Wellness points aren't just for gift cards anymore: an engineer finds his first personal training session on HAOTIVA
Leo, a back-end engineer who works in Xinyi District, wanted to start lifting but was afraid of getting hurt by bad form. Starting from the idea of using corporate benefit points, he followed it all the way to the assessment process of a personal training class, its time slots and spots, and its cancellation rules.
・6 min read
The wellness points that go unused every year
Leo is 32 and works as a back-end engineer at a software company in Xinyi District, sitting for more than 10 hours a day. After his annual health checkup, he decided to start strength training, but he knew full well that if he learned squats from videos on his own, he was more likely to end up with lower back pain than with muscle. He needed someone to check his form first.
His company gives out benefit points every year, but they are mostly redeemable for gift vouchers and appliances. On HAOTIVA's business plans page he saw a different approach: the company allocates points, employees sign in from a company-specific entrance with their company account and choose their own stays, classes, spa treatments and healthy meals, while HR manages the roster, budget and reports in one back office. The page is clear, though: the business plan is still in preparation, what is open now is booking a plan briefing and a needs interview, and the company entrance, employee single sign-on, benefit points and HR back office are all planned features that will be introduced together with the first partner companies.
He forwarded the page to a colleague in HR. The business plan is still in preparation, but the direction alone got him thinking: if the benefit could be turned into a coaching session, how would he choose?
Starting from "Fitness & Wellness"
The Fitness & Wellness page opens with "Training, unwinding and sleeping well, all in one trip." On the right is "What would you like to take care of today?", with four entry points — nutrition, activity, challenges and routes — and a note that your food and activity records stay on your own device, and that in the app you can connect the Health app to bring in activity and sleep automatically.
Further down is "Spots left today": you can switch between today, tomorrow and the days after, and filter by venue. Each row shows the time, class name, venue, duration and how many spots are left, with the price and a "Book" button right beside it; two spots or fewer are highlighted in colour. These are sessions from partner venues that are already listed, so what Leo sees are classes that really have spots.
One-on-one personal training in Zhongshan: what to look for if you're new to lifting
He clicked into "Zhongshan, Taipei | One-on-one personal training trial session." The session's structure is laid out clearly: a 15-minute movement and posture assessment first, then 45 minutes of training based on your goals, and afterward you get a workout plan you can follow on your own. That was exactly what he wanted: not to be run into the ground for an hour, but to find out where his body is right now.
There are three plans: a single trial session for NT$1,600, NT$400 less than the regular price; a small group for two for NT$2,400, with two people in the same session; and a 5-class pack for NT$7,500, to be used within 90 days. Time slots are 07:00, 12:30, 19:00 and 20:30, and the two after-work sessions are a good fit for an engineer's schedule.
The "Intensity & who it's for" section lists the intensity as moderate (3/5, adjusted to your level); it's good for "First time lifting weights" and "Want someone to check your form"; and you should bring workout clothes, indoor training shoes and a water bottle. As for the trainer's background, it notes that this is as provided by the venue at listing. HAOTIVA requires fitness and wellness venues to state accurately on each class page: trainer experience, whether insurance is included, intensity level 1–5 and class size limits. Insurance is arranged by the venue; HAOTIVA doesn't insure on its behalf.
Payments and points: what works now, and what is still planned
The payment rules first: items marked "Demo" can't be booked or paid for, while partner venues that are already listed can be booked and paid for online. Corporate benefit points are a planned feature of the business plan and can't be used yet; Sunlight points are reward points, earning one point for every NT$100 spent, multiplied by a rate according to your member tier, and they can't be redeemed against a payment yet.
Free cancellation for this kind of class is up to 24 hours before use, and the restrictions state that no one is admitted more than 10 minutes after the class starts; if you are pregnant or have a recent injury or surgery, consult a doctor first and tell the venue. Leo planned to use "Ask the host" on the listing to leave a message first: "I strained my right shoulder before, but it doesn't hurt now," so the coach would pay extra attention during the assessment.
After the session: logging your training
The web version of "My Activity" is blunt about it: your workout log is recorded automatically on your iPhone. Steps, active minutes, workouts and sleep are all in Apple Health on the iPhone, and the HAOTIVA iOS app reads them and shows them on the phone; it only reads and never uploads, so the web version has none of these numbers and doesn't fill the page with demo data.
Once connected, the phone shows: this week's active minutes (compared with the WHO recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week), strength-training days (WHO recommends at least 2 a week), steps over the past 7 days, and your streak and the past 12 weeks. The streak gives you 1 grace week every 12 weeks, so missing a week doesn't reset it to zero. Leo planned to connect it once the app is on the App Store.
The Challenges page also has one that suits him well: "Keep training on business trips: 12 gym sessions", completed by doing 12 gym sessions in any city. You join challenges in the HAOTIVA app, which reads Health to calculate your progress automatically; progress is calculated only on the phone and is never uploaded. A day pass at Xinyi Boutique Fitness is NT$450, and you start with an InBody body-composition scan, after which a coach helps you read the numbers.
I didn't want a trainer who barks at me. I wanted someone who'd tell me up front where not to push it.
Your first personal training session: what to prepare
Leo put together his own checklist, which works for anyone new to strength training too:
- Write any old injuries, medications you're taking and how you've been sleeping lately in the booking notes, so the trainer has something to go on during the assessment.
- Choose a trial session that includes a "movement assessment"; it'll tell you more about whether it's a good fit than buying a multi-class pack right away.
- After-work sessions fill up easily, so check the remaining spots on the timetable before picking a date.
- Take a photo of the post-class workout plan and show it to your coach next time to compare progress.
What you can do now
HAOTIVA is currently adding partners one by one. Partners that are already listed can take bookings and payments online, while the classes, plans and prices in this article are items marked "Demo": they are for display only and can't be booked or paid for. The business plan is also still in preparation. Actual listing terms are as shown on each venue's own page.
If your company is also looking for a new use for benefit points, you can book a plan briefing on the business plans page; as an individual, you can take the quiz first and then browse the coaches and classes that are already listed on the "Partner venues" page and in "Spots left today".