Coach-first tooling, not coach-replacement
Automation should give you leverage, not take the wheel. Every suggestion lands in your approval queue before it reaches a client. Every setting is yours, per client. Bring your own roster and run all of it from one place.
Your methodology, saved once per client
Most coaching apps treat every client the same: same progression scheme, same macro adjustment rules, same deload cadence. MuscleBuddy treats your methodology as a setting, saved per client, and every decision it makes reads from that setting first.
Run double progression with a strict +2.5 kg jump on one client and RPE autoregulation with a wider band on another. Adjust one client's macros weekly the moment they drift ±0.5 lb/week from goal; adjust another every two weeks with a wider band because they hate surprises. Carb cycling on for the clients in a cut, off for the ones at maintenance. All from the same dashboard.
Because your settings drive every decision, you can rerun any of them: "what would this have prescribed if I'd widened the trigger band three weeks ago?" That's not an AI rolling the dice again. It's the same rules, run against the same data, with the setting you changed, so the answer means something.
Full check-in visibility + approval queue
Reading raw daily check-ins for twenty clients is a part-time job. The Coach Dashboard puts an Alerts widget at the top: who missed a check-in this week, who's gone quiet, whose lifts have stalled, and whose latest bloodwork came back out of range. It's a plain scan of the data you already have: no AI in the loop, no black box, only the handful of clients who need you today.
From there, drill into any client's full check-in history, thirty days of typed scores (sleep, energy, mood, stress), notes, and synced vitals, and leave a comment directly on a specific day's entry. Comments are editable, client-visible, and push-notify the client, so your feedback lands where they're already looking instead of a side channel.
Every adjustment MuscleBuddy wants to make (calorie drops, deloads, refeeds, diet breaks) lands in an approval queue before it touches the client's program, alongside any coach-built programs waiting on your sign-off. You see what it proposes and why. Approve it or throw it out, and if you want a different number, set it yourself in the client's settings. Nothing reaches the client without you, and what they see is "your coach updated your macros," not a number that moved on its own.
We're opinionated about this: automation proposes, you decide. Your judgment is what clients are paying for. The queue exists to amplify it, not to route around it.
Reusable program templates that carry your settings
If you've ever built the same upper/lower split from scratch for a fifth client, this part matters. MuscleBuddy lets coaches save program templates: full training blocks with the split, exercise selection, sets, rep ranges and progression scheme per lift.
A template also carries the client settings you run that block with: deload cadence, refeeds, carb cycling, whether auto-adjustments wait for your review, and when a missed check-in gets flagged. Deploy it to a client and those settings land on them wherever you haven't already tuned that client by hand. Mark one template as your default and every new client starts on its settings, instead of on ours.
A deployed program is that client's own copy: editing the template later changes what you deploy next, not what a client is already running. Templates are private to your coach account by default, and if you coach inside a gym on MuscleBuddy you can share one with the other coaches there. Your IP stays yours: there is no public template marketplace siphoning your method into commodified form.
Bring your own clients, and stay in charge of the relationship
MuscleBuddy is the toolset, and the biller. Connect your Stripe account and your clients subscribe through a checkout MuscleBuddy hosts, so you're not manually invoicing or chasing payments. We take a 20-30% share of each client's subscription for running that billing, on top of your Coach plan. The app handles the coaching: programming, per-client settings, AI-summarized check-ins, templates, and an approval queue that keeps every decision yours.
Invite a client by email, they create an account and link to you, and you get a single dashboard for their training, nutrition, and check-ins. Your methodology is saved per client; your templates stay private to your account unless you share them with your gym. Our job is to make running a roster fast, not to insert ourselves into your coaching decisions.
The Coach tier is $29.99/mo plus a 20-30% share of client billing, and supports up to 20 active clients.
Frequently asked
- Do I have to use the AI suggestions?
No. Every suggestion lands in your approval queue and waits for your sign-off before it touches a client. You can also turn auto-adjustment off entirely, per client.
- How do I bill my clients?
MuscleBuddy bills your clients for you: connect your Stripe account, and clients subscribe through a checkout we host, so you are not manually invoicing or chasing payments. We take a 20-30% share of each client's subscription for running that billing, on top of your $29.99/mo Coach plan.
- Can I import an existing client roster?
Yes. Invite clients via email; they create an account and link to you. Bring their training history and weigh-ins in by CSV, and adjustments start the moment there is enough data to act on.
- What if a client and I part ways?
Clients own their data. When a coach-client relationship ends, the coach loses access; the client keeps their full history, programs, and nutrition logs. They can continue solo or attach to a new coach without rebuilding anything.
- How many clients can I coach?
The Coach tier ($29.99/mo plus a 20-30% share of client billing) supports up to 20 active clients at a time. Clients you mark inactive stop counting against that, and their history stays with them.
Manage up to 20 clients without a spreadsheet.
The Coach tier ($29.99/mo plus a share of client billing) gives you everything above to manage up to 20 clients in one place. On a client's own account, AI coaching chat is Pro, while asking your coach for a paid package and sending a form-check video for review stays free.