Hey guys, I was going to post this in the Get a Life section but it seems more relevant to bodybuilding in general (a mod can move it if they want though)
For anyone here who is a personal trainer, how do you like your job? I’m in college now, going to go to med school, but my real passion is bodybuilding. I would never try to make a profession out of that because I don’t have the genetics to do anything incredible with it (nor would I really want it to be my whole life) but when I think of working in a gym, just training clients all day and getting to fit in workouts whenever it seems great.
I don’t think I would be satisfied with the pay, which is why I think it’s something I’d like to do after I have a career set after graduating med school, but it really does seem like one of the more fun realistic jobs out there (for someone like me anyway)
So again, how do you guys like it? What are the pro’s and con’s?
I just got hired by 24hr in California, start in 1 week. Pay is $8 an hour, and you get a percentage of the cost of a training session depending on the number or certs or degrees in that field you have. after 2000 hours you get another bump in percentage.
If you train 120 sessions a month, you get a 5% bump. sessions generally cost about $60/hr. so I make about $8 + 10.50/session = $18.50/session. you also get 20% if you sell a package of sessions, which can really add up.
I am still active duty, but doing this part time because I have no money and have wanted to for many years. I have an MBA and did a business plan for a gym about 10 years ago, and owning/managing is a real headache financially, etc. better off working doing something you enjoy like training. My goal in doing this is to get my foot in the door and after doing it for a year before I get out, get an idea of if I can make a living on it or not and just continue part time as a second job.
For what it is worth, if I didnt work in the Navy, I would have gone to SUNY Buffalo for sports medicine, graduated in 1991 and have been doing it for almost 20 years by now, so late start for me, but not for you.
I think you would have good luck doing it for a private studio and make more money than a box gym, but for my situation, a bigger company part time was better. I can’t wait to be in such a positive environment, working with and learning from some others as well as showing them what I know of strength training.