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About becoming a personal trainer
- Thread starter Kyle Aaron
- Start date
Rather than start a thread, I thought I would just add this in Kyles thread, seeing its about PT's.
One of my first clients has a problem. Most would say a weight problem, I say its a discipline problem. She has had about 4-5 starts at PTC, cant seem to stick to it. I'm sure she thinks her weight problem can be cured by exercise.
Anyway, a client that trains with me on Saturdays said he saw her training at a gym, being instructed by a female PT. She still has the weight problem. He watched her "train" for a while, and came to the conclusion that her PT needs a PT.
I have another boy who trains with me, he is becoming a good lifter, he has National and World records, but they ae not overly impressive, he knows that. A few months ago his cousin trained with us. He came out of the Stingrays program but got cut, very lazy according to his coach, who informed me he was going to be cut before he told the boy. The boy had atrocious form, taught by someone at Stingrays, never did squats, deadlifts or cleans, poor pressing technique, effectively he was worse than a novice because he had already formed really bad habits.
Anyway, he's now joining the Dolphins, so he was going to start at PTC again, now he cant because he just got a job..............
As a PT at Genesis gym, I kid you not.
One of my first clients has a problem. Most would say a weight problem, I say its a discipline problem. She has had about 4-5 starts at PTC, cant seem to stick to it. I'm sure she thinks her weight problem can be cured by exercise.
Anyway, a client that trains with me on Saturdays said he saw her training at a gym, being instructed by a female PT. She still has the weight problem. He watched her "train" for a while, and came to the conclusion that her PT needs a PT.
I have another boy who trains with me, he is becoming a good lifter, he has National and World records, but they ae not overly impressive, he knows that. A few months ago his cousin trained with us. He came out of the Stingrays program but got cut, very lazy according to his coach, who informed me he was going to be cut before he told the boy. The boy had atrocious form, taught by someone at Stingrays, never did squats, deadlifts or cleans, poor pressing technique, effectively he was worse than a novice because he had already formed really bad habits.
Anyway, he's now joining the Dolphins, so he was going to start at PTC again, now he cant because he just got a job..............
As a PT at Genesis gym, I kid you not.
Kyle Aaron
Active member
Genesis is like Fitness First, the PTs pay rent to hang around there, then they get a cut of whatever people pay the gym for PT sessions.
It's not being employed, it's being self-employed. They'll let anyone pay rent, if they were paying them a salary or hourly rate, I suspect they'd be fussier. Doesn't matter to management if everyone is useless and sees no progress, the trainers still pay rent, the members still pay their fees.
In general, I wouldn't advise people to go to gyms like that for training, still less to hire trainers from there. Go for a community gym, garage gym or athletic club. Those are places which focus on keeping members and helping at least some of them results. That means overall a more professional and competent staff.
It's not being employed, it's being self-employed. They'll let anyone pay rent, if they were paying them a salary or hourly rate, I suspect they'd be fussier. Doesn't matter to management if everyone is useless and sees no progress, the trainers still pay rent, the members still pay their fees.
In general, I wouldn't advise people to go to gyms like that for training, still less to hire trainers from there. Go for a community gym, garage gym or athletic club. Those are places which focus on keeping members and helping at least some of them results. That means overall a more professional and competent staff.
Damn straight it is. One of the reasons I try and simplify things, makes it easier to stick to as people get more frustrated with more complexity and just give up. I know every time I I've put on weight or lost strength is because I was undisciplined.
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Kyle Aaron
Active member
It's hard to say, I have to finish my (unofficial) apprenticeship first.
As I've said before, I'm most interested in and comfortable with unfit beginners. Couldn't be a specialty, though, it's 90% of the training and coaching market...
I do have a dream of having a teaching gym. It'd be like a teaching hospital, where there's still lots of normal hospital work going on, but they have a heap of young doctors learning, so it's cheaper than a normal hospital, the younger doctors are under the supervision of the experienced ones so nothing bad can happen... a teaching gym would have trainers learning while training people, offering cheap training.
That's just a dream, I have no concrete plans as yet. As I said, I have to finish my apprenticeship. Things may look different then - for example, in a couple of years we may have children, then I probably won't care as much about my career.
Currently I have 6 clients at one gym, 4 at the other (I had 6 but fired 2 of them), for 9 and 6 or a total of 15 sessions a week. This does not count my several private clients. By comparison, the top trainers at one gym have around 20 clients and are doing 30 sessions a week. So I've a way to go, but as I am at the end of my twelfth week of employment at each place, I am not doing badly by most standards. With trainers as with many things, the 80-20 rule applies, with 20% of the trainers at a gym doing 80% of the sessions. I'm aiming at being part of the 20% by March next year, with 12 clients at each gym, or 18 if I'm only working at one of them by then.
