Your Trainer Saw That: Devices Like Fitbit and Up24 Being Used by Gyms to Track Clients' Activity

Angela Harrigan, a personal trainer at Life Time Fitness, sees each client maybe two hours per week, but she knows exactly how much of the other 166 hours they’ve spent furthering — or undoing — their efforts.

With a glance at her phone, Ms. Harrigan can tell, among other things, who stayed up too late, who has hit the gym — and whose only steps have been to the office vending machine. That’s because like all trainers at Life Time, which has gyms in 24 states, Ms. Harrigan encourages clients to buy a wearable activity tracker (the gym began selling Fitbits in 2012), then accept her friend request, which allows her to monitor every move.

“She’ll text me and say, ‘So-and-so is ahead of you in steps; what’s up?’ ” said Zhanna Muchnik, who trains with Ms. Harrigan in Commerce, Mich., a Detroit suburb. “And if she can’t see what I’m doing, she’ll text me to sync it.”

Ms. Harrigan said, “I know if they’re keeping me from seeing the data, they’re probably up to no good.”

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Originally posted in The New York Times.