About becoming a personal trainer

[CaT_SPeW]

good point moons. time is money, although im in a completely different industry if enough of my time is wasted an invoice is issued to the party at fault

 

[Kyle Aaron]

How do you handle sessions where the client does not show up?

Do you still charge the client? Do you charge unless x amount of notice is given? Legit excuse needed?

I've thought about this off and on for a while.

I'm employed by gyms, so it depends on their policy.

One gym is entirely pay as you go. The client pays at reception, gets a receipt, presents me with the receipt, we do the session, I staple the receipt to my timesheet when claiming my PT pay. No receipt, no pay. So if the person fails to show, I don't get paid.

In theory, if they fail to give 24 hours' notice of their absence, they must pay anyway; the policy is that until they do, they can have no further sessions. In practice, this means that if a person is a little bit slack they will become completely slack; if they miss one session, we never see them again.

My policy has been that if they're unreliable, I refuse to train them again. Thus 5 fired clients.

The other gym offers pay as you go, but also offers direct debit PT memberships. That is, the person nominates that they'll do (for example) 4 sessions per fortnight, and the money goes out of their account whether they show up or not. Thus if they simply fail to show up, the trainer can get paid anyway.

So you can see I would be more tolerant of slack people at the first gym than the second.

In practice, it's up to the discretion of the trainer. If the person is usually reliable, and if they gave you as much notice as you could reasonably expect, you don't charge them.

For example, one guy called me half an hour before the session started at 1300 to say his car had a flat battery. With 75 or so sessions behind him, I trusted he wasn't bullshitting me, so I didn't charge him for it.

But then I was training a couple, supposed to meet them 0600 Monday morning for their 4th session, and one of the two sent me a text message at 0531 saying, "the other one rang me last night to say they were sick, we won't come today." If they were sick last night, why not tell me then? Just because one is sick, that does not stop the other coming. And messaging at 0531 when I'm already on my way to work... No. They got charged.

Another statistic is that 8 of the 27 clients were direct debit, 19 were pay-as-you-go or one-offs or vouchers. 7 of the 8 direct debits are still with me, and the 1 who isn't had not even one session, never showed up. Only 4 of the 19 pay-as-you-go or voucher clients remain. When people have to take action to do something, they tend not to take action. Cancelling a direct debit requires action, so they continue with what they're doing; paying for each session requires an action, so they may or may not continue with it.

Although by the sounds of it you don't do them I'd like to add:
Group sessions are where the money is at

Remember I'm employed by gyms. Whatever the gym is paid, I get a particular hourly rate. One gym pays the same however many people I train at once. The other pays an extra $6 an hour for multiples. Employed by gyms, group training isn't much of a money-maker.

 

[The Hamburgler]

I thought that might have been the case for you.

I know of a few people doing outdoor sessions in and around the CBD and they're earning a days pay in an hour or 2 of actually training people.

Do the math - 10 people @ $20 (for example) = $200.
And cones, skipping ropes etc are pretty cheap compared to power racks, gym fees etc etc

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Sure. But can you do it 5 days a week? What about GST? And permits from the council for using public parks? Insurance? And where do you get the clients, so how much does advertising cost or do you work for a larger company and have to kick some money back to them? And will you still have 10 people show up on rainy days? etc.

There are definitely advantages to running your own business, or being a franchisee. For most, money isn't one of them. Autonomy is the advantage, being able to do your own thing.

Bear in mind that most PTs will exaggerate their success, or at least lie by omission, implying they've more clients than they have, or not talk about numbers. There are many PTs with 0-3 clients. A while back on the industry forum I posted my numbers and asked others if they seemed good, nobody answered. Everyone's scared their numbers are heaps lower than everyone else.

 

[Bazza20]

Some great info here Kyle. I've got a cousin just out of school who wants to be a PT. He told me he worked out he would be earning $130,000 a year. I told him he was being very optimistic.

 

[The Hamburgler]

Sure. But can you do it 5 days a week? What about GST? And permits from the council for using public parks? Insurance? And where do you get the clients, so how much does advertising cost or do you work for a larger company and have to kick some money back to them? And will you still have 10 people show up on rainy days? etc.

