About becoming a personal trainer

You can come in whenever you want to train clients, yes.

But I'm not going to come in just for half an hour here and there for less than twenty bucks. In any case she couldn't stay long enough for me to get her to sign something - so we might have made an appointment for (say) tomorrow, then she doesn't show. Only when something's written down and/or money's changed hands can you be sure they'll show - or sure enough to make it worth travelling for.

What I want is regular gym shifts, then I can train people before and after them, expand on that. For example if I did a gym shift (say) Mondays 1400-1800 and Fridays 1400-1800, I could PT on those days 1800-2100 (not that there's much PTing on Friday nights, but it's just an example). And I might even add in a Wednesday where I made myself available, and until I had lots of clients, just helped people out like a regular gym shift, thus making myself visible as useful and helpful.

But if I have no regular shifts at all I'm not going to come in on my own time, no.

It seems that most women who have quite a bit of cardio or sports stuff behind them have more strength than they realise. They built up a bit with all that elliptical or body combat stuff.

Kyle, it may pay to train there with your PT shirt on, or something identifying you as a trainer.

Its a good form of advertising.

Thanks Markos, good advice.

Good advice. A trainer at the gym i did some work experience at wore his own shirt when he came in to train.

Good to hear your stories Kyle. Little by little it sounds like you are making a difference, which is great.
Im meeting up with a potential employer on Thursday, so hopefully will be able to share some stories soon.

Keep up the good work.

Kyle,
Im sure you may have already metioned this, but do you pay for floor space?


I was at Jeff lams new gym (healthworks) and they charge their PT's $180p/w.

180 is quite good compared to 230-240 I have seen at Fitness First, Genesis and Fenix health clubs.

Kyle is employed by the gyms so he don't pay no rent.
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Thats good.

Im not looking to "pay rent" to anybody. Imagine been $180 down on a monday morning lol. What a great way to start the week.............

You guys obviously understand what the rent covers though.

At FF, they advertise heavily, bringing clients into the gym, allowing you to grow your business.

At a smaller gym like Jeffs, I'm not sure he carries out as much advertising nor has as many clients as a FF.

I could be wrong though.

Either way, $180 simply means the first 3 clients of the week are free, the rest are profit. If a gym attracts the kind of clients who use trainers, and your good at what you do, its not inconcievable that you could make a profit.

Limiting factors are the number of PT's. Its a very similar industry to courier drivers. They always have more on the road than they need, they care less how much the driver makes, as long as there is enough around to satisfy there clients

Jeffs gym is a franchise called health works.
Pretty much the same as FF, but a bit more geared towards the lifting side of things.

BUT

It also has an awsome powerlifting set up with proper platforms/chalk bowls/KB's/abc bars ect, for us to use out of the way of the "general public". Thats where Michael and I were training.

He has a SHITLOAD of buissiness. I waited like an hour for a chat with him because he was that flat out signing people up ect.


Also - what does your average FF PT chage? I was under the impression it was like $20-30. Must be a bit more than that hey?

Danco said:

Little by little it sounds like you are making a difference, which is great.

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We'll see. Today I spoke to some bros doing bench and biceps, and some cardio bunnies who refused to even consider lifting weights. You win some, you lose some.

Danco said:

Im meeting up with a potential employer on Thursday, so hopefully will be able to share some stories soon.

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Good luck!

Sticky said:

Im sure you may have already metioned this, but do you pay for floor space?

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No mate.

They give a base of gym instructor hours at $21-$25/hr. Any PT you do is at $31-$35/hr. The range is because it depends on the place. If you PT during your gym instructor hours, you just get that extra $10/hr - or basically $5-$6 per half hour session. If you PT outside those hours, you get that same $31-$35/hr, but of course it'll be extra.

What hours you wish to do outside your gym shifts is up to you. You could say, "I'm available all day all week," and this would get you a lot of clients... half an hour here or there. Unless you live next door to the gym this won't work well with any kind of lifestyle. So most people will just set aside certain times when they're available to PT. Less income, more sanity.

Around half the clients are just people asking for PT in general, and the manager assigns them to whoever's free at the times the client asks for, the other half are those the PTs get themselves.

Thanks kyle, that clears a bit up.

