Outside Personal Trainer Allowed in Gym?

torontotrainer · 10-19-2009, 10:35 AM

Hi,
I am a personal trainer with a kinesiology honours degree. I run my own company, "Personal Trainer in Toronto PTinTO dot com. Some of my clients want training at the gym where I workout. They pay their membership fees. The trainers are my gym give me mean faces and are apparently pissed off. Now the desk person and a trainer wants to speak with me.

Is there any law that states that I cannot train these clients? Maybe if I was "stealing" current members (which I am not)?

What if my clients want to workout with a qualified professional and not a fly-by-night trainer?

If anyone can answer this I would greatly appreciate it.

Regards,
Eric

loxleynew · 10-19-2009, 10:46 AM

As long as you both have membership to that gym and pay your fees then there is nothing wrong with it. They can get angry and take away your membership but there is nothing legally they can do to you or the other person.

If they ever did try and do something against you then say look we both pay our fees and we were both working out and I was showing them stuff to do. If they ask why you weren't working out too then say your back was sore that day or something. Honestly though they have nothing legally on you.

Sicshift · 10-19-2009, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torontotrainer

Hi,
I am a personal trainer with a kinesiology honours degree. I run my own company, "Personal Trainer in Toronto PTinTO dot com. Some of my clients want training at the gym where I workout. They pay their membership fees. The trainers are my gym give me mean faces and are apparently pissed off. Now the desk person and a trainer wants to speak with me.

Is there any law that states that I cannot train these clients? Maybe if I was "stealing" current members (which I am not)?

What if my clients want to workout with a qualified professional and not a fly-by-night trainer?

If anyone can answer this I would greatly appreciate it.

Regards,
Eric

Most gyms have something against it in their terms of service. Regardless, they have the right to remove memberships from anyone.

You won't get a lawsuit most likely, but you'll get your membership revoked and maybe the client too. I used to boot independent trainers all the time.

BSCSCS · 10-19-2009, 12:14 PM

Why should you get to train people there and keep all of the profit when the other trainers can't? Why would the gym let you train there without keeping any of the profit? In the eyes of the gym and the trainers, you are stealing. Stop it.

Simmo0508 · 10-19-2009, 03:11 PM

If you are training a client in a gym environment and renting space, be it on a consistent basis as an independent contractor or purely for a typical 1 hour one-off workout with somebody, you owe the occupant a percentage of your earnings. They're providing the space and equipment for you.

You can't just walk into any old gym and bring your client with you and then train on somebody else's property without prior arrangement and expect everything to go hunky dorey. It doesn't work like that in this business.

You would've learnt this sort of stuff when you were going through the certification process.

If you got caught out, i say good. Karma's a bitch. Either pay money like a lot of other trainers out there have to do, or run your sessions outdoors where you can pretty much do what you want with nobody watching. Us gym owners and managers have every right to tear up your membership if you're using our property as a place of business without like i said, prior arrangement and financial agreements.

And it's a shame too. Cos half the time if the trainer was to discuss things beforehand with the manager/s, they're usually pretty cool with it granted you're not a total tosser (smaller local gyms that is, not mainstream "boutique" places, but places that don't usually cater in PT'ing - your bodybuilding gyms for example). Yes they'll want a cut, but that's often negotiable dependent on many variances. But by going behind their backs and not being honest with people, you not only shoot yourself in the foot and look stupid in front of your client when you get confronted, but it's a bad look and image for your PT business in general. Reputation is critical. You'll be known as the dishonest, shady, unprofessional PT who doesn't do things properly.

And it doesn't matter how many or what particular cert you hold, nobody cares. Nobody tolerates liars. The trainers at that workplace have every right to be pissed off. They're employed and have contracts there - you don't.

Quote:

What if my clients want to workout with a qualified professional and not a fly-by-night trainer?

Great, then they can work out with you once you've gained employment at a gym, or once you've rented space at a private studio for example. If you're so awesome, they'd be stupid not to wait until you do find that above solution.

But realistically, most clients and prospects have no clue between the differences of the two. To them, most trainers are of similar quality. You can wave around as many fancy certs as you want, but they don't care. They just want the results and their goal/s achieved.

They have no actual way of telling the difference in quality most of the time, since most clients in general don't experience multiple trainers in order to perform a comparison. Most people see trainers as "qualified professionals" regardless. If the trainer's wearing a shirt with a logo on it, has a clipboard in hand, "they must know what they're doing" the client often thinks to themselves subconsciously.

A huge thing in this industry is to drop the arrogance and that thought that you're the "best trainer evvvaa!!~". It shines through when you think you're hot sh!t, and it's not appealing to these people that often have confidence and emotional issues that need consideration. They're after help, not a superhero.

notgumbel · 10-20-2009, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSCSCS

Why should you get to train people there and keep all of the profit when the other trainers can't? Why would the gym let you train there without keeping any of the profit? In the eyes of the gym and the trainers, you are stealing. Stop it.

^^ this

Ronin4help · 10-20-2009, 09:42 AM

You don't have the right to train members there just because you have a membership. This is the oldest trick in the book. The owners can decide that you are impeding their normal business atmoshpere and cancel your membership. It sucks but, it's their gym.

