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Everyone is looking to get fit now; the health craze has been the go-to gimmick for this generation.
And if you have decided to make a career out of helping others achieve their fitness goals, you would want to know how much you can make as a personal trainer.
Other than the satisfaction of making a positive impact on somebody’s life, you would also want to make as much money as you can on the job.
However, there is an approach to maximizing any possible personal trainer salaries. Just like fitness, it starts with establishing a goal for yourself.
Once you have a clear idea of how much you want to earn, you will work towards it by getting the right number of clients and working hard throughout the month.
What Determines A Personal Trainer’s Salary
Here are some of the main factors that determine most of the US personal trainer salaries:
Qualification
It is well known that if you do not possess any certification or qualification in personal training, there would be a lower demand for your services.
This means that your wages or salary will depend on how much your services are wanted. The more certifications you have, the more clients you will be able to pull in.
Furthermore, this will enhance your reputation since personal training is a result-driven field. This entails that you will eventually be able to demand higher pay for the services you will provide.
Therefore, invest in your business and, most importantly yourself. And if you develop expertise in one or two fitness niches, you will be thought of as an authority in that area, making you highly sought-after.
Some types of personal training classes are more demanding than the rest. Therefore, you will find that you can charge higher for specialized training services.
Additionally, the certifications provided by renowned personal training schools with well-known accreditation (like NCCA or DEAC) are the only ones that matter to potential customers.
Your Experience
The longer you work as a personal trainer, the better you will be. This is particularly true when you maintain knowledge of the latest scientific research and the practical methods for fitness training.
This research will also help you better understand what works with a particular client and what does not.
All of these things will result in you gaining experience, and the more experience you have, the higher you will earn as a personal trainer.
Place And Location
In some cities, you will observe that the population does not need great motivation to keep healthy and fit. This is because they have infrastructure that allows them to stay active when they choose to be.
Whereas, there is a higher demand for personal trainers in other cities. These are usually metropolitan cities bereft of:
- Parks
- Cycling paths
- Jogging tracks
- Hiking trails
- Beautiful sceneries
That is why the pay scale is greatly affected by the location you provide your services in. Los Angeles is an excellent example of this: a city where people have just enough time in their day to squeeze in a session.
It's also a city where there is pressure to look a certain way, resulting in a host of job opportunities for personal trainers.
However, keep in mind that the location you are working from can also work against your interests as well. For example, this usually happens when there are more fitness instructors than there are clients.
That is why you must try to provide services where there is a higher demand for fitness instructors and experts. The location should also allow you to price your services at what you think you’re worth.
Hourly Wages And Fixed Salary
This will also depend on the kind of services you provide. For example, are you available on a subscription model, or do you show up when a client calls, with no promise of visiting at the same time the following day?
Some clients will pay you per hour; whereas, others will provide you with a fixed salary. In both cases, you might also receive various bonuses every year, depending on how well your business performs.
However, the problem with hourly wages is that you are not paid if you miss a day of work. Again, though, if those wages are high enough, it might not even matter.
While on the other hand, a fixed salary provides you with a sense of job security. Though, your overall wage might be lower than you should have earned if you had put in more work hours.
That is why you must weigh up your options carefully and provide services according to your financial requirements. Through this, you can deduce whether you are fairly paid or not.
The Services You Provide
The type of services you will be providing is another factor to consider. As a trainer, if you boast the most relevant qualifications and have specialized in a prevalent niche, you should expect a pretty penny.
And, if you are contemplating providing personalized one-on-one training sessions, it is natural that your clients will be paying you much higher than usual for the extra attention.
In contrast, group sessions are a bit cheaper and might affect the overall pay you take home. However, you might even make more money than usual if the group you manage is considered significant.
One of the biggest advantages of becoming a personal trainer is choosing precisely how to provide your services.
Is Personal Training A Good Career?
