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big gym pay rates

by Ann
(Indiana)

I am new to personal training and am very discouraged by the pay my gym offers. They pay $5.15/hr for a "training assessment" on a club member (this is primary way you get new clients). For any "dead time" you receive no pay. This also means if your "TA" is a no-show, you get zip.

You sell a training package and, depending on how many sessions the client buys, they pay anywhere from $42 - $48 per training hour. The trainer gets only $13/hr when they are training a client, and 8% of any training packages they sell. If you hit your sales goals for several months in a row, your hourly rate will increase to $15/hr (still $5.15 for training assessments). However, the first month you do not hit sales goal, it drops back to $13/hr.

Also, regardless of prior certifications, the gym requires all trainers to get APEX certified. This is a certification I had never heard of. They take $50 from every paycheck toward this certification that I have never seen any training materials for. Apparently there is an on-line test you have to pass. After the test is passed, and you've paid your $399 for APEX certification, you get a "bodybugg", which is a cool device, but I feel like it's just a ploy to force more sales of bodybuggs, by requiring trainers to buy them.

This is a franchise gym with a big time name. The only thing that keeps me returning to work is my clients and the satisfaction of seeing their progress. It is certainly not the money.

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i would like to know
by: personal training hopeful

what gym is it? please email me the answer or post it here for all to see. Thanks tails52385@yahoo.com

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time for you to find a new gym
by: Anonymous

Yuck! You must work at 24 hour fitness. get the experience and find a private name gym or club. also find a niche such as a specific type or person of training and set yourself apart from those trying to be all around trainers.
email me with questions
bbfitness at gmail com

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get experience and leave
by: Anonymous

Get your experience there but try to get clients on your own, away from the gym. You must be certified. Some gyms don't really care where you get certified and some don't even ask for proof. They are just looking for an avenue to make money and pay very little to their trainers. I worked at a large gym. First training sessions to clients were free so I did't get paid. We were expected to solicit clients from the floor and sell supplements. We were also expected to do all new tours, free of charge, in hopes of getting clients. We got paid about $10 per hour for a session. The gym hired so many personal trainers (why not, at that rate) that few had more than three sessions per week. My paycheck was a joke. Some large gyms are like a cattle call. Look for someplace smaller that really cares about their clients after you've gotten some experience where you are.

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Answer
by: Anonymous

The gym I work at is Fit Athletic Club
www.fitathletic.com
Though it is a private owner the club will be spreading slowly but surely.
Mark
bbfitnes@gmail.com
www.betterbackfitness.com (if not active it will be soon. doing some maintenance)

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I feel your pain
by: Joe Bartovic NASM-CPT,PES

I too am apex certified, and it does offer some great educational materials. But if you didn't get the apex certification manual and cd roms you are getting burned by you gym.

Also as an apex Fit-Pro you should be getting more education from apex online. As for your pay, it kinda sucks , but getting 8% on top isn't bad. Just work hard , hit your goals and someday take your clients into private studio.

Joe Bartovic NASM-CPT,PES
Personal Training Director
Wow! Fitness Middletown,CT

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I understand completely
by: Anonymous

I have been a CPT for over 3 years and have been working at a high scale independent fitness club and was paid $8 an hour with set hours as a floor trainer. No extra pay for training sessions or teaching classes. I almost took a job at a chain gym in Atlanta but the floor training pay was $7 an hour with training sessions and package sales being about the same as stated.
Now I work for myself and it is way more profitable and rewarding because I set my own rates and schedule, plus I don't have to answer to a boss because I AM THE BOSS!!! lol

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yep
by: Anonymous

That's every commercial big name gym. You are working at 24hr? They require apex certification. You are not a personal trainer, you are a car salesman. Get your experience and get out of the big name gyms. They take 80-90% of your pay, just like working at a car dealership

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Go solo!
by: Anonymous

Gyms make way too much money off of personal training. They make at least a 100% mark up on the personal training they provide. You can charge your clients less and make double the money if you work for yourself.

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Look at Smaller Gyms
by: Anonymous

You should look at the smaller gyms. I own a small gym and am trying to get a personal trainer who is hungry for work. I just opened the gym in January, and need someone who understands people and is willing to meet their needs. My pay structure allows the trainer to keep up to 70% of the billing rate (this includes the 10% sales commission). I know that I'm not the only one with this model because I bought into a franchise. That stated, I look for ACE certifications only. Good luck.