2020Wellness · 10-20-2009, 12:25 PM

Off topic, but OP, is that you in your hack squat video on your profile?

nitrotxtt · 10-20-2009, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torontotrainer

Hi,
I am a personal trainer with a kinesiology honours degree. I run my own company, "Personal Trainer in Toronto PTinTO dot com. Some of my clients want training at the gym where I workout. They pay their membership fees. The trainers are my gym give me mean faces and are apparently pissed off. Now the desk person and a trainer wants to speak with me.

Is there any law that states that I cannot train these clients? Maybe if I was "stealing" current members (which I am not)?

What if my clients want to workout with a qualified professional and not a fly-by-night trainer?

If anyone can answer this I would greatly appreciate it.

Regards,
Eric

There is definitely no law; just rules of the gym. Some gyms are more friendly to outside trainers then others. Rarely will you find that you are able to go into a chain gym, 24 Hour Fitness for example, and bring your own clients in. Stick to the smaller, regional shops and you should be ok.

I recommend speaking with the owner or manager first and establishing an agreement on pricing and boundaries. That ensure there is no ambiguity and cements the relationship.

kserajuddin · 10-20-2009, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torontotrainer

What if my clients want to workout with a qualified professional and not a fly-by-night trainer?

Yeah that's the irony - these are the only kinds of trainers you'll find in big gyms, but that's because they are the only ones that accept giving up most of their money to them -

Those are the rules - if you need a place to train your clients, there are plenty of other options -

One of them is finding a gym that DOES allow outside trainers, and right now has an under-served market - here's a post I put up about it recently:

http://super-trainer.com/making-deals-with-private-gym/

BSCSCS · 10-21-2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kserajuddin

Yeah that's the irony - these are the only kinds of trainers you'll find in big gyms, but that's because they are the only ones that accept giving up most of their money to them -

Those are the rules - if you need a place to train your clients, there are plenty of other options -

One of them is finding a gym that DOES allow outside trainers, and right now has an under-served market - here's a post I put up about it recently:

http://super-trainer.com/making-deals-with-private-gym/

The last big gym I worked for had nine locations in town with the number of trainers per gym ranging from 10 to 40. I worked at the bigger clubs and I can say that at least 80% of the trainers were very high quality trainers who were anything but "fly by night". Quit perpetuating the falsehood that all trainers at big gyms are crap.

2020Wellness · 10-21-2009, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSCSCS

The last big gym I worked for had nine locations in town with the number of trainers per gym ranging from 10 to 40. I worked at the bigger clubs and I can say that at least 80% of the trainers were very high quality trainers who were anything but "fly by night". Quit perpetuating the falsehood that all trainers at big gyms are crap.

I fully second that! You and the OP are acting very arrogant and making false claims against people you dont even know.

OP: Have you even talked to these fly by night trainers before you judge them? Keep in mind that you're far from the greatest yourself.

Id be willing to bet that all of the greatest trainers out there put their time in as one of your so called fly by night trainers.

What makes you different than the trainers you speak of? The fact that they don't have their own studio? That shows nothing about their skill level!

Im curious what your private facility looks like actually. Got a link to some pics?

oregonpanthers · 10-21-2009, 05:17 PM

Talk to the owner and just be honest. Explain who you are and where your coming from and what your goals are by working with that gym. It helps if you have relationships or connections to people in the gym now who want you as their trainer or if you have outsiders who want to get memberships to the gym only if they can work with you as their trainer. This gives you major leverage over the gym vs them having you backed without any pulling power. Some gyms have exclusive policy against this no matter what to avoid infringing on the in house trainers they employ already, talk to the club/gym owners and find out. Gotta ask and see to ever know for sure.

HautsdeSeine · 10-22-2009, 10:57 AM

Hi everyone ! That's a very interesting thread!
Look , I am actually doing my personal trainer course (and in the future I will also pass nutrition and instructor courses).

Even if I am not living in the USA , I guess the business is pretty similar worldwide.

I also am working in a suplements store , and my plan is, once I complete the course, get a couple of clients in the first place and train them keeping my job at the store.

But I must admit that I was quite unaware about all this.

My question is , what other options could I have to train my clients ?
I'm asking in case for any reason I cAnnot train them at my current gym.

Thanks !

weight-time5min · 10-22-2009, 11:09 AM

I know for some clubs, an outside trainer either has to be a member, or come as a guest of the member...

laz76 · 10-26-2009, 07:13 AM

I'm about to be in a similar situation. I picked up a private client, but we don't have a set location yet, and I'd like to be able to just pay a gym a percentage of my hourly rate to train him, and possibly future private clients there, but I don't know their policy on it yet. The client got the two of us a 1 week trial at this independent place near my current gym, but I don't know their policy on outside trainers. I was thinking of just doing the whole "I'll work out with you" thing this week for 3 days just to get the sessions in and then try to approach that whole situation if and when I join. I don't know if I should speak with management when I first go in there today and tell them the deal before we start training. I don't want to kill our 1 week guest pass if it's against their policy, but I don't want to be shady at the same time.

To the OP, you def. need to talk to management about whether they allow outside trainers, etc... and how you should be paying them to run your business out of their space. You've been getting away with it for a while, and while they can't do anything legally to you, they reserve every right to cancel your membership for basically stealing business from them. I know you're bringing your own clients there, but what's gonna happen when some member of that gym approaches you about training when the would have otherwise approached an employee of the gym? I'm all for seizing opportunity, but I also train for a large chain gym, and I'd be pissed if somebody just thought they could stroll in and run a business around us without saying anything.