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Personal Trainer Salary- In gym

W

wabn04

New member
I was wondering the average salary/hr. of someone who works in a gym.. I do not want to be an independent contracter as of yet, and am wondering if I can make around 20/hr. by working through a gym and what that includes.. what if I train a client for an hour, then don't have a client for another hour, then a client, etc. do I still get paid the 20/hr or is it lower because I don't have a client if I am still on the clock? Thanks :)
 
you get paid for the sessions you train and it can be around $15-20, depending on experience. if your schedule is not back to back, then your dead hours are unpaid. some gyms will have floor time which you do evaluations etc but thats min wage for the most part. if you don't want to go independent, thats what you are looking at.
 
I get $45.00 per hour ... the gym gets $15.00 so in total customer pays $60.00

If you think thats too rich .... well i have a 3 week waiting list of people who want my time . Supply VS demand so it depends where you live as to what you can get away with as far as a fee
 
i was going to say 15 - 20 dollar an hour!! are you kidding, please tell me no one stoops that low to work for such a low wage...

when i was doing data entry jobs i got paid more than that!
 
boxerjake said:
I get $45.00 per hour ... the gym gets $15.00 so in total customer pays $60.00

If you think thats too rich .... well i have a 3 week waiting list of people who want my time . Supply VS demand so it depends where you live as to what you can get away with as far as a fee
Click to expand...

are you at a corporate gym or an independent contractor and pay by the session?
 
Personal trainers are for people too lazy to look things up.

Good thing that there are many of those people.

Over here a PT gets depending on his/her (let's not be sixist) rank. If you want a more experienced trainer, you pay more.

P.S. you should see how trainers show off to each other, it's horrable.
 
Supercharge said:
Personal trainers are for people too lazy to look things up.

Good thing that there are many of those people.

Over here a PT gets depending on his/her (let's not be sixist) rank. If you want a more experienced trainer, you pay more.

P.S. you should see how trainers show off to each other, it's horrable.
Click to expand...

LOL.

i guess people could look up how to change their alternator.

i guess people could look up how to take a throat culture.

i guess people could look up how to make a souffle.

i guess people could look up how to do anything really.....

people pay for what they want to have a specialist learn and apply to their unique situation....thats why its a personal trainer and not a workout generator.
 
I do ok, but I know I could be booked if i wanted it. (was before) i burn out pretty easily though.

plus, its the tradeoff for wanting 2 careers. one to sustain and one to flourish.
 
at 24 hour it works like this

$7 flat rate every hour

now each session you get paid a certain percentage based on the number of certs you have.
If you have one cert you get paid like 7%, two certs like 10% etcc and thats of the total package you sell the client.
 
The only reason doctors make that money is because the work 60-80hrs a week.
No one questions how do they make life or death decisions when they havent' slept for many hours.
So how being half asleep while spotting a bench worst than deciding how much drugs to recommend.
 
Neo22 said:
at 24 hour it works like this

$7 flat rate every hour

now each session you get paid a certain percentage based on the number of certs you have.
If you have one cert you get paid like 7%, two certs like 10% etcc and thats of the total package you sell the client.
Click to expand...

I'm shocked they have anyone working for them at those pay rates. :worried:
Can't you make more making fries at McD's
 
Supercharge said:
Personal trainers are for people too lazy to look things up.

Good thing that there are many of those people.

Over here a PT gets depending on his/her (let's not be sixist) rank. If you want a more experienced trainer, you pay more.

P.S. you should see how trainers show off to each other, it's horrable.
Click to expand...

I would like to speak out for those so called LAZY people....I am 35 and never had to work out a day in my life...I joined the gym recently and decided to take avantage of the personal trainer get me started, mainly to show me the right equipment to use for me and the correct way to use them. Now I have also done my own research on the internet for eating more heathly to. It can be very intemidating for people like me who hasn't been in a gym and to just jump on a machine. How could you even call someone lazy for getting a personal trainer when it isn't them doing the work for us...I consider him there for guidance. Before I started to use him I worked out several times and never really got sore. But after my 1st session I knew I did the right thing...I hurt but that told me it was working. Give your so called lazy people credit for at least getting in the door. For me that was the hardest part of all.
 
