Once you are a qualified Personal Trainer, unless you know exactly where you want to work, it is good to look into
the different options available to you.
You generally have three options:
1. Work from a gym or health club on a self-employed basis.
2. Become employed by the gym.
3. Work on a self-employed basis from home, out of your own studio, as a mobile PT or in a local park.
Working as a self-employed Personal Trainer in a gym or health club
When working out of a gym or health club on a self-employed basis you need to look into which of the below options is best for you:
• Paying a monthly rent.
• Working a set amount of hours on the gym floor per week (unpaid).
If you decide that you want to go with the option of paying a monthly rent there are a few different factors to consider:
• How much is the rent?
• What are your other monthly outgoings? For example, are you still paying for your course in instalments?
• How many PT sessions you need to deliver to cover the rent each month – if your rent is £400 a month and you are delivering PT sessions at £30 per hour you need to deliver 14 sessions a month to cover this rent.
• The earning potential when working self-employed is uncapped, as long as there is no percentage of earnings taken from your sessions.
• If you are delivering 3 PT sessions a day Mon-Sat at £30 an hour that’s £540 a week and your month’s rent covered!
• Remember, because you are self-employed you choose the hours you work; in the early days you will need to put in the hours to ensure you are successful.
• Most gyms who offer this kind of position will allow you some time to settle into the role and gain a client base. Some don’t charge you rent for the first two months or offer a sliding scale of rental amount which gradually increases.
If you are looking to work out of a gym on a self-employed basis but are unsure of paying rent, working hours on a gym floor may be the option for you. Here are a few things to consider:
• The hours on the gym floor usually range from 10-15 per week and are unpaid, however this doesn’t mean that you only need to do 10-15 hours in the short term to be successful. This is your commitment to the company, you again will need to put in a lot of hours at the start to ensure you are getting in front of as many people as possible.
• During this time you will be asked to take inductions and classes – this is a great opportunity to get to meet new members and show off your skills to potential clients.
• Some gyms will also ask you to do general duties on the gym floor, which include keeping the equipment and premises tidy and clean. Examples of gym chains that use this model are Pure Gym and The Gym Group.
Working as a Personal Trainer on an employed basis in a gym or health club
There are three main gyms that will employ their staff: Virgin Active, David Lloyd and Nuffield Health.
Virgin Active: At Virgin Active you have the benefits of being employed whilst working as a Personal Trainer. Your role will be solely the delivery of PT sessions and you are paid an hourly rate for the PT sessions which you deliver.
The amount you are paid per hour will increase with the amount of sessions you are delivering per week (on average).
You still need to source your clients from the membership database and market yourself to them.
David Lloyd and Nuffield Health: These chains will employ you and pay you a basic salary. Your duties will include working on the gym floor, taking inductions and compiling programmes. For the PT sessions, which you deliver on top of this, you are paid a commission. David Lloyd gyms often also have self-employed Personal Trainers on the gym floor.
Be aware that the starting salary in an employed role is usually £12,000-£16,000 pa; in most cases you will be able to supplement this income by delivering personal training.
Some independent gyms and council-run gyms may also employ their staff. Why not set up job alert emails on our jobs board to be the first to receive the latest vacancies?