personal training a decent job?

[IRON37]

been always curious as to how I would do as a personal trainer. I like helping people out in the gym (the ones that actually listen). And like furthering my own fitness knowledge..so it seems like a good match? I like the atmosphere and most people I end up meeting at gyms. All Im really worried about is if it would pay the bills? I live in a fairly small city now, and am torn between training or persueing a career in firefighting. Ive already got all of my certs for emt, hazmat, firefighter & soon to be scuba. But I just dont like it, or most of the people that Ive met that do it. Ive done some volunteer work. But I think training is more my thing. So yeah..do yall think it is worth it? I would end up moving to a much larger city to get more clients and opportunities.

[Thor]

Ive always thought about it too, and people have asked me why I don't. For me living where I do it wouldn't pay enough. i was told to be busy enough that I would have to move to NYC or some bigger city. So I guess it depends where you live if your gonna have enough work. But to answer your question, if it is something you enjoy and it pays the bills and then some, well, why not. But only you can decide that for yourself.

[alfresco]

Originally Posted by steele

NO ONE listens. and to make a a GOOD predictable income doing it is nearly impossible. very tough.
number one shitty thing about it is nobody listens. if you have any other job oppurtunities take them and forget about training. my 2 cents -STEELE

So true.

I also believe that it will be very difficult to make a decent
living (the definition of which I won't even attempt to
articulate here) by personal training, while under the
employment of a gym owned by somebody else.

I have two cousins who do make a decent living, but they
both own their facility, and they seem to be doing alright.
One is in a small town, a niche market, the other in a
mid-size town. And I have a friend who worked for one of
the large chain gyms as a personal trainer but soon got
fed up with the poor money and the management and
started his own business and seems to be doing quite
well.

If you really like it (or should I say love it) and you are good
at it, then most people will find a way to make it work. I expect
your success won't come instantaneously and your income, if
self employed, will vary according to many factors that are not
under your direct control. So you must be able to deal this and
many other factors that go along with owning your own business.

Just something to think about.

So yes, clearly it is possible, but it probably won't be easy. Give it a try.
You always have a Plan B (firefighting) to fall back on.

[MartyMcFly1]

Originally Posted by steele

NO ONE listens. and to make a a GOOD predictable income doing it is nearly impossible. very tough.
number one shitty thing about it is nobody listens. if you have any other job oppurtunities take them and forget about training. my 2 cents -STEELE

being a personal trainer is almost like being an actor. you have to be VERY good at your part to get calls and keep high wages. you don't want to be a starving personal trainer. I'm not going to lie to you, my start up was VERY hard. I still have a part time job managing a supplement store/tanning salon, and I'm an independent trainer with cleints based upon when I'm free. I've been doing it since march, and I'm currently just building my name up. if you don't have pizzaz, and dedicated cleints, its hard to get people to "know who you are" you can get clients in ANY city, its how you market yourslef, you need to make YOURSELF a celebrity. there are TONS of rich peoiple out there who would pay GREAT money to have someone train them and be their friend. i think there is a sit, supertrainer.com or something with LOTS of great info. 9/10 of us fail the first 6 months, so its a huge start up. keep a job, and start it on the side if you can. GOOD LUCK!

[BabyBeast05]

Trying to live off of just personal training can be pretty hard man. Its really hard having a steady pay check month to month. I know from personal experience my pay has gone up and down and up and down. Plus the kind of clientel you want to train might not be the people that actually hire trainers. I've been training for about a year and a half now in a pretty high class fitness center and major of my clients are women who want to lose weight and more specificly want to lose weight for a certain event, so I've gone through a few ladies who wanted to look good for a wedding and once that day came their gone. If your trying to live off training the biggest thing is to get consistant clients

[Supersizeme310]

I did it for a while in the past. Paid very well, still work with a handful of my favorites.

Number of things to consider:
~who you target. If you focus on Body builders...its a tough go, they wont drop $90 an hour cause they're mostly young and "know everything already"
If you focus on business owners and Corp Executives, they will pay $90 an hour and can fill your afternoons.

~Filling your schedule. Most middle class work jobs, so if you go after them, you'll be working mornings and nights (splits). But you'd still get your food in.

I worked mon through thurs 10am till 9 pm straight (44 hours a week) with fri sat sun off. Its tough getting your food in going 11 hours back to back.

~Who you'll meet. I also have a couple of businesses, the people I met (executives and business owners) were the foundation for my businesses being successful.