Personal trainer salaries in the USA are at an average of around 34k USD to 82k USD annually. If you want to know how and why the amount stands at this number, keep reading:
Self-Employed Personal Trainers
If you want to earn 82k USD annually as a personal fitness trainer, you have to:
- Be self-employed
- Charge 70$ hourly
- Work for 35 hours a week
This means that you must have 15 to 20 regular clients booking two sessions weekly on a lengthy subscription.
Furthermore, being great at sales and marketing, forging new relationships, and reaching clients' goals will also help you achieve this pay landmark.
You also have to take into account the deductions and overheads from these figures. For instance, the expenses of a freelance trainer can be pretty high; these include:
- Property rent
- Insurance
- Qualification and specialized courses cost
- Taxes
Personal Branding
Some personal trainers attain a celebrity status when they rake in clients like Premier League footballers, actors, TV stars, F1 drivers, and singers.
Some of these celebrity trainers are known to earn over 137k USD per year. The recipe for success in this field includes:
- Enhancing your knowledge over multiple aspects of health and fitness
- Marketing and business
- Years of experience as a personal trainer
- Networking
- Branding
This is the era of the Instagram celebrity. And becoming one is relatively straightforward when you’ve got an equally affluent clientele.
Most Instagram trainers can now pull millions of followers and charge around 30,000 USD for sponsoring a product.
This is the start of a brand, and you can supplement your image with a business based on the training services you provide. Hence, you can begin merchandising and collaborating.
Specializations
Various specializations play a crucial role in upping your hourly rates. The most prevalent domains these days are:
- Lower back pain specialists
- Sports nutritionist
- Treatment of GP referred client
- Suspension equipment
- Weight loss management
- Post and pre-natal exercises
Sales And Digital Marketing
The internet is the one place you want to be visible. And if you’ve got several competitors in the same city, you will have to up your social media game with sponsored posts, SEO, and video content.
Even though it is hard to quantify precisely how much you can earn digitally, but it is definitely a field you should explore.
Through digital marketing, you will not only be able to reach multiple potential clients searching for a personal trainer, but it will also allow you to effectively present your portfolio, work, and experiences to a much bigger audience.
What Education Is Needed To Become A Personal Trainer?
Just like most professional fields, those who want to serve as health and fitness specialists can expect to be compensated accordingly.
Many people out there believe in nothing but the best for themselves, and they will pay for that. And to access those clients, you have to train to be the best.
And to become a master trainer, you must have a private certificate, be certified as a nutrition specialist, and have specialization in four fitness areas. And, of course, a degree in nutrition is a big plus!
Even though becoming an advanced trainer takes a lot of effort and time, the payoff is worth it. Someone who achieves a master trainer status can typically charge around 100$ a session.
Financial success and opportunities are there for people willing to learn the scientific and practical methods that lead to proper fitness and good health.
How Much Do Personal Trainers Earn
As stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median yearly take-home for fitness instructors is a little less than $40,000.
Most fitness trainers’ jobs (around 59%) are at fitness centers. However, not all fitness industry jobs are in gyms.
There are multiple social and civic organizations, education services, self-employment, and government where many fitness instructors can find employment.
It is natural for a new personal trainer to gain experience and form relationships by working at a health club or the gym before thinking of branching out by themselves.
Furthermore, a personal trainer’s average salary also depends on the type of personal trainer you are.
National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) recognizes three types of personal fitness trainers and their median salaries;
- Gym Employed Personal Trainer – $34,000
- Independent Personal Trainer – $62,00
- Private Personal Trainer – $78,000
Meanwhile, most gyms charge around 50 dollars per session, and as a certified personal trainer, you can expect to make anywhere between 6 to 25 dollars a session.
Additionally, the length of a session usually is around 30 minutes to one hour. And gyms may ask their personal trainers to find their clients; whereas, some have a sales staff dedicated to signing up and assigning clients.
What's more, personal trainers who find their own clients typically make a sales commission for every person they bring to the gym.
There are also various bonuses for getting clients to extend training sessions when an agreement meets sales goals.
Therefore, if you’re contemplating becoming a certified personal trainer, head to Superprof. Superprof will enable you to choose from a list of private fitness tutors near you to start on your journey!
The platform that connects tutors and students
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