Personal Training In Florida!

MrWannabe · Sep 13, 2006

Hi all, wanna get some feed back on Florida. I moved to USA when I was 20 from England, spent 12 yrs in LA, I was personal training. then moved to NY with my wife as her family lives here. I do not like NY (sorry you New Yorkers). In New York they make personal training very difficult (plus the weather sucks) - you have to be an employee of the gym, do all these shifts just watching the gym floor when you can not train clients and they pay you very badly!!! Your other option here is to go to a personal training facility where you get charged $25 - $35 for every session you have with a client, thats way too much. In LA you could find gyms where you present your credentials and pay $300 - $400 per month and train as many clients as you like, whenever you like, it was very easy and accomodating to start a personal training business in LA.
Now my wife and I are looking to live in Florida and so I am hoping that it will be like LA over there. I hope getting into a gym as an independent personal trainer is an easy thing to do, if they do things like they do here in NY then I will have to do something different and I love working as a trainer. Can you all give me some feedback on what that situation is like in Florida. I am looking into the Tampa region. Yo, hope everyones a juicehead down there, I know they must love training down there, anywhere theres sun theres mucle baby!

The Myth · Sep 13, 2006

So far the private gym in Florida has been my haven for training clients. Most gyms or fitness clubs attached to a franchise, don't pay anything. You also have companies like the one here in NE FL, that go into gyms and set up shop and don't allow others to train people there. It sucks and normally these companies have a group of "bad body" male and females that don't know a dam thing about training people.

MrWannabe · Sep 13, 2006

hey thanks The Myth- so your saying you can go into most gyms and train clients, so long as it is a privately owned small gym?

worldspan · Sep 14, 2006

I am not a personal trainer but have known enough the 22 years i have lived here.

The long and short of it is that it is for most, a bad place for anyone to be a personal trainer because those who can afford your services most tend
to be seasonal and leave the area in the spring and not return until the fall.
Personal trainers incomes nosedive in the Sunshine State in the summer.

Worldspan

TheGame46 · Sep 14, 2006

Ya there is a huge increase in the trainers that just punch stuff into an apex program etc. and it shits out a workout and guide and they just follow you around the gym afterwards.....

Rob Roy · Sep 14, 2006

Sad but true

TheGame46 said:
Ya there is a huge increase in the trainers that just punch stuff into an apex program etc. and it shits out a workout and guide and they just follow you around the gym afterwards.....

You hit that one on the head bro. I recently left a company because they too caught the Walmart fever. It was a smaller chain that was all about hiring "the right people". After about five years with this company, I started to see a change. As the company went into expansion mode they focused all too much on quantity and not nearly enough on quality. Greed! You have to remember that in most corp. or franchised gyms the lifeblood of the company lies in the member dues and new bus. enrollment fees. In these cases personal training is just gravy. Like a smoothie bar, tanning or any other amenity for that case. It's just not there focus. Foolish! Sad but true.

RipDseL · Sep 14, 2006

Florida can be good depending on what area you live in here. If you can find an area where the overall household income is high, you will be much more successful. There are numerous up and coming cities putting in million dollar developements where I see a lot of potential. In many of those areas there is only 1 gym, so people with money, willing to pay for the services will come there, finding this area would be the hard part. Around the big cities there isnt much money to be made without putting in around 12 or so hours a day booked pretty much solid because the rate of pay isn't near what it would be in a higher income city, and also there will usually be numerous gyms in the area competing for the same customer base.

Overall I think if you have a good look you can be successful as a trainer in Florida, Its warm here most of the year, so people want to look good, and if you are a walking business card people will think if you look good, you can help them to.

I'm further north than tampa, so I don't really see many people who are only seasonal, so I can't really give an opinion there... hope this all makes sense, just my 2 cents tho.
good luck w/ the move

MrWannabe · Sep 14, 2006

Thanks for the input all. Being in the personal training industry is hard, no doubt, especially seeing what these large companies do, ie: the quality of training that they actually give to the individual client, they want everyone to follow their marketed training program and they are focussed on making the mighty dollar rather than helping the client to actually reach their personal goal God forbid. I worked at one place(an upscale gym in NYC) and they hired this guy as a trainer - he had never ever trained anywhere or anyone before, he didnt even have any certifications - he knew nothing about exercise but he was a smart looking individual, could speak politely and fitted in with the upscale place so what the hell he can work people out right! Please would love to hear from more of you Floridian's and your take on personal training there. What I really need to know is if for sure you are able to go into gyms down there and be an independent trainer at the facility. I am hoping you can, I dont mind having to pay a small fee, thats expected. I know this will be hard in the large chains as these companies have their own trainers/programs but Im hoping the gyms that are privately owned will be ok with this.