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At least you got a certification.
by: Xtephen

I work for a large gym that requires their own certification that takes about 2, 8 hour classes to get. Its based on NASM but it is really just a joke in my eyes. I already had an ACE certification when I began working there and trainers with only the gym cert. were getting preferential treatment (with obviously less knowledge). We get $15/hr (clients are charged $40/hr.) for training and 10% commission with $6.50 for floor hours. I hate the fact that the clients don't know that they aren't working with knowledgeable professionals half the time. I am attempting to branch out on my own but it is difficult with the economy declining, still, I got the license and am taking a chance. When you're ready, do the same.

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Move to NJ, NY, CA, or Florida.
by: Holisticwellnessnetwork.com

I'm really sorry that training is not looked at as important as it is in other parts of the country. I personally charge $120/hour or $65/half hour.

When I started in the business 14 years ago, I was paid $10/hour by gyms and 60% of the session paid. That is the typical rate for NJ. Most sessions cost between $50-80/session in NJ gyms. So, if you want to get paid, become a Chek practitioner (chekinstitute.com) and move to a wealthy part of the country.

John

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In Boston
by: Anonymous

Are you guys serious? get out of those gyms that pay you 7 an hour> My club has two levels of pay, one at 35 an hour and one at 55. The majority of personal trainers are a complete joke, don't be one of those people. Go get an intro cert. aka NASM-CPT/ACE/NSCA-CPT and then get your CSCS. Then take all your clients in home and charge 80 plus an hour and burn all the bosu balls.

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I sounds like the owner is making good money by not paying the employees the right price
by: Anonymous

You need to find another Gym after you acquire some experience. If you feel comfortable training, you should train your clients on your own.

Good luck

LC

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sell sell sell
by: Anonymous

at the gym im at now i think its crap that i have 8 years experience. i sell the membership, sell the training, and do the training and have to give 50%. I am Nasm cpt,pes,ces,certified. Afaa cpt certified. ACE cpt certified. Stay current on CPR and AED and first aid of course and have my own insurance and still have to give half. big issue at gym that a new trainer with less then one year experience and one cert gets paid the same % as me. this is with NO medical benefits too. I wish i could afford my own gym i think some of these gym owners are greedy

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24 Hour fitness pay rates
by: Anonymous

I work for 24 hour fitness. You get 20% of what training you sell. When you do train depending on level of certification and how much clients pay per session (promo's) you get 24 hour cert 7% ( around $11), 1 cert 14% (around $14), 2 certs 17% around $17), and 3 certs 20% (around $20)per training session usually 50 minutes.

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Thanks for the Info
by: G-Max

Whoever put the info. up about 24's PT pay rates, thanks for putting that knowledge up here. I've just been hired by Planet Fitness in South Florida (I'm a brand-spanking new PT w/ my cert. through NASM), and just wanted to see the going rate for a CPT w/ x amount of experience. Hopefully, I'll be able to branch out on my own soon enough.

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sounds like....
by: Anonymous

Gold's Gym!!! yeah, you're better off being an independant PT. those big chain gyms pay their trainers like crap.

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Um, 24 Hour Fitness?
by: Anonymous

I was a PT for 24 Hour a few years back, and I got out of the business because it wasn't what I thought it would be (when I got certified and made the decision to pursue fitness as a career). Enter a few more years life experience and I figured out it wasn't PT, but the club that soured me on the industry.
The pay model you describe sounds very similar to 24 Hour (although you get paid for floor hour "no shows" and their pay rates-- at least in SoCal-- are *slightly* higher than those you listed).
So now I'm back re-certifying and looking for work at a *real* gym-- one where they don't hire one PT for each member, saturating and flooding the client base with trainers. And yes, the club has their *own* cert (APEX model), and that's the only requirement for a trainer! (I had NASM and ACE as well, but let them lapse-- shame on me!).
My advice is to get yourself employed at a govt. agency (military base gym) or corporate gym, where the agency absorbs the cost of the training, not the client, and you get paid real $ to train clients. OR a club that charges members significantly more for memberships (24 Hour is so cheap, the membership itself is basically a loss leader)-- that attracts people that can actually afford training and ensures they are *serious* about coming to work out (you don't have to be in seriously good shape to work out there, but be serious about your commitment to get into better shape). And if you haven't already, get an accredited cert and group fitness cert as well-- when you teach those classes every week, people develop a certain comfort level with you and then when people ask about trainers, you have the most wonderful WOM advertising you could ask for!

