The problem with YouTube demos
Clients judge a coaching app by its workout screen, because they open it four or five times a week. When the demos are YouTube links filmed in different gyms, at different angles, by different people, a premium coaching service looks stitched together.
No demo at all is worse. A client alone in the gym sees "Cable Y-raise" in their session, has no idea what it looks like, and either skips it, guesses, or messages their coach between sets. Coaches can film their own videos, and many do for a few signature lifts, but a full library runs to hundreds of movements.
“On the platforms I coached on before, the exercise demos were a mix of random YouTube videos, and often had no consistency in branding or style. Clients would message me asking which version they should follow. It made a premium service feel cheap.”
Why Coachflow chose MoveKit
Andy Maccabe, Coachflow's other co-founder, works in CGI and graphic design for film and TV, so he judged animation libraries harder than most app builders would. MoveKit won on five things:
- One style across every clip. The same mannequin and render style runs through the library, so an eight-exercise session looks like one product.
- Backgrounds that fit the app. The clips sit inside Coachflow's interface with no editing.
- Looping MP4s. Clients watch the movement repeat while they set up.
- Muscle data. Primary and secondary muscles come with every clip, which saved hand-tagging hundreds of exercises.
- Clear licensing. Plain-English terms for use inside a paid app.
“I work in CGI, so I notice when animation is off. Most stock exercise libraries I looked at would have dragged our design down. MoveKit's clips are clean and consistent, and they dropped into our UI without any work.”
How it works inside Coachflow
Every MoveKit clip arrives with a consistent file name and its muscle data alongside. Coachflow mapped those fields into its own exercise database, so coaches can search by muscle group and equipment from day one. Because every clip shares the same framing and background, one player component handles all of them, in the coach's app and the client's.
- The coach searches the library in the programme builder and adds a movement. The animation comes attached.
- The client opens their session and sees the animation above their sets, reps and load, then logs each set as they go.
- A coach who wants their own demo can swap in a video on any exercise. Many keep MoveKit as the default and film only their signature lifts.
“Clients tell us the app feels smooth and everything works. That's the bar. If a client has to wonder which squat video to follow, we've already lost a bit of the coach's credibility.”
YouTube links and MoveKit, side by side
| Compared | YouTube links | MoveKit animations |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Different people, gyms, angles and lighting | One mannequin, one render style |
| In the app | Player chrome and suggested videos | A clean loop that sits in the interface |
| What clients watch | An intro, then the rep somewhere in the middle | The movement, looping |
| Reliability | The uploader can delete or hide the video | The app hosts the file |
| Rights | Someone else's content | A commercial license |
| Data | None | Primary and secondary muscles per clip |
What changed
Coachflow's exercise library went from a list of names and links to a visual library that matches the rest of the app. A coach who joins can build a full programme on day one without filming a single video, and their clients see a demo on every exercise from their first session.
“MoveKit gave us an exercise library that looks like it belongs in a premium app from day one, and Hristo has been brilliant to work with.”
About Coachflow
Coachflow puts programming, check-ins, nutrition, payments and community into one platform for online coaches. It was founded in the UK by Jack Symons, a fitness and business coach, and Andy Maccabe, a CGI designer for film and TV.
Visit coachflow.ioLast reviewed November 2026. Quotes approved by Coachflow before publication.