I had 65 people in my calendar at one point. only two really would listen to about 85% of what I said. So deal with the fact that you'll talk until your blue in the face. <--until I learned I'd only match their commitment.

~Also don't take on just anyone. Some people will drive you crazy and demand the world from you.

[7_Deadly_Sins]

After hearing all of this, I'm kinda re considering it.
What other types of jobs would be available to someone who still wants to do something fitness related?
I forget what they're called, but the people who help recover injuried athletes.
I'm sure there is more, I just don't know.

[animal eater]

I own a very succesfull pt business in australia. It can be quite lucrative but you have to work hard for it and treat it as a BUSINESS not a hobby. People skills must be high and at days end the successfull trainer get the result of what the client wants not what the trainer wants. Its the Mr and Mrs Jones of the world who will pay your mortgage and not the occasional hardcore bodybuilder.

[Fa Seeshus]

[QUOTE=MartyMcFly1;479590]being a personal trainer is almost like being an actor.QUOTE]

so very very true. there is the same constant stress of not being marketable. that is part of the fun of it too though.

[thebrick]

Having a good friend that's a personal trainer my advice is:
Have your own facility because splitting your income with the gym where you train sux. …and I would caution that in this economic climate right now, personal trainers are seen as a luxury that many put on their list of expenses to cut first. Honestly, I don't think that now is the right time unless you have another steady income to fall on until things are up and running.

[samiam]

Don't most firefighters work 24 on 48 off or somehting like that?

You could have a fulltime gig as a fireman and do the PT part time. If you build clientel up that way then you will get your feet wet and be able to tell if you can quit the other job and go fulltime with the PT. But at least you won't start while finding out if you like it and while building your client base up.

Plus if you decide to move to another city they need firemen everywhere.

Just an idea,
sam

[swole79]

It really depends on your demographic. I used to do PT for a while in the Orlando area at a "health club" and definately did well for myself. Honestly I loved being a trainer there. I was doing what I loved, could schedule my training and meals around my clients, and had plenty of hotties to play with. We had two trainers at the club that were making around six figures a year, so yes it can be done. The only thing I didn't like was they constantly made us go to these "functional training" seminars and teach our clients alot of the stuff we learned in the seminars. (I mean if I really want better abs wouldn't leg raises and crunches work better than one legged stabilty tricep pushdowns )

[LATS]

no offense. but, the firefighter gig is the way to go.. great benefits, great pay, time off and opportunity for advancement.. you can do the personal training on the side on your off days.. but, do not pass up the fire dept for personal training.. you can do both if yo want..

[coolkat]

Yes, stick with the fire fighterr job. Long story short, I have tried several approaches to self-employment, all the while work in my field of education was, and is, more money, more security, etc. and I can still do other stuff on the side.
Believe me, I sleep better, I am a happier person, and I have more money and "net worth".
Plus, those side jobs I do are more fun.

My 2 cents. Good luck.

[Muay Thai]

i got ISSA certified a while ago

test and course was really really easy if you spend 95% of your time studying and researching anyway!

Yes you have to realize they all take things like a grain of salt, you will come to know who

at my gym, i have client list already before i even started! people were requesting me......personna is important, a kid is not going to want you to train him if you look the same as him and not very muscular and established. Practice what you preach is a big problem with these pencil necks. Also, trainers need to individualize each session for each person not use same protocol for everyone!!!

my 2 cents!

[Fa Seeshus]

ACE has an adjunct certification for firefighter training. you can actually train incoming firefighters to pass the entrance tests... and or help them in academy.

[RONJON]

My buddy likes it...definately depends on where u train!!! Also I agree it would be tons better if u had ur own place

RONJON

[IRON37]

Wow thanks for all the replies. You guys have brought up alot of things that I havent thought about. I figured the pay wouldnt be so great training, but that it would be more enjoyable. Im not crazy about having the added stress I would get from firefighting. Ive been having mild anxiety and depression problems lately and I figured going into that wouldnt help my situation..but I guess I wont know until I try it.

[rippedout]

give it a shot. start out part time and see if it takes off.

[ojs]

I ended up buying the gym where I do personal training after 5 years of working there. You can make a good living. But you have to be good enough to average 25 sessions per week. For me that means between 20 and 30 appointments a week. I keep my appointments to Mon, Wed & Fridays during business hours & Sunday's before 12pm.

In order to make decent money I had to be willing to book hours around my client's schedules. Typically I'm mostly booking from 5am through 1pm and then again from 5pm to 8pm Mon, Wed & Fri. 80% of my clients are women ages 40-60.

Hope that helps...