PT fees to gyms

[Ronin]

Just curious, what's a ballpark figure for gyms to charge PTs? Do they just charge them a set weekly fee, or is it a % of what the PTs charge their clients?

[kels]

im curious as to how PT's make there money? do they receive a wage from the gym or is it just from there clients and then pay the gym a %?

[Ronin]

From what I've seen and heard, it's the latter. I'm just trying to work out what that % is. I'm not expecting anyone to cough up the specific details of their income, just an idea. I know of one gym here that charges a flat rate of $165 rent per week, regardless of how many clients the trainer sees. I have no idea if that's good or bad. I've heard that other gyms take $x per booking.

Oooh, follow-up, when Joe Public joins a gym, they usually get a handful of free PT sessions thrown in. Does the gym compensate the PT for these, or does he/she work pro bono, in the hope that Joe will continue to be the PT's client (kind of a loss-leader situation)?

[HumanPerformance]

Hey Ronin, most of the bigger gym chains just charge a flat fee like the one you mentioned. Club physical charges $170 a week reguardles of how many hours you do or how much you charge. Les Mills is the same but charges around $200 a week. Some government run centres charge around $130-$140 a week, so the $165 you quoted is about average. There are some gyms though that charge per client, so they may chrage you $10 for every hour you work, so if you work 30 hours you have to pay them $300!

So the way the bigger gym chains charge is definately the way to go.

As to your qestion on new members getting free sessions with trainers these are normally always "club trainers" or gym instructors. They work directly for the gym and recieve an hourly rate. Some may recieve an extra $10 or so an hour on top of thier hourly rate for personal training sessions that are not introductory sessions. Club trainers that only work for wages are often the people who give PTs in general a bad name, as they have no inentive to provide quality service because it dosent matter if a client sticks with them or not, they still get paid the same reguardless.

[Ronin]

Thanks HP, that's just the sort of information I was after. Cheers

[iwilson]

HumanPerformance hit the nail on the head with his post. Most Clubs charge a flat rate regardless of the number of sessions a PT does. This gives the PT an incentive to pick up as many clients as possible. Occasionally a Gym will charge a percentage but this is not advisable since unless you have complete trust or control there's nothing to stop the PT from under reporting sessions. Alternatively some Clubs sell the rights to PT to an outside company. Generally for a fixed term, this can have advantages for the Club in getting a big lump of cash up front and removing the administration cost and HR headaches of finding decent PT's. However the Club looses control of what is for most a core business.

If as I suspect you're looking at getting into the PT game then let me give you a heads up. The majority of PT's make nothing as the entry bar is very low in terms of the time and money it takes to become 'qualified'. The few who make it don't do so on the back of qualifications, it's a combination of personality, long hours and marketing ability. The younger you are the harder it is, the richer the pickings the more expensive rent will be. I couldn't tell you the number of bright eyed and bushy tailed fresh out of AUT PT's that have come and gone over the years. Those that succeed have often come from a background of elite sport or could sell coal to Newcastle. If you're young the best way to start is as a Fitness Instructor working for a Club that way you get to met and greet members for Fitness assessments, over time this can translate into PT sessions if you're good enough.

[Optimass]

HumanPerformance hit the nail on the head with his post. Most Clubs charge a flat rate regardless of the number of sessions a PT does. This gives the PT an incentive to pick up as many clients as possible. Occasionally a Gym will charge a percentage but this is not advisable since unless you have complete trust or control there's nothing to stop the PT from under reporting sessions. Alternatively some Clubs sell the rights to PT to an outside company. Generally for a fixed term, this can have advantages for the Club in getting a big lump of cash up front and removing the administration cost and HR headaches of finding decent PT's. However the Club looses control of what is for most a core business.

If as I suspect you're looking at getting into the PT game then let me give you a heads up. The majority of PT's make nothing as the entry bar is very low in terms of the time and money it takes to become 'qualified'. The few who make it don't do so on the back of qualifications, it's a combination of personality, long hours and marketing ability. The younger you are the harder it is, the richer the pickings the more expensive rent will be. I couldn't tell you the number of bright eyed and bushy tailed fresh out of AUT PT's that have come and gone over the years. Those that succeed have often come from a background of elite sport or could sell coal to Newcastle. If you're young the best way to start is as a Fitness Instructor working for a Club that way you get to met and greet members for Fitness assessments, over time this can translate into PT sessions if you're good enough.

Quality advice mate :clap:

[Lowfat]

As a 'mature' PT I've watched for years the younger ones that come through only to get thrown by the behind the scenes stuff that you need to take care of in order to succeed as a PT. I'm talking about client tracking, programming, tax(if your self-employed), bills, booking and rebooking, chasing payments, marketing, promos, and so on. Basically for every hour you spend with a client in the gym you spend an hour taking care of the rest of your business. This is what truly brings out those young dreamers who are 'in love with the idea of being a PT' but don't really understand what is involved. It's a real pity as some of these young guns have real talent, but their work ethic can be sadly lacking or non-existent.

Re fees - you guys are basically right in what you say, fixed rent regardless of hours for a self-employed PT. However, employed PT's (those who work for the gym) can pay up to half their session price to the gym for their 'cut'. The incentive to get more PT hours for the employed trainer is a reduction in the gym 'cut' per session the more hours the trainer does each week. This is the norm in many parts of the US and Canada which I personally experienced for a number of years.