I use a personal trainer to learn proper technique, diet managment, goal assesment, and for accountability. I am not "lazy" LOL....supercharge is a fool for insulting the people who pay his bills. Don't bite the hand that feeds you dumb ass.

Thanks to the passionate personal trainer that educates his client, and has a genuine interest in seeing client results.
 
Whoever said that using a personal trainer is for lazy people is either not a personal trainer or not a very good one.

There is a lot that goes into being a good personal trainer, a lot.

When I was working at the last gym, I was being paid about $20 an hour and I didn't know my ass from a hole in the wall, but I looked like a personal trainer.

I decided to start studying, and the next thing I know I can blow doctors minds with some of the stuff I know.

I will be charging $30 an hour to any gym that I work at, and $50-75 an hour for my personal clients very shortly here. There is something to be said about a trainer that knows enough not to overload the body with the wrong stuff (I am referring to everything from nutrition to mechanical stress).

Client want tid bits of information that they can USE, and put into Practice. Immediately.

resistance Training.
Posture, assess their posture, then in a gentle way explain it to them, then show them how to correct it, FIRST by showing them the muscles with an anatomical picture, then with exercises.

Explain breathing patterns, and blood pressure responses. (explain what blood pressure means if you have to)

Cardiovascular, explain what it means to lower your resting heart rate, and how that reduces the stress put on the heart. Then, once they understand that a lower heart rate at any given amount of workload is good, then explain to them how metabolism works at the different levels of workload, explain to them how to figure out their target heart rate (If you are worth a shit as a trainer you won't use the % of heart rate max method, you will use the VO2R or HRR method)... Explaining that a lower resting heart rate, and lower overall heart rate changes your metabolism so that you have to go off how much reserve ability you have...

Moving onto nutrition, the most important thing is not avoiding carbs or taking protein, it is learning about the different types of fats, and how they affect you, then learning about blood sugar control (even in a healthy kid it is important to start controlling cholesterol and blood sugar so they dont end up a sick adult, we aren't suppose to have to take prescritpions for metabolic shit at the young age of 60)

A good personal trainer finds out about physically active hobbies, interest that might be incorporated into the training program to keep their interest...

So, my point is, some trainers are worth $100 plus an hour, and some are only worth minimum wage... Depends on what you can contribute to your clients life.
 
Hi,
Your salary will depend on several factors. You've determined that you want to work in a health club setting initially, so that is a start. The next set of variables are your geographic location and your education/certification level.

Some of what is posted above is true as far as the beginning stages of working as a Personal Trainer not earning you very much money. However, you have to go into with the mindset that you will soon be the most sought after Personal Trainer at your location.

It is a fun and lucrative career for those who keep an open mind and are willing to learn not only new exercise techniques, but also communication, sales, program design, marketing, etc.

It is possible.

Good luck with your fitness search,
Boh

David I. Bohmiller, BS, NSCA-CSCS, NASM-CPT
http://www.my-personal-trainer-school.com
 
Tomer said:
i was going to say 15 - 20 dollar an hour!! are you kidding, please tell me no one stoops that low to work for such a low wage...

when i was doing data entry jobs i got paid more than that!
Click to expand...


Your out of touch with reality if you think its "stooping low" to work for 15-20 an hour! Im not saying thats alot of money, but being conservative I would say 75% of the working population make that rate or less!
If you were paid that much doing data entry you were paid extremely well. I know thats much more than our data entry folks get paid....they are closer to the 8-9 an hour range! And of course maybe it depends on where you live.

Anways..not trying to hijack your thread
 
Neo22 said:
at 24 hour it works like this

$7 flat rate every hour

now each session you get paid a certain percentage based on the number of certs you have.
If you have one cert you get paid like 7%, two certs like 10% etcc and thats of the total package you sell the client.
Click to expand...
actually its 7 an hour PLUS the 7,12,16, or 24 percent of what it costs per session

so 7 percent of say 60 bucks + your 7 an hour..

and its 20% of what you sell..

if your any good you pull in 4500-5 grand a month.. workin 35-40
a week.. wearing shorts at your job.. and lookin at hot girls in small clothes..
 
I'm not sure where the other people on this thread are training, but is very possible to make training a full time job. You need to be knowledgeable, interested in your clients, and know how to sell yourself.

