The Challenges of In-Home Personal Fitness Training & Advice for Working with Gyms

I recently posted a discussion on LinkedIn for the Personal Trainers group members, and I had a really descriptive response from a man named, Carl Wagner.

If you're thinking about entering the personal training industry, or if you're considering changing directions, this response is quite helpful... (Know what you're getting into it and prepare!)

"I have been in personal training for a very long time. I've worked both in the AT home and in the gym settings as well as owning a PT business with over 30 trainers in 3 gyms.

"I have to say that you can maximize your time working in a gym. At home trainings there is always [travel time] to be factored in. It is harder to schedule your trainings because of unknowns in travel... All of this I found to very stressful - if I gave too much time I was early and had to hang out somewhere before my scheduled time, or I was stressed because I was going to be late at no fault of my own.

"SIDE NOTE: This may sound extreme - but you also put your life at risk the more you travel - every minute you are on the road you are at risk.

"Also since most business is word of mouth - you may train two or more people from the same neighborhood but at different times in the same day. The back and forth gets to be wearisome.

"Now all that being said - you tend to make more money with at home training than in the gym - but you must factor in your drive time. You may get 10-30% more per training but if you have a 15 minute ride (each way) you need to charge 50% more just to break even.

"Lastly, it is easier to stabilize your income as a trainer at a gym. You have much more opportunity to self-advertise simply by being busy on the gym floor. Not to mention you can have back-to-back trainings and be done with your work day and go home.

Now, if you're running an at-home training business or considering it; don't be too discouraged by this discussion. Every individual is different. But everything Wagner writes is true. In-home training is a lucrative career, but it isn't as easy as some would have you believe. Plan for how you're going to deal with the day-to-day stress and plan to work harder at marketing yourself. (And definitely don't forget the legal docs!)

If, however, you're leaning towards club-only training, consider more advice from Wagner....

"Be sure to look for a gym that is willing to take a [certain percentage] or flat fee per half hour of training time. Try to avoid gyms that want to hire you for a set amount per training. You need to keep the control of your rates and schedule.

"One last tip: to get the maximum [profit] for your trainings at a gym - do NOT go for the rich people that want to train 3X per week. They tend to be away on business more often and vacation more often... It is next to impossible to get the training time ($) back that you lose with a 3x per week person when they are out of town.

"The best thing to do is offer the average person on a budget something like this: Lets train together 2-3 times a week for 6 trainings until you get the hang of it. Then lets move to 1x per week or 1x every two weeks or 1x per month just to keep you moving in the right direction or to change up your routine.

"When you have a bunch of people going 1x per week to 1x per month it is very easy to reschedule them, if they need to change their appointment; hence you have a much more stable income at the end of the month.

"This is what I trained my trainers to do when I owned the business - and it is a very profitable model."

*These comments were editted slightly--for length.

Thank you, Mr. Wagner, for your advice and your perspective!