Anybody work @ Bally's as a Personal Trainer, I have questions

[QuietKhaos]

So I am looking into working there as a trainer but don't want to get screwed. What are the pay rates and steps on up to getting the highest pay? I already make 12/hr so would it make sense to work there instead?

[adoniscomplex]

So I am looking into working there as a trainer but don't want to get screwed. What are the pay rates and steps on up to getting the highest pay? I already make 12/hr so would it make sense to work there instead?

when i was there it started at like 22 an hour and went up based on doing the ballys training programs for trainers

the bad part about my ballys was we had like 10 trainers and no one had more then like 4 clients
we were overstaffed in a gym that was dieing

[kserajuddin]

So I am looking into working there as a trainer but don't want to get screwed. What are the pay rates and steps on up to getting the highest pay? I already make 12/hr so would it make sense to work there instead?

Yeah you here some horror stories about these gyms, but I started at Bally's and felt overall they were pretty fair - adonis has got the earnings figures about right - and yeah, they tend to overstaff - but if you hustle a lot and put in a lot of unpaid or "floor" time, you'll get enough clients to do well and average better than the $12 you're making now - use it as a learning experience and soak up as much knowledge as possible - that'll be more important than the money -

[ChrisTurk]

Guys please don't take this the wrong way, but this forum has been a big eye opener into the job market in the US. In Australia if you work at just an average retail job your looking at roughly $20 an hour if not more if your over 21 yrs old. You guys seem to have it pretty rough considering our currency is just a tad lower than yours. Here in Perth at a gym as an employee you probably wont work for less than $20 for floor time and then at least ~$30 or more for a PT session in Perth. Average income in Australia is $62 000 but ofcourse this is greatly inflated by those at the top end of earnings.

[jdmalm123]

Most commercial gyms in the US will top out at $30 per hour...maybe $40-50 if it's really upscale clientele... The gym will usually require that you have extra credentials or that you stuck around long enough and swallowed enough of their BS that the consider you loyal...

If you can set up as an independent trainer, you'll keep more of the money as long as the gyms charge a reasonable useage fee or you have your own facilities...

[Fitnessmaster68]

Dont even waste your time with ballys. The worst company ever. I briefly worked there, they will try to not pay you and tell you that you need to fill out "request forms" to get your money. They have a new manager each week, usually an 18 yr old kid. I would not recommend ballys for anything as a member or an employee.

[lcavenue]

Get hired by Ballys. Work yourself up to a Level 4 trainer. Get 25 clients (all Level 4).
This will make you do 80 redemptions per 2 weeks.

80 x $40 = $3200 every payperiod

3200 x 26 = $83,200 per year.

Trust me, you can do it.

[mcfadden47]

Dont even waste your time with ballys. The worst company ever. I briefly worked there, they will try to not pay you and tell you that you need to fill out "request forms" to get your money. They have a new manager each week, usually an 18 yr old kid. I would not recommend ballys for anything as a member or an employee.

X2, I've heard some big time horror stories.

Don't they really screw around on the corporate level aswell?

thus quoth wikipedia:D "On February 28, 2008, the SEC formally filed financial fraud charges against Bally Total Fitness. Amongst the charges, the SEC alleges that in 2001, Bally's overstated its originally reported stockholder's equity by roughly $1.8 billion (over 340%), and understated its 2003 net loss by $90.8 million, (or 845%)"


****in incredible

[mj3150]

Dont even waste your time with ballys. The worst company ever. I briefly worked there, they will try to not pay you and tell you that you need to fill out "request forms" to get your money. They have a new manager each week, usually an 18 yr old kid. I would not recommend ballys for anything as a member or an employee.

sooo your experience with one bally gym means that it happens at there other locations also?

[nickmanzoni]

sooo your experience with one bally gym means that it happens at there other locations also?
Hold that thought I WILL reply!

[Simmo0508]

Hold that thought I WILL reply!

You already did ;)

:P

[Fitnessmaster68]

sooo your experience with one bally gym means that it happens at there other locations also?

I was at several of thier locations and they have "district managers" who come around act like big shots. They had this one guy who was a corporate big shot he was from south america . He was about 4ft 11 and acted like a prick. I had facial hair when they hired me so I work there for 3 months or so and this dick comes in one day and comes up to me and says "hey you cant work here with facial hair". LOL I told him I had it when they hired me. He said I had to go home and shave it was funny. I just never went back because I already had a job at a real gym down the road that just opened. Ballys is the worst. Oh yeah and before I left I went around and told EVERYONE to come and checkout the new gym cause ballys sucks. LOL

[nickmanzoni]

I was at several of thier locations and they have "district managers" who come around act like big shots. They had this one guy who was a corporate big shot he was from south america . He was about 4ft 11 and acted like a prick. I had facial hair when they hired me so I work there for 3 months or so and this dick comes in one day and comes up to me and says "hey you cant work here with facial hair". LOL I told him I had it when they hired me. He said I had to go home and shave it was funny. I just never went back because I already had a job at a real gym down the road that just opened. Ballys is the worst. Oh yeah and before I left I went around and told EVERYONE to come and checkout the new gym cause ballys sucks. LOL
Well, despite all the "lol", I would agree with your statements.

When I worked at a ballys, the same scenario almost bit by bit. The difference is the "regional" manager was only a year older than me, and about the same amount of experience. He thought he was the mecca of all things fitness and he could do no wrong. He would consistenly allow friends of his who worked there to steal, curse, be out of uniform, but if it was someone he wasn't "boyz" with, it was reprimand and threat of termination. When I was up for promotion, and they passed it to someone who was working there for about a fraction of the time, I just quit.

Bally is great for beginners, but if you want to succeed, not the place to be.

[audipotential]

Im so happy ballys died in Canada.

[KenKash]

I started at Bally way, way back in the day when I first got out of college, and that's who should work there... trainers with little to no experience. Once you get experience, go somewhere else. All the horror stories listed above are true (not to mention Sunday as unofficial "gay day" - stay away from the showers and saunas if you're straight). The company is dying b/c of poor stock performance and shady business practices - they got caught counting future income as ACTUAL income, which is Accounting 101. In the end, if you want to make any money and keep the bosses off your back at a commercial gym, you are a salesman first, trainer second.