Making $5000 a month as an independant trainer requires 71 session hours over the course of a month at $70/hr (pretty much the market rate for basic personal training). That means about 18 session hours per week. Now, the clients you want to keep will want to train 2-3 times a week. So this means you need to find between 6 and 9 clients that are serious. It takes time to weed through the non-serious people.

It is not true that people who are too lazy or too unmotivated go for training. There are plenty of motivated and driven people who want training because they don't have time to learn anatomy, physiology, exercise science, etc. Not everyone is a kineseology major, bodybuilder, etc. The three major types of clients are: older/deconditioned/preexisting medical conditions (by far the greatest percent of your business), sports performance athletes, and bodybuilders (the smallest percent of your business unless you're a nationally ranked bodybuilder).

Its all about what you put into it. At the top gyms its easy to sell $10,000 to $20,000 per month for established trainers (i.e. 2+ years at the same gym). A 20% commission means that based on sales you get $2,000 to $4,000 per month. Then you have the sessions you service. If you sell that much then you are probably servicing about 30 to 40 sessions per week. An established trainer will make about $20 to $30 per hour. Therefore that's another $600 to $1,200 per week. That equates to another $2400 to $4800 per month. All total that means about $4400 to $8800 per month.

The startup is brutal though. Expect to go about a month or two before the first sale. Expect to go a couple weeks before you build up 20 session hours per week.

Bottom line is you need to be interested in your clients. If you want to work with bodybuilders then don't pick up older/deconditioned clients. If you want to work with older/deconditioned clients then don't pick up sports performance athletes. If you want to work with all three (pretty damn difficult to do well for each group) then the sky is the limit.
 
Gymgurl said:
Funny how people think you make the big bucks being a trainer.....NOT
Click to expand...

Wait, wait . . . you guys aren't making $12 gazillion dollars a year like one of my client thinks??

Gee whiz, (almost) glad to see I'm not the only one.

How he extrapolated $80/hr to $12 gazillion/year . . . the math didn't quite work for me.

At least as a private contractor I can set my hours and my rates unlike my time at the gym. While in graduate school I worked at the University gym and made my *best* (snicker, snicker) pay ever. Just guess how much MAD CASH I pulled in....

$12.15/hr

And I was one of the highest paid instructor/trainers. OUCH! That what it looks like when there are too many undergrads willing to turn tricks for a buck fifty. :rolleyes:

Good thing that MBA was worth more than the cash I made as a trainer.

For the folks doing the math (Independent, not in gym):
$80/session with up to 5 sessions/day (part timer)
Marketing costs run 40% of that in start up months (first 6-12 months as independent)
Stabilized marketing costs are closer to 20%, anything less and you have to kickstart the marketing engine after 3-4 months with about 40% for 1-2 months - painful.
Taxes 15%
When I use a gym (for a specific piece of equipment) rental fee: $10/session

Good thing I have a day job too. The extra cash is nice and I could go full time, but I like the variety of hot pants in the morning, hot dress during the day. But then again, I am a female who trains semi-competitive male athletes - there's only so much of that I can handle each day! But sure is a nice way to start the morning.

Better than coffee! :qt:
 
This is a topic of great interest to me, since I just got certified this week with NASM and have been interviewing at gyms in my area all week. Every where I have gone seems to have the same pattern. As a new trainer your goal is to get familiar with the clients of the gym and do introductory sessions at no cost. You may or may not get paid for these sessions as a trainer and your goal is to try to sign the client up for additional personal training after the free sessions. You make commission off of these sales (as high as 40%) to start off with and continue to build up a client base doing this. A gym I went to the other day had a $7/hr rate while you are building up your base before you start making commissions.

There is an interesting amount of negativity going on in this thread that really confuses me, it seems like some people are convinced you can't make money as a trainer. Well, you can't make money doing anything with a poor attitude about it. I know people who make tons of money doing the most unorthodox isht but they have a good attitude and know their strengths and play to those strengths. As personal trainers we have knowledge that is geared towards helping the general public get healthier, look better, live longer, and have a more fun life. In my eyes that is a product that sells itself if you go about it the right way.

Anyway, as my job search continues I will keep everyone posted about how the cheddar is flowing.

