach covers up to 20 active clients. MuscleBuddy checks the count at the two moments a relationship starts: when a client accepts your invite, and when a prospect hires you from the coach directory. The 21st client sees a message that you are at your client limit, and the directory refuses the hire before the checkout page, so a prospect is not charged for a coach who cannot take them.

Pending invites do not count. Ending a relationship frees the slot. If you coach more than 20 people, email garrett@garrettmakesit.com and we will work out the right setup with you.

Your first week

After checkout, Become a coach shows a setup checklist, and the coach dashboard shows the same one under Get started until your first client joins. Each step ticks itself off when MuscleBuddy sees it done, and each has a Learn how link to the section of a guide that explains it.

1. Send your first invite. On the Invite a client card, enter their email, choose what to ask access to, and press Invite. An invite needs no payment setup, so a client you bill yourself can join today.
2. Write your intake questions. The Intake questionnaire card holds up to 25 questions a new client answers once, on the screen where they accept your invite.
3. Build one template. Press Build block on the Program templates card and set up the program you hand most new clients. Its last step can make it the default settings for every new client. This step ticks off once a template has its workouts. A template saved with + New template is a name and a length until you build its program.
4. Connect payouts. On Coach billing (/coach/billing), accept the coach terms and press Connect with Stripe. Stripe asks for your identity and bank details. The status reads Active: ready to accept clients when Stripe is done.
5. Set your rate. Once Stripe is active, Monthly coaching price appears on the same page. The minimum is $9.99 a month.
6. List yourself in the directory. With a rate saved, tick List me in the coach directory and allow self-serve sign-ups and add a few specialty tags. Prospects find you at /coaches.

Steps 4 to 6 are marked optional: they only matter for clients who pay you through MuscleBuddy, and each unlocks the next. If you bill your clients yourself, you can skip them.

Cancelling

Cancelling Coach ends your coach access at the end of the period you have paid for. Your clients keep their own training history either way. Ending a coaching relationship covers what happens to each client.

Where to go next

• Get paid through MuscleBuddy
• Onboard a client
• Your weekly review
• Switching from another coaching platform