OPEX Hires TrueCoach Founder Casey Jenks To Lead CoachRx
Jenks created TrueCoach in 2015 after noticing the need for software that could help fitness coaches streamline their workflows with clients
OPEX is getting a major boost as it works to build CoachRx into the best software platform for fitness coaches.
The fitness coaching education leader has hired Casey Jenks, founder of TrueCoach, as its new chief technology officer. At OPEX, Jenks will spearhead the continued development of CoachRx as well as LearnRx, a subscription platform that offers educational content for fitness coaches.
Jenks told Athletech News that he’ll focus primarily on CoachRx to start. He’s currently in the process of immersing himself in the platform, understanding its pain points and getting a better grasp on features that users like and those that they think can be improved.
“The feature set we offer now is great, but there’s still a ton of work ahead of us,” Jenks said. “I’m excited to dig in and start rolling out what we’re working on.”
Early priorities for Jenks and his team include refining and perfecting a new version of the CoachRx client app, which OPEX recently released in beta mode.
Back Where It All Started
For Jenks, joining the OPEX executive team marks something of a full-circle moment in his career. It was while working with an OPEX coach in 2012 to rehab from an injury he picked up while owning a CrossFit gym in Florida that Jenks noticed the need for software that could help fitness coaches streamline their workflows with clients.
“It was a great experience, but I didn’t like the workflows we were using,” Jenks recalls of his time as an OPEX remote coaching client. “Back then it was a lot of email and spreadsheets, as well as various forms, payments and communications. I knew there had to be a better way and was motivated to innovate.”
A computer science major and software engineer by trade, Jenks decided to create TrueCoach in 2015, originally calling it FitBot. As one of the first platforms for remote fitness coaches and personal trainers, TrueCoach quickly found a large following; it served over 20,000 coaches worldwide when it was acquired in 2020.
“It was a great opportunity for me to combine my passions for software and fitness,” Jenks says of starting and scaling TrueCoach. “I’m excited to be back in the industry building software for coaches again.”
CoachRx Is Born
OPEX was one of the first users of TrueCoach and stayed with the platform for several years, but the fitness coaching company eventually decided to create its own software product in 2021.
After an initial beta launch, OPEX officially released CoachRx to the general public in early 2022.
Touted as the “ultimate software for fitness professionals,” CoachRx is packed with features designed to help fitness coaches with every aspect of their profession, from writing workout programs to streamlining business tasks like payroll management to communicating better with clients through tools like automated check-ins.
The platform is leaning heavily into artificial intelligence; OPEX believes AI has the power to transform fitness coaching for the better if the tech is harnessed properly. CoachRx recently released a set of AI prompts that coaches can enter into generative AI tools like ChatGPT to optimize tasks like creating workout plans, setting nutrition goals and communicating with clients.
Jenks shares OPEX’s views on AI.
“AI is going to help coaches spend less time on the more mundane aspects of their job and more time focusing on the client-coach relationship and the human element,” he says. “It’s definitely not going to replace coaches, and it’s not going to replace software engineers, either. It’ll help us become more productive and more effective at what we do, and build better relationships with the clients we serve.”
While it’s too early to get into the specifics of his plans for CoachRx in terms of features and additions, Jenks has a clear end goal in mind for the platform.
“There are a lot of (fitness coaching) platforms out there today, although I’m not sure there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest as being the clear, dominant winner,” Jenks says. “That’s ultimately our goal for CoachRx.”