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Goosey
.
For a PT to be successful - having patience is a pre requisite I'd say.
Many people, PT's included often say weight training should be more fun, my standard answer to this is; is it fun or enjoyable to wash and polish your car?
Do you enjoy driving around in your car when it is clean and shiny?
Posted via Mobile Device
Many people, PT's included often say weight training should be more fun, my standard answer to this is; is it fun or enjoyable to wash and polish your car?
Do you enjoy driving around in your car when it is clean and shiny?
Posted via Mobile Device
Kyle Aaron
Active member
I say there's fun, then there's fulfillment.
Fun is "woohoo!" Fulfillment is, "That was good, I'm glad I did that."
Like the old-time strongmen said, you should feel better after your workout than you did before it. I don't try to make people's workouts fun when I PT, but I do try to make them fulfilling. If they feel muscles work they've not felt before, if they feel they're moving towards their goals, if they make lifts they've not made before, or times in a run - these are all fulfilling, they go away feeling good and want to come back.
Something like squatting and curling on an upturned bosu ball can be fun, but it's not very fulfilling. A simple bodyweight squat which you've not done for years, that's fulfilling. Putting half your bodyweight overhead, or deadlifting 100kg, that's fulfilling.
I agree that patience is key. I think a good trainer,
Fun is "woohoo!" Fulfillment is, "That was good, I'm glad I did that."
Like the old-time strongmen said, you should feel better after your workout than you did before it. I don't try to make people's workouts fun when I PT, but I do try to make them fulfilling. If they feel muscles work they've not felt before, if they feel they're moving towards their goals, if they make lifts they've not made before, or times in a run - these are all fulfilling, they go away feeling good and want to come back.
Something like squatting and curling on an upturned bosu ball can be fun, but it's not very fulfilling. A simple bodyweight squat which you've not done for years, that's fulfilling. Putting half your bodyweight overhead, or deadlifting 100kg, that's fulfilling.
I agree that patience is key. I think a good trainer,
- respects clients
- establishes rapport
- demonstrates competence to earn trust
- discovers and makes specific and measurable the client's goals
- is well-organised
- has patience
- teaches correct movement
Kyle Aaron
Active member
Currently I have 12 private PT clients, I am not trying to get more, I am trying to shuffle them to the gyms I work at, makes life easier for me, they won't go, though. Gaining clients at a community gym is a slow process. I am in my 13th week at the two different gyms. I have
Apparently confidence, just going up and saying hello to people, this is unusual. I don't find it difficult, I never thought of myself as a confident person, but there you go.
- 6 clients at one gym, and 4 clients at another,
- for a total of 10 clients and 16 sessions a week.
- 8 of these clients I got myself, 2 came from the centres themselves
- 5 former clients
- 2 I trained 2 times each and then fired because they were unreliable
- 1 I trained 4 times, she quit before she could be fired
- 1 I trained 1 time then she had medical issues,
- 1 signed up but never showed up once, he's now paid for 4 sessions, his money is still going to the centre so I guess you could call him a "client", the centre is very happy with him
Apparently confidence, just going up and saying hello to people, this is unusual. I don't find it difficult, I never thought of myself as a confident person, but there you go.
Kyle Aaron
Active member
Better that they swan around like celebrities than slump around the desk looking bored 
Kyle Aaron
Active member
That's what they get for working at a mainstream commercial gym.
Most who go there couldn't get actually employed, they should have taken that as a message to change careers. A minority will do very well indeed, these will start their own businesses soon.
Some of them will just be happy throwing away their money, like - on the client side - my guy who signed up a month ago and hasn't come to even one session, we keep telling him to reschedule the sessions or cancel his direct debit, he doesn't...
It's a strange industry.
Most who go there couldn't get actually employed, they should have taken that as a message to change careers. A minority will do very well indeed, these will start their own businesses soon.
Some of them will just be happy throwing away their money, like - on the client side - my guy who signed up a month ago and hasn't come to even one session, we keep telling him to reschedule the sessions or cancel his direct debit, he doesn't...
It's a strange industry.
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Can you expand on this?
Do you do at home sessions with these clients? Train them at a park, your own home gym?
Do they become clients via word of mouth or do you advertise your services outside of the gyms you work at?
Appreciate the constant updates.
Kyle Aaron
Active member
I train them at home in my garage with kettlebells, barbell and plates and dumbbells, chinup bar, gloves and pads, and the local park.
A few people I went to their place, but I stopped that since I found they were the least reliable and most demanding clients. They can come to me.
