Source: Exercise New Zealand
(A World First)
“If we want more New Zealanders exercising, we need more good people out there pushing that message.”
“We spend a lot of time talking about getting New Zealand moving, but exercise professionals are the people who actually turn that ambition into action.”
“While much of the conversation about AI focuses on what it might look like to
replace, we’re using it to support work that needs to remain deeply human.”
In a world first, around 2,000 New Zealand personal trainers are being given professional websites and business tools in a nationwide initiative using AI to strengthen the workforce behind the country’s fight against physical inactivity.
New Zealand Has An Inactivity Problem
More than half of New Zealand adults are not getting enough physical activity to meet recommended health guidelines. The latest New Zealand Health Survey found just 46.2% met the guidelines in 2024/25, while one in eight adults did less than 30 minutes of physical activity across an entire week.
But behind those numbers is another part of the equation: the people whose job it is to get New Zealanders moving.
From the 19th of August, around 2,000 personal trainers registered with the New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) will receive a professional website and digital business tools as part of their registration.
The nationwide initiative is a partnership between Exercise New Zealand, REPs and New Zealand-built technology platform fitweb. The rollout represents a $2 million investment in New Zealand’s exercise workforce, based on the standard retail value of the websites and business tools being provided to around 2,000 exercise professionals.
The aim is not simply to put more websites online. It is to help more exercise professionals become visible, find clients, build sustainable careers and continue doing the work New Zealand increasingly needs them to do.
Backing the People
fitweb founder Ben Mann has spent close to 15 years working across the exercise industry in New Zealand and internationally, from personal training through to senior industry leadership. He says that experience has shaped his view that exercise professionals have a much bigger role in public health than simply delivering a workout to someone who has already decided to exercise.
“For nearly 15 years, I’ve watched this industry change people’s lives, but I’ve also seen great exercise professionals leave because being good at helping people wasn’t enough to build a sustainable career.”
“Exercise professionals do more than support people who already exercise. They make movement feel possible for those who haven’t been active in years, helping them see there is a way to start that works for them. Sometimes, the right professional at the right moment is all someone needs to take that first step.”
For Mann, every exercise professional who builds a lasting career has an impact that extends well beyond their own client list.
“One trainer might work directly with 30 or 40 people, but their influence reaches much further than that. They talk about exercise every day. Their clients talk to their families. They share successes. They make movement visible in their communities. They normalise it.”
“If we want more New Zealanders exercising, we need more good people out there pushing that message, and we need them still standing when somebody is finally ready to listen.”
Front Line of Prevention
That workforce is particularly important as New Zealand looks for ways to prevent poor health before it requires treatment.
ExerciseNZ has this month released New Zealand’s first comprehensive White Paper focused on physical activity and prevention, highlighting that the country’s existing exercise industry remains overlooked and under-utilised as part of the health solution.
ExerciseNZ Chief Executive Richard Beddie says supporting the people delivering exercise in communities is a practical part of changing that.
“We spend a lot of time talking about the need to get New Zealand moving, but exercise professionals are some of the people who actually turn that ambition into action.”
“If we genuinely want physical activity to play a greater role in prevention, then we need a strong, visible and sustainable exercise workforce in communities throughout New Zealand.”
The Business Challenge Behind the Profession
The challenge is that many of those professionals are also small business owners. Alongside coaching clients, they need to market themselves, establish credibility, be found online, manage enquiries and generate enough business to make their career viable.
That is the problem we’re trying to address.
Each eligible REPs-registered personal trainer receives an editable, AI-assisted professional website, with search engine foundations, a lead inbox and mini-CRM, business income and expense tools, and other digital infrastructure intended to help them get found and turn enquiries into clients.
Using AI to Support Human Connection
Creating that infrastructure individually for around 2,000 small businesses would ordinarily be impractical. However, AI changes the economics of doing it at scale. For Mann, that is also why this is an AI story with a difference.
“While much of the conversation about AI focuses on what it might replace, we’re using it to support work that needs to remain deeply human. AI makes it possible to give thousands of exercise professionals access to business infrastructure that would otherwise be out of reach, but it can’t build trust, understand someone’s barriers, celebrate their progress or motivate them to keep going. That human connection is what we’re investing in.”
Mann says the project is personal because he has seen both sides of the industry’s opportunity: the extraordinary impact good exercise professionals can have, and how difficult it can be for those same people to establish themselves commercially.
“We already have exercise professionals across New Zealand who chose this career because they want to help people become healthier, and they have the skills and knowledge to genuinely change lives. It’s a missed opportunity if we lose those professionals because they can’t build a sustainable client base, while people in their communities are ready to become active but haven’t found the right support. The stronger our exercise workforce is, the more New Zealanders it can reach and help
become active.”
Turning Technology Into Community Impact
The initiative builds on ExerciseNZ’s wider work to increase the role physical activity plays in prevention and improve recognition of the exercise workforce.
Beddie says technology can help remove barriers, but the ultimate measure of success is what happens in communities.
“A website is simply a tool. What matters is helping more New Zealanders connect with qualified exercise professionals, supporting those professionals to build viable careers, and using technology to make those human connections happen more often.”
Invitations will begin rolling out to eligible REPs-registered personal trainer contractors from the 19th of August.