There's recently been a spate of personal trainers, who've launched online fitness workout solutions. If you do a search on google, you'll notice that many of the "big" weight loss companies offer an online approach to getting fit, losing weight, toning up and general health.

As a fully qualified personal trainer, I've always questioned whether this approach totally misses the point - after all, no two people are alike and the whole point of "personal training" is just that...it's personal. I questioned how an online approach can be "personal".

The big drawbacks of an online personal trainer or an online approach to fitness are this:

The "trainer" can't perform initial assessments to form the base line of their program design The "trainer" can't see whether the client is performing the exercises correctly The client loses the motivational aspect of having a trainer put them through their paces It's more difficult to "show" the client how to perform an exercise

And yet, more people than ever are joining online weight loss and fitness clubs. So, if you do think this might be a solution for you, what are some of the benefits you should expect?

Anytime access to fitness workouts and your "virtual" trainer Workouts you can do in the comfort of your own home without going to the gym Good, quality pictures or videos of how to perform each exercise An ability to interact with your trainer via email, instant messenger of webcam Additional support in areas such as nutrition & other health topics

And with the advent of new technologies there are some fantastic ways of making online personal training & online fitness an affordable, effective way of exercising. One of these new technologies is the development of video emailing & video messaging. Using any of these services allows for much greater interaction between trainer & client and brings back some of the "personal" element to personal training.

With the advent of these new technologies and considering how many people find it so difficult to fit exercise into their lives, anything that encourages more people to exercise is a good thing. And if we can use the new technology to make well-designed fitness workouts available to more people, at a more affordable cost than hiring your own personal trainer, then we can all benefit.

And if you are considering joining an online club, here's some things to look out for:

Try & find out the credentials of the "trainer" who has created the workouts - anyone can call themselves a personal trainer, without having any kind of fitness training whatsoever. Make sure that you'll have access to information on how to actually perform exercises - pictures, photos or video clips are ideal. Ensure that additional or off-line support is also available - either through forums or via emailing/personal messaging system.

And if you do join, try & make sure you use it, and it doesn't become like gym membership - something you pay for but never use!

Lea Woodward is a top UK Wellbeing Coach & Personal Trainer. She runs an online Health & Fitness club at www.activOne.com and is a leading business coach, helping other personal trainers & wellbeing companies leverage the power of the internet to improve their business. Visit her site www.LeaWoodward.com