You are a people person with a passion for health and fitness and are desperate to start motivating others to achieve their goals. But most of us don’t have the luxury of working for love alone, so realistically, what can you expect by way of a salary as a personal trainer?
Gym-based personal trainer salary
As a gym- based personal trainer, you need to be aware that you won’t receive the entire hourly rate that the client pays. The gym will take a cut or a rental as they are providing you with both the facilities and potential client base from which you could gain further customers depending on your communication skills and tenacity. Depending on the gym chain, you will probably be looking at £15 - £30 per hour. This can rise overtime however, depending on your status and skills within the club. If you are working for a club, your money will have to go through their payroll and you will have tax and National Insurance deducted.
Self-employed personal trainer salary
The salary you can expect from a being self-employed depends upon your experience, your location and to a degree, your confidence. You will need to research what other personal trainers are offering in your area so that you don’t appear astronomically high, forcing you out of the market or too cheap, as that might suggest a lack of experience or ability. Typically, self-employed personal trainers could earn £25 - £50 per hour but this could certainly be much higher as your confidence and list of qualifications increases. It is often a sensible idea to offer a discount for a certain amount of sessions to be booked and paid for in advance as long as you enforce a cancellation forfeit if one is cancelled at short notice however.
As a self-employed personal trainer, you will be responsible for completing an annual tax return. The good news is, many of the items you have purchased e.g. exercise equipment and kit for yourself will be deductible from the tax return.
Celebrity personal trainers
More common than you may think, a number of personal trainers do get the chance to train the rich and the famous. If this is the case then as a celebrity personal trainer you may be able to charge anywhere between £100 - £300 per hour.
Results-based personal trainers
You might expect all personal trainers to deliver the results their clients want. However, some trainers are better than others. Take Nick Mitchell from Ultimate Performance. Nick is an ex bodybuilder who can charge his clients £250 + per hour because time and time again he has transformed the bodies of this clients through body composition and strength training. So, if your clients start to, with your help and advice, dramaticaly transform their physiques, thn perhaps you too can start to charge more than the norm of £30 a hour.
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