There are definitely advantages to running your own business, or being a franchisee. For most, money isn't one of them. Autonomy is the advantage, being able to do your own thing.

Bear in mind that most PTs will exaggerate their success, or at least lie by omission, implying they've more clients than they have, or not talk about numbers. There are many PTs with 0-3 clients. A while back on the industry forum I posted my numbers and asked others if they seemed good, nobody answered. Everyone's scared their numbers are heaps lower than everyone else.

Idunno I see him there most mornings (I don't drive past the park every day), even in winter, and often with at least 15 people.

Obviously insurance is a factor but from memory it isn't all that much (few hundred a year).

btw I don't actually know this dude. Just kinda did the math going off how many clients he has at his sessions, and that he's never there when I'm getting morning smoko

 

[Kyle Aaron]

I've got a cousin just out of school who wants to be a PT. He told me he worked out he would be earning $130,000 a year. I told him he was being very optimistic.

"Tell him he's dreaming."​

He is probably just taking some hourly session fee and multiplying it by 40 hours a week.

For example, $60/hr x 8 hours a day x 5 days a week x 48 weeks a year = $115,200. But consider the 8 hours, when will people train? Well, if a person does 1-2 hours a week of PT, that's $60-$120 a week. Who can afford that? Professionals with desk jobs, doctors, etc.

Those people go to work at 0830 at the latest, so they need to be out of the gym by 0800. Realistically they're not getting up before 0500, so you have at best 0530-0800 to train them - 2.5hr a day.

You can train them after their workout from 1700-2100, but the most financially successful professionals tend to leave work late, they'll have a lot of missed sessions. Even if they get out at 1700, well they'll want dinner at home. And who's going to work out immediately after dinner? So over the 1700-2100 period you might get 2hr PT sessions.

Thus at best 4.5hr a day of sessions. Realistically of every 6 people you train in a day, 1 will cancel with or without notice, and 1 will want to reschedule for some reason. So in practice the 4.5hr work becomes 3.5 or 4hr, you have to schedule 5hr to be sure to get 4hr.

Of course there exists scope for training people during the day, stay at home parents, self-employed people, retirees and the occasional cashed-up student, but that's a smaller market than the professionals. And it'll be spread over the day, not in blocks like the morning and evening crowd.

So your 8hr day just got halved, and what's more it's split between early morning and evenings. To the gym in the morning, back in the evening. Want the daytime crowd? Congratulations, you're at the gym 10-16 hours a day for the sake of 6 hours of work.

The more realistic 4.5hr a day 5 days a week, or 22.5hr, for me at 1.5 x30 minute sessions per person would represent 30 different clients. Let's say our friend the more successful trainer gets them doing more sessions, 2 each a week, but still has to account for the occasional no-show - that's still 24 or so clients.

I can tell you that even with 12-15 clients, it becomes difficult to give everyone a good and personalised service. 4 sessions in a row is about the limit. With 24 or so, the accounts given by other trainers are that they start to blur together and people are getting the same workouts regardless of capabilities and goals, which means some of those 24 will get annoyed and leave.

The real money isn't in training people, it's in managing others to train people, selling franchises, or teaching others to train people.

 

[The Hamburgler]

Unless you're good/arrogant enough to charge $200 an hour and get away with it lol

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Unless you're good/arrogant enough to charge $200 an hour and get away with it lol

Sure. But no-one's going to do that in their first year. They'll have to put in the hard yards with crappier hours and ordinary pay until they get their reputation up.

 

[leachy]

I signed a bloke up for a phone today who told me he just finished his PT course in 10 weeks and is now qualified. He has a few job offers lined up. I mentioned to him about some of the useless personal trainers who use boso balls and get clients doing 2kg dumbell curls.

He stared at me blankly. Oh well. He will do well because he was pretty big and ripped, so his appearance will be an advantage.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

From what I have seen, provided they are outgoing, the good-looking but clueless ones get a lot of clients... but don't keep them.

I'd rather have (say) 8 reliable clients for months than a different 12 clients every month. It'd do my head in.