Since I was just talking about the gyms, I didn't mention that for those 12 private clients, I had to go through as many for 1-5 sessions, lots of flakey people out there. I could possibly have persuaded some of them to sort themselves out, but I have no patience for that.
It's just been word of mouth, I've not advertised at all. As I've said, I've been trying to build things up within the gyms I work at, this is better for a long-term career in terms of learning, building a reputation and so on. Plus I hate GST paperwork.
Word of mouth is very much a matter of luck, does the person like to talk to their friends and colleagues about their training or do they keep it to themselves, do their friends and colleagues have the right combination of money, time and interest in doing it, etc.
Again, I don't think the numbers are that remarkably good or bad, I report them just to give perspective to those thinking of becoming personal trainers, or those who've started their careers and want to know how they're going. Given full-time work in a gym or the equivalent across a couple of gyms, if you can average one new client each week then you are doing alright - remembering that perhaps 1 in 3 will be flakes and drop off or have medical issues or get new jobs or whatever and it'll stop their training, you don't just get (say) 24 in six months and then train those 24 for the next 5 years. I don't know the equivalent numbers for a mainstream commercial gym or PT studio or Bootcamp Studio or whatever, this applies to community gyms in suburban areas only - but that's a large chunk of the industry.
A few people I went to their place, but I stopped that since I found they were the least reliable and most demanding clients. They can come to me.
Since I was just talking about the gyms, I didn't mention that for those 12 private clients, I had to go through as many for 1-5 sessions, lots of flakey people out there. I could possibly have persuaded some of them to sort themselves out, but I have no patience for that.
It's just been word of mouth, I've not advertised at all. As I've said, I've been trying to build things up within the gyms I work at, this is better for a long-term career in terms of learning, building a reputation and so on. Plus I hate GST paperwork.
Word of mouth is very much a matter of luck, does the person like to talk to their friends and colleagues about their training or do they keep it to themselves, do their friends and colleagues have the right combination of money, time and interest in doing it, etc.
Again, I don't think the numbers are that remarkably good or bad, I report them just to give perspective to those thinking of becoming personal trainers, or those who've started their careers and want to know how they're going. Given full-time work in a gym or the equivalent across a couple of gyms, if you can average one new client each week then you are doing alright - remembering that perhaps 1 in 3 will be flakes and drop off or have medical issues or get new jobs or whatever and it'll stop their training, you don't just get (say) 24 in six months and then train those 24 for the next 5 years. I don't know the equivalent numbers for a mainstream commercial gym or PT studio or Bootcamp Studio or whatever, this applies to community gyms in suburban areas only - but that's a large chunk of the industry.
Rottee
New member
Hi Kyle
How are you??
Id like to see if you can help me with some info Im trying to find out.
First of all Im from the UK Im soon to qualify as an advanced personal trainer and Im interested to find out as much as I can about PT jobs out there in Australia as Im interested in maybe moving out there in the future.
Im also going to go on and study further when I finish in december so not only will I have the Advanced personal trainer qualification I will also specialise in a subject around that not sure what yet as I have a few ideas.
If your interested abit about myself Im a 32 year old male and have been into sports most my life but started bodybuilding a couple of years ago. I live for the gym and it comes before everything else aswell as my passion for the gym Im interested in the nutrition side of bodybuilding as much as the training.
Any help would be much appreciated.
How are you??
Id like to see if you can help me with some info Im trying to find out.
First of all Im from the UK Im soon to qualify as an advanced personal trainer and Im interested to find out as much as I can about PT jobs out there in Australia as Im interested in maybe moving out there in the future.
Im also going to go on and study further when I finish in december so not only will I have the Advanced personal trainer qualification I will also specialise in a subject around that not sure what yet as I have a few ideas.
If your interested abit about myself Im a 32 year old male and have been into sports most my life but started bodybuilding a couple of years ago. I live for the gym and it comes before everything else aswell as my passion for the gym Im interested in the nutrition side of bodybuilding as much as the training.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Kyle Aaron
Active member
What do you want to know, mate?
UK certs are recognised here. As for getting a job, if you are qualified and demonstrate communication skills and knowledge during your interview, they give you the job.
Whatever you want to know you should be able to figure out from reading the thread. If that's too much work for you, you'll certainly not be able to handle all the nonsense to do with getting permanent residency here...
UK certs are recognised here. As for getting a job, if you are qualified and demonstrate communication skills and knowledge during your interview, they give you the job.
Whatever you want to know you should be able to figure out from reading the thread. If that's too much work for you, you'll certainly not be able to handle all the nonsense to do with getting permanent residency here...
IRON TANKS
Site Advertiser
I was a member there mate - are you still there? That place disgusted me. You're 100% right.