J
B.S.; Exercise and Sports Science
NASM - CPT
 
ksharp01 said:
I would like to speak out for those so called LAZY people....I am 35 and never had to work out a day in my life...I joined the gym recently and decided to take avantage of the personal trainer get me started, mainly to show me the right equipment to use for me and the correct way to use them. Now I have also done my own research on the internet for eating more heathly to. It can be very intemidating for people like me who hasn't been in a gym and to just jump on a machine. How could you even call someone lazy for getting a personal trainer when it isn't them doing the work for us...I consider him there for guidance. Before I started to use him I worked out several times and never really got sore. But after my 1st session I knew I did the right thing...I hurt but that told me it was working. Give your so called lazy people credit for at least getting in the door. For me that was the hardest part of all.
Click to expand...

you tell him girl!!
 
i do it cause i really love it when people reach their goals. when they actually see results. the guys at my gym are all wanting me to put them on my mass routine, and the women want me to get them fit and looking like fitness models. wonder what all the fuss is about?? just a couple of good clients, who got results, and guess what- run their mouth. that's the best form of advertisement. if you met my training partner, you'd swear he had a thing for me. he's one of my best sellers, talks me up to everyone he talks to. but i've added 15 lbs of lean mass to his frame in the last 4 months(naturally), and now i'm about to drop his bodyfat to about 9 or 10 % so he can have his beach bod.

i definitely don't do it for the money- i make more than twice what i make hourly training on my day job(IT), and could make a whole lot more doing side IT work, or residential remodeling.

bsdgeek
NSCA -CPT
 
mundizzle said:
This is a topic of great interest to me, since I just got certified this week with NASM and have been interviewing at gyms in my area all week. Every where I have gone seems to have the same pattern. As a new trainer your goal is to get familiar with the clients of the gym and do introductory sessions at no cost. You may or may not get paid for these sessions as a trainer and your goal is to try to sign the client up for additional personal training after the free sessions. You make commission off of these sales (as high as 40%) to start off with and continue to build up a client base doing this. A gym I went to the other day had a $7/hr rate while you are building up your base before you start making commissions.

There is an interesting amount of negativity going on in this thread that really confuses me, it seems like some people are convinced you can't make money as a trainer. Well, you can't make money doing anything with a poor attitude about it. I know people who make tons of money doing the most unorthodox isht but they have a good attitude and know their strengths and play to those strengths. As personal trainers we have knowledge that is geared towards helping the general public get healthier, look better, live longer, and have a more fun life. In my eyes that is a product that sells itself if you go about it the right way.

Anyway, as my job search continues I will keep everyone posted about how the cheddar is flowing.

J
B.S.; Exercise and Sports Science
NASM - CPT
Click to expand...



So J, how's the cheddar flowin' ?
:qt:
 
bignate73 said:
LOL.

i guess people could look up how to change their alternator.

i guess people could look up how to take a throat culture.

i guess people could look up how to make a souffle.

i guess people could look up how to do anything really.....

people pay for what they want to have a specialist learn and apply to their unique situation....thats why its a personal trainer and not a workout generator.
Click to expand...


People pay because they are lazy - but we all pay for the things we do not know how to do ourselves. PERIOD.
 
...on a side note, i know personal trainers who make 75 - $100.00 an hour / on there own not in a club...
If you get the right client base and you're motivated....you can make really good money, but it won't come over night, and may take years to establish such a client base. IMO
 
Depends on where you work, what your experience is, and how many certifications you have. Many gyms offer you more money for more certifications. Some gyms allow you to set your own rate.

I made a percentage where I worked before coming back to school, and made around 30-35/hr when I was even just starting out.

Personal training is about business. Supply and demand, and demographics, etc. are all very important. The better your business skills are, the more economically successful you will be as a personal trainer.
 
I charge $125/hour, wil go down to $100 for long term commits and will charge a substantial discount for MIL or LEO, it's just the right thing to do.

That said, I manage fitness depts for 9 of our corporate gyms in our area, and the money although not stellar is livable, considerably better than what most of this thread paints. I have a few trainers in our region that regularly have five day weeks with 8 clients a day at $90+/hour... they only get 45% of that, but it still works out to $80k+/year for training alone.... again, not a mountain of money but you do what you LOVE, you do something that literally saves some of your clients lives, you have no moral or ethical black hole as your profession is all good, no tobacco company karma here.

