How many of you make a living off personal training?

[kinglewy]

How many of you trainers are truthfull with your clients?

Do you tell them the truth about what it really takes to look like the guy on the cover of the magazine?

Do you give cycle advice along with the diet and training advice?

 

[bomb401]

I got certified and then found out they wanted to pay me nothing but commission at every gym, have me get all my own clients and manage them, and upsell every client in the door on a 60$-90$/45 min personal training session. Seemed like a lot of work for nothing. In retrospect it definitely would have been.

 

[tkav1980]

How many of you trainers are truthfull with your clients?

Do you tell them the truth about what it really takes to look like the guy on the cover of the magazine?

Do you give cycle advice along with the diet and training advice?

Ehh that one is a massive liability. Besides, most people arent trying to bodybuild, people just want to be relatively lean and healthy for the most part so it wouldnt be necissary.

If you give that advice to the wrong person even if it's solicited advice you can get into some trouble.

 

[Elvia1023]

Ehh that one is a massive liability. Besides, most people arent trying to bodybuild, people just want to be relatively lean and healthy for the most part so it wouldnt be necissary.

If you give that advice to the wrong person even if it's solicited advice you can get into some trouble.

Exactly. In addition you have the huge number of idiots who will do something stupid or perhaps just get a really bad side effect and blame you. It would be best staying away from such advice as you don't want a bunch of 25 year olds saying it's your fault they can't get a hardon etc. The only exception in my eys would be a close friend who is very experienced with aas... but I doubt he would be getting personal trained anyway.

 

[marine_camaro]

After reading through some of these posts I'm curious as to what some of you are considering not making much money? like yearly what are you expecting to make as a PT? Id say 40k to 50k a year for a good PT with college degree and some experience wouldn't be a bad deal.

Second if your getting into PT because you think its easy or you think your gonna make tons of money please do the world a favor and pick a different career. I'm getting in to PT because I truly want to help people improve their lives and I have a very strong passion for fitness and health.

By no means though do i plan to make this job my sole source of income. There are many options out there such as getting a PhD and teaching about personal training or related subjects working under a university doing studies Running an online business opening a supplement store opening your own gym hosting seminars etc etc etc Its a life style not just a job or career.
Do people not have entrepreneurial skills these days.

Success in life is all about who you know. Start making friends and professional ties now that will help you succeed in your career. Stop being lazy...I could preach on the keys to success all day but I'm just trying to get a point across. A career in PT is what you make it!

 

[dreamchaser]

not worth being a personal trainer

 

[Mike Arnold]

Keep in mind that there is a huge difference betwen being the common corporate gym personal trainer and a legitimate coach/guru (I don't like the term "guru").

Generally, personal trainers deal only, or primarily with hands-on training with their client. While they may also give advice on nutrition and other topics, this is more of an extension of their job, if they so choose to become proficient in that area.

As a coach, especially a BB'ing coach, one is usually more of a consultant than a trainer. They must be well educated in a variety of different areas, being paid more for what they know, rather than putting a client through a training session. Of course, coaches often train their clients (when distance restrictions do not apply or the client is willing to pay for the coach's travel expenses), but this is just one aspect of being a coach, not the primary objective. Often, coaches will work with clients whom they never see in person, but communicate with through e-mail and/or phone contact. Being a coach entails and usually deamnds comprehensive knoweldge in the areas of training, nutrition, PED's supps, health maintenance, etc, etc, etc.

Whole good trainers can make decent money, it usually takes some time to get to that point and like Kaladryn said previously, you need to be good...not just think you're good at personal training just because you've built a decent physique. There is a lot to consider when traning a wide variety of people with different goals.

Overall, the average trainer compared to the average BB'ing coach are two very different things. Certainly, some aspects of their job description may be the same, but there is significant variance when looking at the big picture.