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PT Pay
by: Anonymous

I am a Manager of a small gym in Michigan and our pay is 60/40 split and the trainer gets to workout at the gym for free and the owner pays for their insurance.
Just wanted to say thank you to all the comments on pay, have been wondering how our pay rated. Does anyone have advice on what to do with a trainer that does not get clients? Great person but he is not out going enough to talk to members, puts his headphones on and gets his work out in, did I mention he does not pay for his gym membership for the last 2 years and I believe he has not had one paying client!! I just took over a year ago as Manager but I am trying to come up with some kind of guidelines about how much a trainer should be bringing in before they are let go. Training sessions are $40 and hour.

One more question anyone know the going rate for instructors with and without certs?

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low pay
by: Anonymous

I been working at a gym for almost one year I've made the gym around 80 thousand dollars on Clint upgrades and I do about 170 sessions in two week period ..... I've only seen maybe 1200 out of that 80 thousand and I only get 6 dollars a session I even teach boxing and 90 percent of my clients have reach there goal

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Response to Ann's Post
by: Anonymous

It sounds like Ann works @ Gold's Gym Indianapolis. My advice is to submit your resume to other gyms such as Lifestyle and Lifetime. Both facilities have better pay with ACTUAL certification requirements.

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Trainer Pay
by: Bigtxn31

Well, after reading these comments i do feel kind of lucky with my pay...I guess!!! (haha)I work for a Hospital Based Fitness Center in NC.When i'm training i make$20.05/hr and when i'm not training i make$14.29/hr. We get no commissions for what we sell. I have been at the facility for 8yrs so i do have some loyal followers. However, the economy has effected me also.I was the Head Trainer,and was making $20.05/hr all the time, training or not! But when training went down so did my pay to $14.29/hr working the floor and stayed at$20.05/hr when i train!

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underpaid
by: Anonymous

I work for a gym that only pays 30% of my hourly rate of $60 per hr. I only make $18 for that session. I'm new to the business but i have a real passion with helping people reach their fitness goals. What's a guy to do?ona

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Best thing I ever did
by: Anonymous

I had been training at a large chain gym for about 3 years. I was fed up working my butt off and only getting 30% of what my clients were paying for each session. So I started paying rent at a smaller training facility and told my clients where I was going. I was charching $30 less a session then what they were paying before. Almost all of them followed me AND started training three to four times a week because it was more affordable. I now work half as much but am making twice as much money. It's a win win for me and my clients!!

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Is lifetime fitness better pay etc than Gold's gym
by: Anonymous

I was offered both positions, I'm basically leaning heavly toward lifetime fitness. please give your 2 cents. thanks.

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WOW That Sucks
by: Anonymous

We pay our trainers. 50/50 plus another 10% on commission so about 40/60 split. We charge anywhere from 42$ to 67$ so our guys make at least 20 something in a 1/2 hour session 30 something in an hour session. We pay 10 for consultations. We have had a few trainers work for us and leave and go independent by stealing our members,only to come back and ask for their jobs back. Why because they cannot market, advertise and attract clients like a gym can. It is expensive trying to run a business and most expidentures are tied to advertisment and marketing in most clubs. We charge more than the average club in both membership and training fee's. So our trainers have nothing to complain about. We do the split because I look at it as a partenership between the club and the trainers. We provide the trainers with the club, client, and equiptment. They provide the members with results and good quality training and we are all happy. My best advice is find a club that is already attracting bigger ticket people and you will find a better opportunity with clients. Do not run off and go inde if you cannot sustain a good client attraction system. The club is your stage without it finding good quality members may be hard to find. You dont want to be guy asking for his job back its emberrasing and your reputation will be dimished in the eyes of mebers, staff and fellow peers. You dont want other trainers and clubs talking bad about you. In the training business your reputation is gold.Find the Good higher paying clubs and you will find higher paying salaries guarenteed.

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PT Pay Structures
by: Matt

Could somebody please help me understand the pay structure options for various gym chains? I have heard of this "minimum wage" to walk the floor and pitch when you don't have any clients, plus some split when you actually train clients (I've heard the gym can typically take anywhere from 50% up to 75%). Under this structure, does the trainer get the minimum wage + his share of the client revenue for the hours that he trains somebody or is it one or the other? Also, is this the most common structure at the big gym chains? Are there other common ones?
Thanks so much in advance. Just trying to figure all this stuff out!

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