Now, take that company % away and you have some real money, but you need to play the whole 'self insured, rent n' infrastructure' game and deal with all your marketing.. hard stuff, no doubt.

Ps: i am looking for trainers, in case you live in the DC/NOVA area... :)
 
calimuscle said:
I'm not sure where the other people on this thread are training, but is very possible to make training a full time job. You need to be knowledgeable, interested in your clients, and know how to sell yourself.

Making $5000 a month as an independant trainer requires 71 session hours over the course of a month at $70/hr (pretty much the market rate for basic personal training). That means about 18 session hours per week. Now, the clients you want to keep will want to train 2-3 times a week. So this means you need to find between 6 and 9 clients that are serious. It takes time to weed through the non-serious people.
Click to expand...

Yup, exactly -

People go to their chiropractors at most once a month, nutritionists at most once every three months, and there doctor and dentist as little as possible!

Considering this, these other professionals need a huge number of clients to stay viable. They have to go to extraordinary lengths to gain qualifications to set them apart from their competitors. And managed health-care has robbed most health professions of their high earnings.

But Training is completely different. People see their trainers a minimum of twice, usually three times, and as many as four or five times a week. When you consider this, you only need a float of about a dozen steady clients to have a viable, thriving training practice.
 
cjWaid said:
Whoever said that using a personal trainer is for lazy people is either not a personal trainer or not a very good one.

There is a lot that goes into being a good personal trainer, a lot.

When I was working at the last gym, I was being paid about $20 an hour and I didn't know my ass from a hole in the wall, but I looked like a personal trainer.

I decided to start studying, and the next thing I know I can blow doctors minds with some of the stuff I know.

I will be charging $30 an hour to any gym that I work at, and $50-75 an hour for my personal clients very shortly here. There is something to be said about a trainer that knows enough not to overload the body with the wrong stuff (I am referring to everything from nutrition to mechanical stress).

Client want tid bits of information that they can USE, and put into Practice. Immediately.

resistance Training.
Posture, assess their posture, then in a gentle way explain it to them, then show them how to correct it, FIRST by showing them the muscles with an anatomical picture, then with exercises.

Explain breathing patterns, and blood pressure responses. (explain what blood pressure means if you have to)

Cardiovascular, explain what it means to lower your resting heart rate, and how that reduces the stress put on the heart. Then, once they understand that a lower heart rate at any given amount of workload is good, then explain to them how metabolism works at the different levels of workload, explain to them how to figure out their target heart rate (If you are worth a shit as a trainer you won't use the % of heart rate max method, you will use the VO2R or HRR method)... Explaining that a lower resting heart rate, and lower overall heart rate changes your metabolism so that you have to go off how much reserve ability you have...

Moving onto nutrition, the most important thing is not avoiding carbs or taking protein, it is learning about the different types of fats, and how they affect you, then learning about blood sugar control (even in a healthy kid it is important to start controlling cholesterol and blood sugar so they dont end up a sick adult, we aren't suppose to have to take prescritpions for metabolic shit at the young age of 60)

A good personal trainer finds out about physically active hobbies, interest that might be incorporated into the training program to keep their interest...

So, my point is, some trainers are worth $100 plus an hour, and some are only worth minimum wage... Depends on what you can contribute to your clients life.
Click to expand...


I totally agree with you guys...he's just being ignorant. IF he knew any better he would know that more than half the population of pretty much any country is overweight...well in the u.s.a anyway...never mind the
% of people whom are obese ! Clients are out there, you just have to set yourself apart from everyone and rise to the top...if it was easy everyone would do it..
 
PerfectForm1 said:
I totally agree with you guys...he's just being ignorant. IF he knew any better he would know that more than half the population of pretty much any country is overweight...well in the u.s.a anyway...never mind the
% of people whom are obese ! Clients are out there, you just have to set yourself apart from everyone and rise to the top...if it was easy everyone would do it..
Click to expand...

Yeah, and not just with training, but beyond - they say the health/wellness/fitness industry is the next TRILLION dollar industry - the sky's the limit with this thing -
 
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