How to move your PT clients off Google Sheets (without losing anything)

A lot of good coaches run their whole business from Google Sheets. I get why. It's free, you set it up exactly how you want, and your programming lives in there.

The sheet isn't the problem. It's everything around it: sending the link, the client not opening it, them logging on their phone in a cell that's 4 pixels wide, you copying week 1 into weeks 2 to 6 and bumping every number by hand.

If you've decided it's time to move, here's how I'd do it so nothing gets lost and clients don't get confused.

1. Don't move everyone at once

Pick two clients. Ideally one who's easy and one who's a bit awkward (logs late, asks lots of questions). Run them in the new tool for two weeks while everyone else stays on the sheet.

You'll find out quickly whether the software fits how you programme, and you won't have 20 people messaging you because the app looks different.

2. Move the current block, not the history

You don't need to copy two years of logs across. Move:

• the current programme and the next block if you've written it
• current maxes or working weights for the main lifts
• injuries, notes and anything you'd want to see before a session
• current bodyweight and whatever nutrition targets you've set

Keep the old sheet as a read-only archive. Put a link to it in the client's notes so you can find it if you need to.

If your client list lives in a spreadsheet, Repit can import it from a CSV: names, emails and basic profile details like goals and notes. Programmes don't come across that way, so you rebuild the current block in the builder. That's the next step.

3. Rebuild one week, then let the progression do the rest

This is where you get your time back. In a sheet you write every week. In Repit you build one week and set how each lift progresses: manually, double progression, or a percentage of the client's 1RM. Then you check the generated weeks before assigning.

So a back squat at 3×8, 80 kg, going up 2.5 kg a week for 6 weeks becomes 80, 82.5, 85, 87.5, 90, 92.5. You set that once.

If you programme off percentages, put the client's 1RM in and Repit works out the working weight.

4. Tell the client what changes for them

Keep it short. Something like:

From Monday your programme's moving to an app. You'll get an invite, download it, and your sessions will be there. Log your sets in the app rather than the sheet. Nothing about the training changes.

Do the first session with them if you train in person, or send a short screen recording if you're online.

5. Decide where check-ins and food go

This is the bit people forget. If the programme moves to an app but check-ins stay in WhatsApp and food stays in screenshots, you've just added another place to look.

In Repit, nutrition, weight, readiness and check-ins sit on the same client record as the training, so I'd move those at the same time.

6. After two weeks, move the rest

If the two test clients are logging and you're spending less time on reviews, move everyone else over a week or two. Do your highest-maintenance clients last.

If it's not working, go back to the sheet. Two weeks of testing costs you nothing.

What you lose

Being straight about it: you lose some flexibility. A sheet lets you add any column you like. Software gives you structure instead. For most coaches past 10 or so clients that's a good trade, but if your programming relies on something unusual, check it works before moving anyone.

Repit is free for up to 2 clients, so you can run the two-client test above without paying anything.

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