Question for personal trainers

Mr.Striation

New member
Could any personal trainers from different areas tell me about how much their yearly salary is?

I am a Pre-med student and my grades are good enough to get into med school but I am really starting to think that I do not want to become a doctor. Initially I wanted to for the money, but now I think I would much rather do something I love instead of just doing something for the money. However I want to be able to live comfortably, I know trainers around where I am from do not make very good money and can often times have trouble finding clients. Any info would be helpful, thanks.
 
You could become a HRT therapist bro since you're already pre-med. I don't think you need a PHD for that, but I might be wrong. Thats what I'm gonna be looking into along w/ other things. And don't feel bad cuz you don't like what you're taking up. I just got my associates in applied science this winter and I absolutely hate it. It's why I'm goin for something else.

But for your question, do a search for personal trainers in this forum. There was a lot of info about 'em just a couple months ago if I remember correctly.
 
I live in Southern Ca, and some trainers here make some great bucks, we have trainers in my club charge anywhere form $55.00 to $125.00 per hour. Most of the trainers here average 20 to 30 clients per month.

Now down the road a bit in rich Newport Beach, I have a few buddies that train at up scale club and they make $120,000.00 a year, they do work their asses of at 10 to 12 hours per day, but they enjoy the money, now these two are an exception.

When I started training clients 8 years ago I was only charging $25.00 per hour and it went up depending on how many days that client wanted per week, the avarage pay here is $75.00 per hour...
 
I was making about 40G/year but there are no benefits unless you get into a really big organization type gym (Bally's, 24hr Fitness). Just make sure you get into a rich part of town and charge up front, giving people credit will get you screwed, I got stiffed a couple of times before I learned.
 
I think the best way to do it, is to have a regular job and promote yourself through business cards, at your gyms..other gyms...

you can have the client pay the daily fee at your gym or wherever and train them on an as needed basis..as your clientel grow you will eventually have your own successful personal training business

I had tried to do the whole gym thing, working in a nice club in manhattan (equinox)...i got discouraged very quickly though....normally what happens is you make like 9 bucks an hour when your not with a client (floor trainer)..with a client you make say 30 an hour..which was my case...however..at clubs like that people have the $$$$ and just want the top tier guys...needless to say I am in IT now...lol

h19
 
this is a tough route to go down if you're looking for full time pay...if you work for a club like other guys said you get like 9 bucks and hour when not training and say you make 70 bucks and hour with clients, they club still takes a big cut of that. Also, most clubs leave it up to you to market yourself and create your own client base.

like it was said before, have a regular job and start building up a client base there before making training a full time job
 
the club takes a lot...I would make 30, the client paid the gym like 70 or 80

h19
 
Bro if you want to make very good money and still stay inbetween the med field and working with the human body. Go into sports medicine, athletic training, exercise physiology, Health/Wellness or Biomechanics. Those are all well paying job markets and you can even end up on major sporting teams if your good enough. Some of those may require a masters or doctorate but they may be something to look at. I just hate hearing about people whove gone so far in school to decide they want to turn in a new direction. At least most of your classes will be put to good use here and be considered transferable to a grad school. If your gonna go into athletic training get a degree in it then get certified. Dont take the easy way out and do the bullshit seminars for a bullshit certificate. The easiest way to make it good in that is to get certified by an accredited organization and any REAL certification will require, at minimum, a bachelors degree.
Good luck,
db
 
I believe the average salary for personal trainers is: $JACK ****

DB has some great advice there. Get the degree and maybe get paid and get some respect, don't get the degree.....good luck.
 
If you're into fitness and don't mind working for a Master's than I'd reccommend trying to be a strength and conditioning coach. Terrell Jones, the S.C. coach for the 49ers makes $80,000 a year according to what he told when he came in as a guest speaker to one of my classes. You do have to put with a lot of crap though from what said.
 
80 grand only for the SC coach of the 49ers?

and just to point out....The people that I worked with that were Top tier trainers at Equinox, had Masters degrees in Exercise phys......That is why original major was exercise phys

one thing to point out about training...its not what you know, its how well you can market yourself, and motivate people.....clients don't care about the scientific name of a muscle and the difference between supination and pronation..and why this and why that...they want you to be their own personal Tony little..

I agree with DB, if you don't like the whole salesman thing, cause thast what you have to be to be a successful trainer

If your in it for the science..and the "why's" then I would suggest something where your "clients" appreciate you for your knowledge, rather then how cute you look in your tight gym shirt.

h19
 
I agree eventhough I train and make good money. I am an exception to the rule. I make less than six figures though nothing like 125,000 But then again I live in VA cost of living is much lower. Now as for what db said hell yes if you are premed go into Physicla thearapy or Something. I made decent money until I got my masters in Nutrition now that i have that I can claim a portion of a specialty market, ie diabetics, obesie patients and or athletes that need help. These people are willing to pay top dollar for the help of a so called expert. I get more money from giving nutrition advice thn from training but it is all in the same realm. As far as the next phase if you do personal training go with a big gym first. I feel that the benefits of having people walk through the doors and want to work out a good thing for a first timer. And you get medical most of the time so you dont have to pay liability insurance or health for you. These are important as they can get expensive if you dont have clients all the time. But as someone said sometimes you have to clean and that can suck. If you love working out and love helping people and dont really care a bunch about money this is a profession for you. And take some sales and marketing classes because they will help as well.

Whale
 
Mr. Striation - I agree with DB with respect to the other available fields. I would be leery of PT; you might think about ATC. With the former you'd be more likely working with older debilitated patients and I doubt you'd love it.

As far as medical school goes, the nice thing about medicine is that there really is some field that almost any person can choose that they would enjoy and get satisfaction. The field is incredibly broad. Sometimes the problem is choosing correctly. I've known many people who've chosen poorly. If they're lucky, they realize the mistake early and can switch into something more acceptable. If that isn't possible, well, that just sucks.

A lot of people who are athletically minded have gone into orthopaedic surgery, which is a kick-ass field, no question. Furthermore, after residency orthopods can do a sports medicine fellowship and further specialize their practice. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get any better.

If you do decide on medicine, do not do so for the money. You will not be happy. You can earn more in other fields, and there are few professions that have more bullshit to deal with. Physician's salaries have been stagnant for a decade, and there is the possibility that things could get worse.

If you do decide on medical school, just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.
 
hamper19 said:
80 grand only for the SC coach of the 49ers?

h19
Click to expand...
He's not the head guy of their training program, that would be Jerry Attaway but I don't know how much he makes.

BTW, John York is a cheap bastard, he can't even pay his players avergae market value. Dorkie ruined the team of the 80's.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top