How do personal trainers make money at the gym?

While some gyms may not pay the highest personal trainer salary, they may still be a good option for you based on the other benefits they offer. However, there is a catch for private personal trainers, and that is that they have to get enough business to write their own paycheck. However, the gym route is not the only one and many current or aspiring coaches want to venture into the more entrepreneurial routes of private or online personal training, as higher income levels are more easily achieved. This is also the reason why many coaches start in the gym, gain experience, build relationships, start accepting private clients, and ultimately leave the corporate gym environment behind them.

Keep in mind that a true personal training certification will allow you to work in a much wider range of locations than just that gym, something you'll want to consider as your career evolves. Instead of scheduling one-on-one, in-person training sessions, they make workouts available online for a certain fee. In this salary structure, the gym doesn't actually employ you as a personal trainer, but they hire you so they can earn money on personal training and relieve themselves of the costs of having an employee. But as we'll learn, private personal training isn't the only way to make money as a coach outside of the gym.

Everyone in the Facebook group agreed that LA Fitness is not an ideal place to work as a coach, but some people mentioned that they pay their group exercise instructors much better. There are many ways to earn money as a personal trainer, but without a doubt the most common way is to start working in a gym. To be successful with moving products, a personal trainer must be a bit of a sales expert, a skill that can be learned with a little effort and commitment. Now that you have a good idea of how you're going to execute this math, let's talk about some important levers you can use to earn more as a personal trainer.

Few larger gyms allow independent contractors because they can make more money with their own personal trainers. We think 40-50% for personal training is very fair, so if you can sign up for that or better, you'll be ready and running.