Do you know how many hours like a FF chain gives their PT's. Like garranteed hours..... 10?
Oh and if I did go that route, I have 4 or 5 gyms within 10mins of my place lol.

FF gives you zero guaranteed paid hours. You pay the rent, and on top of that they have you do the health consultations and programme showthroughs for new members, you'll have certain rostered hours for this. Meeting new members and showing them through a routine is your chance to establish a connection and sell yourself as a PT.

You pay zero rent in the first month, 1/3 in the second, 2/3 in the third, but... you have to pay $1,500 or so for this marketing/sales course they give you, and the "FF license fee."

Now you see why I've gone for a community gym. I pay no rent, am paid for my rostered hours, and I can still use the health consult and showthrough to make that connection or sale. On the other hand I get less money per session I train people in than I would in a FF or on my own.

So if you're a super-brilliant salesman and/or super-brilliant trainer, then somewhere like FF will be great for you, you can help heaps of people and rake the cash in. But if you were like that, you'd probably do very well officially self-employed, too - I hear stories that people have made a living training people from their garage. But in a FF or the like, there's so much competition, you're not going to learn much from other trainers.

If you're an ordinary new trainer just learning, somewhere like a community gym is the way to go. Not great money, but at least not losing money, and the opportunity to learn.

But that's just my view. Remember what I said earlier, PT should be like chef, hairdresser, etc, we should have an apprenticeship of a couple of years under more experienced people. Since we don't, I've arranged my own apprenticeship, with lots more experienced and qualified people around me, and a great diversity of clients to learn from.

Bad mood today. People refusing to lift weights does that to me.

*Cue Markos* - "Get used to it."

Scott, in the City, they charge upwards of $100.

As you move out to the burbs, it goes as low as $65.

As Kyle said, I wouldnt recommend anyone start up at a FF type and pay rent.

Kyles approach is no risk, with that the returns are lower, but you wont go broke, which is THE most important part.

Doing well at powerlifting will give you credibility, remember that.

One of the reasons I am going to all the effort of getting Max to the Worlds is it will look good on his resume, as do his National Records.

He is planning to be a S&C coach.

So no matter what bits of paper say, having walked the walk will count for plenty when it comes to getting a job. He is doing the S&C course later in the year. At this stage, I'm pretty sure he wont be doing the PT courses you did, we'll see what the future holds.

And while it shouldnt matter, but we know it does, his physique will greatly enhance his job options.

Lucky we dont pick AFL coaches on their football ability.

Does max want to work for a pro team Markos? If so he has about 6 years of uni for a top job ahead of him. They all want degrees and postgrad these days for a head S&C. He has a really great base going for him, he could go really far.
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PTC said:

Doing well at powerlifting will give you credibility, remember that.
Records.

He is planning to be a S&C coach.

So no matter what bits of paper say, having walked the walk will count for plenty when it comes to getting a job. He is doing the S&C course later in the year. At this stage, I'm pretty sure he wont be doing the PT courses you did, we'll see what the future holds.

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I agree 100% that having walked the walk will enhance our job prospects with certain, but not all, employers. I think it will also help to get clients.

As with Max, I don't want to be a "PT" as such. I want to do strength and conditioning. My plan is to pretty much have my own PTC. A bunch of strong, like minded lifters. This can't happen yet because:
-I don't have quite enough equiptment.
-I don't have enough experience to train people that have been strength training for a while.
-I have no insurance.

Unfortunatly, even with all the walking I'm going to be doing, its quite hard to do anything without "those bits of paper". Their is a S&C centre not far from my place thats looking for people now. I gve them a call, they needed the certs that I'm doing now. Is all for insurance. It sucks, but with out the quals, it does really limit, and make simple things more difficult.
Max is VERY lucky to have you, and of course your contacts. Im sure he will have no dramas getting a job.
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Sticky (sorry I forgot your real name) is taking the right approach for him. It never does you any harm to have bits of paper. And it's a truly atrocious course where you learn nothing. As readers of this thread will know, I didn't learn much at Holmesglen, but I did learn a lot at RMIT.