If he has "a few" job offers lined up at this time of year, they are probably not job offers, but options to rent space at Genesis or Fitness First, etc. Either he'll learn or he'll quit the industry 12 months from now with a large debt. He won't be the first.

 

[paxton999]

Kyle I've got a client who wants to book in for 2 months of sessions and I'm looking to add some extras to the pack. I'm doing height, weight, BMI and all the basic girth measurements. Any ideas for some other extras I could do to add some value for this guy? He is looking at gaining size - already about 104kg at 190cm

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Recipe book. He has to eat big to get big, right?

Tin of creatine.

Seriously, mate, you don't need anything fancy, effective training with progress towards their goals is rare and special enough!

 

[Rugby88]

Kyle I've got a client who wants to book in for 2 months of sessions and I'm looking to add some extras to the pack. I'm doing height, weight, BMI and all the basic girth measurements. Any ideas for some other extras I could do to add some value for this guy? He is looking at gaining size - already about 104kg at 190cm

Deleting rant...not worth it.

 

[Sherro]

Deleting rant...not worth it.

Squat/Bench/Deadlift heavy and eat big.

 

[Paullie]

Surely its not THAT simple Sherro.

 

[Sherro]

Surely its not THAT simple Sherro.

Works for me

 

[Paullie]

Works for me

I know, me too.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Example workout.

25yo woman, 1.72m tall, 63kg, wants improved strength, training with me weekly from Sept 2010 to present, couple of weeks off here and there. Had never done a deep squat before I worked with her, took some time to build up to it. Leg and back strength is her priority, pressing strength unimportant.

The other day she did this,

Bodyweight squats, 1x20
Barbell squats, 20kg x5, 30kg x4, 40kg x3, 50kg 2x5
Pushups, 1x15
Overhead press, 20kg x5, 22.5kg x3, 25kg 2x5
Rack pulls, 40kg x5, 50kg x3, 60kg x3, 70kg x1
Deadlifts, 60kg x3, 70kg x3 [personal best]

done in 30'00".

It doesn't have to be complicated. As Markos says, do a deep knee-bend, pick something heavy off the ground and put something heavy overhead. I usually have the press in the middle to give them a break, the sessions are only half an hour, remember, it's pretty fast-paced.

 

[The Hamburgler]

The couple of sessions I had with mum went a bit longer. First one was at a Fenix so was a bit different to the second one. She basically just wants to get fitter.

Session 1-
Circuit 1 x 2
+ BB squat @ 20kg x 10
+ 1 arm DB row @ 10kg x 10
+ DB press @ 2 x 7.5kg x 10

Circuit 2 x 2
+ BW Bulgarian split squat x 6
+ DB Renegade row (on knees) @ 7.5kg x 10
+ offset push ups on medicine ball (on knees) x 5 each arm

Circuit 3 x 2
+ eccentric only Nordic hamstring curl x 3
+ single leg hip thruster x 7
+ 1 Arm KB row (hand leaning on swiss ball) @ 8kg x 10
+ Alternating DB press (sitting on swiss ball) @ 5kg x 10
+ swiss ball ab rollouts x 15

20s on 20s off Tabata
2 x KB swings
2 x Grinders
2 x DB thrusters
2 x Grinders

Session 2 was in the garage at home lol
Warm up circuit - each exercise 5 reps
+ BB hang clean and press (it's just a standard bar so probs about 14kg)
+ 4kg KB thrusters
+ 8kg KB swings
+ 16kg KB deadlift
+ 6kg KB thrusters
+ 8kg KB swings
+ 24kg KB deadlift
+ 32kg KB deadlift

Circuit 1 - 10 reps of all the above, starting with hang clean and press, but going from heaviest to lightest this time

Quad set - 3 sets
+ BW Bulgarian split squat x 10
+ 1 Arm KB row (hand resting on swiss ball) @ 8kg x 10
+ KB chest press resting on swiss ball @ 6kg x 10
+ swiss ball ab rollouts x 15

* Repeat 'circuit 1'

Farmers walk 3 x 20m carrying 8kg KBs