The Myth · Sep 14, 2006

MrWannabe said:
hey thanks The Myth- so your saying you can go into most gyms and train clients, so long as it is a privately owned small gym?

Sorry about the delay, but yes, if you check into the privately own gyms, the owners are normally satisfied with the additional members you bring to the gym along with an established rep. Especially if you are a competitive bb'.

bigheinz · Sep 14, 2006

RipDseL said:
Florida can be good depending on what area you live in here. If you can find an area where the overall household income is high, you will be much more successful. There are numerous up and coming cities putting in million dollar developements where I see a lot of potential. In many of those areas there is only 1 gym, so people with money, willing to pay for the services will come there, finding this area would be the hard part. Around the big cities there isnt much money to be made without putting in around 12 or so hours a day booked pretty much solid because the rate of pay isn't near what it would be in a higher income city, and also there will usually be numerous gyms in the area competing for the same customer base.

Overall I think if you have a good look you can be successful as a trainer in Florida, Its warm here most of the year, so people want to look good, and if you are a walking business card people will think if you look good, you can help them to.

I'm further north than tampa, so I don't really see many people who are only seasonal, so I can't really give an opinion there... hope this all makes sense, just my 2 cents tho.
good luck w/ the move

Agree!!!

The big guy · Sep 17, 2006

Mr. Wannabe, Secaucus is in New Jersey not New York..LOL, I know your from the UK but I thought u would know the difference..LOL

mustanged77 · Sep 19, 2006

Tampa gyms

I live in Tampa. I have worked out in gyms all across Fl. From what I have seen in Tampa you do not have to be an employee to be a trainer. I'm sure all gyms are different. Tampa is populated and there will always be clients.
South Fl - Miami, Ft Lauderdale, West Palm are the only places in Fl similar as far as cliental and gyms to CA west coast.
Tampa is a cool place but it will be different from what you are used to. I live in Apollo Beach a suburb of Tampa, and I am the only gear head at my gym. But I'm sure they are in Tampa and even in Brandon. If you are moving anywhere near Brandon that place has new gyms popping up all the time.

Where in Tampa are you moving?

[email protected]

MrWannabe · Sep 19, 2006

Mustanged77 - just got back last night from Tampa, my lady and I checked things out for the weekend. We stayed at clearwater beach. We looked at places to stay all over, St. pete beach, St. petersberg, Clearwater, Hyde park. We did as much as we could in the time we had. Apts were good prices apart from Hyde park area which was way expensive compared to else where. I popped into a gym and spoke with someone, they thought fitness was a kicking industry, plenty of demand and it looked that way. Over all I was very impressed, it was a beautiful place, seemed to have a nice steady pace of life and everyone kept saying that economically Tampa was doing real good. I think training people is a viable thing in Tampa. Travelling seems to be easy there so finding somewhere to live and where you work in relation to that should not be a problem. Exactly where I want to live I do not know but all of the areas close to the places I mentioned are possible, I am just starting to learn Tampa now so I have to go find a map and see where Apollo beach is. You have your own training business Mustanged77?

mustanged77 · Sep 20, 2006

No man i don't train people but its something I have and still am considering.
I'm a Biology teacher so I'm a natural at teaching and working with people to understand science. Apollo Beach is south of Tampa about 20 miles. Its a growing suburb of Tampa. Lots of new neighborhoods and businesses. No big gyms or chains where i live. I actually workout at a racquet club. They got all the free weights you can handle and some good equipment. The cool thing is that it is never busy. Sometimes I'm the only hardcore guy in there. No waiting, just straight through training. I love it. There are a couple of guys that work there that are there all day and they are trainers. There are also trainers that come in with their clients and don't work for the club. When someone opens a club in my area they are gonna make a lot of money. This place is filled with young couples who are first time homeowners. Prime canidates for gyms.
I don't know if you would like it as far south as we live but we love it.
You might wanna look in the Brandon area. It is just east of Tampa. Tons of affordable apts and houses. Tons of restauraunts and businesses, new gyms, everything! A little crowded, and not close to the water, but the best place to find housing and training clients at new gyms.
But remember, Tampa and St Pete is not southern CA.
South fl is like CA. Most beautiful women in the world are in Miami. Even the ugly ones look good. But too damn expensive to make it with a wife. Too tempting too, LOL
Anyway, Tampa is cool, you will like it. But do yourself a favor and check out Brandon. It may be for you or it might not.
Keep me posted man.

Master"O" · Nov 7, 2006

Don't forget that you can also train people in their home or their building fitness facilities. If you choose to work in a good area where income is high you will find that a lot of people in Florida have a small gym at home. Also most of the new condominium buildings have their own gym where the residents can bring their personal trainer without paying any fee.

Good luck