However Holmesglen exposed me to a wide range of, let's say, "unusual" people. This was good preparation for gym work, dealing with people I wouldn't normally choose to deal with, and being constructive and polite with them. This wasn't a lesson the place was trying to teach, but I learned it anyway.

Going to a face-to-face course - S&C, Cert III/IV, continuing education courses, etc - is also useful for getting to know lots of people in the industry. Because it's surprisingly small. People know each-other. You may find that when you go for a job, someone knows someone where you went to school, or in your last fitness job, and they call them for an "off the record" reference.

If you're friendly and have shown yourself to be competent, then people will recommend you to others. Remember, I got one of my jobs because my old teacher told me to call the place - the job wasn't advertised at all, as the only candidate and one recommended by a friend of a current employee, all I had to do was not be a complete numpty on the interview and prac session days.

It's also just nice to run into old classmates and teachers and colleagues now and then as you go across the industry, it makes the job more fun.

They call all that "networking", but I find that a bit managerial and it sounds cold and calculating - "what can this bastard do for me?" I'd rather we just called it "getting to know lots of people." Anyway, whatever we call it, it's another benefit of going on a course.

Obviously Max has got a different path to travel, I wouldn't presume to advise. I'm just speaking of the ordinary person like me or Sticky or Danco who's thinking about starting in the fitness industry, maybe as a career change.

Yep I'm doing a career change.
My goals are
- finish this ludicrous course
- get a job somewhere where i dont pay rent
- do my strength and conditioning course (lvl 1 and 2)
- move onto a strength and conditioning facility
- establish a name for myself
- open "RAW - strength and conditioning"

While all this is happening, im going to compete as much as i can, get trophies, certificate, hopefully even a few records, and most of all look good.
I'm allowing 5-10 years before my gym takes off as my full source of income, but it should be ready to open within 12months for private "PT" work.

Thats the plan anyway
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dave said:

Does max want to work for a pro team Markos? If so he has about 6 years of uni for a top job ahead of him. They all want degrees and postgrad these days for a head S&C. He has a really great base going for him, he could go really far.
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Thats not the case at all, I'd rather speak to you about it in person some day.

I know a top flite club employs a competetive bodybuilder as its S&C coach, hired because another friend of mine is the tackling coach (of about 6 NFL clubs, 2-3 AFL clubs and League clubs in England) of the same club and recommended him.

Neither have bits of paper. One has a dojo with elite fighters, the other is competing at the Mr Universe this year in England. Suprisingly, it is obvious he takes "supplements", and this obviously isnt an issue.

I have a funny story to tell about 2 such coaches that have lots of papers, work for an AFL club. I was discussing gym equipment for PTC with a shop owner, they were talking about computers to analyze force and crap like that. They wanted lifters standing on some screen so they could monitor forces during a squat.

The shop owner introduced us and he mentioned Max.

There jaws dropped when I mentioned the weights PTC clients were lifting.

Who gives a f u c k how much force the feet are producing on this screen during a squat, the 200kg on your back provides a better analyses in my opinion lol

You guys should understand that there is more than one way to skin a cat

Markos definitely has the right of it in this. There are lots of ways to go. In this thread, I've just presented the most obvious way, one that any interested person can do provided they're willing to work hard. Same with working out, really.

It also depends on what sort of people you want to work with. Someone who's wanting to work with professional football teams should not do a PT course as I have; what they should do I leave to people experienced in that area to say. I just want to work with ordinary slobs and help them to do extraordinary things. I'm happy to have a few genuine athletes scattered in there, but it's not the main thing I'm interested in. I think the approach I've taken - Cert III+IV, now community gym - is the way to go for that. I'm sure there are other ways, it's just the most obvious one.

It is getting more and more towards having the paper though 2$8,$ is both good and bad. Bad being using too much equipment when it is not needed, good for studies to gauge results more accurately but in the field it is a bit of a joke. Also a tackling coach is a bit different as they really like the ju-juitsu and judo experts in those fields.

My thoughts were more if Max wanted to be a head high performance manager or something similar. And clubs really love a post grad rehab background these days too. He will at least have the experience no one else has by the time he is 21 which is lacking in a lot of trainers out there. If he couple his experience with all the paperwork he could have a really good paying high performance job very early if he has the drive. Would have loved to have been in his position at his age.
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