Best place for a Personal Trainer to work at?

What do you guys think are the best places to work at for a personal trainer. In my opinion it's best if you have a private studio with your own clients, but not to many trainer can get this. Probably second would be places like community center's or ymca's. You get paid even when your not training. Its not as much though, but something is better than nothing. What do you guys think are good places to work at the big chains like gold's gym, liftime, bally's, LA fitness, 24 hr fitness, ETC. ? and why?

own studio ftmfw

Private club, a hospital or physical therapist clinic (granted you have the credentials).

[QUOTE=corygoose;321033941]What do you guys think are the best places to work at for a personal trainer. In my opinion it's best if you have a private studio with your own clients, but not to many trainer can get this. Probably second would be places like community center's or ymca's. You get paid even when your not training. Its not as much though, but something is better than nothing. What do you guys think are good places to work at the big chains like gold's gym, liftime, bally's, LA fitness, 24 hr fitness, ETC. ? and why?[/QUOTE]

I couldn't help but notice your post - The best way I can really answer this questions is to send you to a link where we go into this debate pretty in depth -
Pretty much, these places are notorious for underpaying their trainers and making them work long hours while forcing you to deal with crappy management -

It's kind of a "pick your poison" - Here's the article:

[url]http://super-trainer.com/welcome-to-hell-personal-trainers-reveal-their-healthclub-horror-stories/[/url]

I would go to a place that has the most people, that way you might have more clients. There are also private studios that are more one and one that have a higher payout. Once you have some experience you can always apply to become a wellness coordinator at a place of business and make some real ca$h.

Well you have to have experience to work in a studio, so without that, or some awesome credentials, you aren't gonna land that gig. My best bet to you would be to maybe start in a chain and gain some experience for a few months, get a client background that loves you, and then maybe at that point have the credentials to move into a studio, especially if you can tell the owner you will be bringing in your own clients. Chains do NOT care about their employees, they do NOT pay very well, and you are very expendable. But you gotta start somewhere. Hope this helps.

Your own studio

[QUOTE=mikeraw;322443331]Well you have to have experience to work in a studio, so without that, or some awesome credentials, you aren't gonna land that gig. My best bet to you would be to maybe start in a chain and gain some experience for a few months, get a client background that loves you, and then maybe at that point have the credentials to move into a studio, especially if you can tell the owner you will be bringing in your own clients. Chains do NOT care about their employees, they do NOT pay very well, and you are very expendable. But you gotta start somewhere. Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]


This is exactly 100% what I was going to say.

Starting at a studio as the first gig as a personal trainer will cause you to miss out a tremendous learning experience.

Working at a corporate gym you will be hand-fed clients without having to sell training sessions to them. This will allow you to build a clientele w/out knowing jack about selling personal training.

You will soon learn how to effectively sell your training by selling yourself and what you can do for your potential clients.

Over time you will definitely start hating the corporate gym, but you will have gone through a valuable learning experience which will help you create a fabulous service for your clients and have a long successful career as a private studio or in home personal trainer which are the 2 best places to train at if you already have experience and some cred.

[QUOTE=askthetrainer;323039221]This is exactly 100% what I was going to say.

Starting at a studio as the first gig as a personal trainer will cause you to miss out a tremendous learning experience.

Working at a corporate gym you will be hand-fed clients without having to sell training sessions to them. This will allow you to build a clientele w/out knowing jack about selling personal training.

You will soon learn how to effectively sell your training by selling yourself and what you can do for your potential clients.

Over time you will definitely start hating the corporate gym, but you will have gone through a valuable learning experience which will help you create a fabulous service for your clients and have a long successful career as a private studio or in home personal trainer which are the 2 best places to train at if you already have experience and some cred.[/QUOTE]


yeah i agree with this. for a trainer brand new to the industry, working in a bigger gym should be a no brainer.


But in general, the best place for an established trainer in a private studio

I'd say mobile pt is best, obviously i'm somewhat biased as its what i do.

I worked in a studio in the past, I found the environment monotonous. Plus living in Perth the weather is really good for 9 months of the year so being outside is nice. Plus I don't have to deal with co-workers etc.