The Fitness Zone

Standard Rates For Personal Training Sessions (Formula Included)

Jul 23, 2014 | by AIF

It is often said that you should charge what you’re worth, but how do you determine how much you’re worth, asks Mark Matthews, Training Team Captain at the Australian Institute of Fitness.

Many new Personal Trainers ask me how much they should charge for a personal training session and are surprised by my answer. I tell them it’s not how much you charge that you should be asking; it is how much do you need to earn that is the answer.

Starting out as a Personal Trainer

Most people getting into the fitness industry for the first time have this idea of earning huge amounts of money for very little work. This can become a reality, however you need to know how much you need to make per year before deciding on a rate per hour, because if you are not making the money you need, you will find that helping people is just not enough motivation to keep you working as a Personal Trainer.

Whilst having experience and higher qualifications can boost your profile, the real proof is in your client’s results. If you are a people person, know how to motivate your clients to achieve their number one health and fitness goals and enjoy what you do, no amount of experience or qualifications can beat this. I remember in my first six months of being a Personal Trainer, I was averaging 80 clients a week. I had very little experience, yet I managed to still train 80 clients a week.

Offering Promotions and Discounts

One of the most important things to your success as a Personal Trainer is to offer the first session free, even if they have already purchased from you. This shows that you trust and believe that your client will achieve the results whilst enjoying the experience along the way.

People will buy from you if they trust you, they won’t trust you if you don’t show them what you have to offer them.

Try this simple formula below If you are unsure how much to charge as a Personal Trainer. Please note these formulas are purely for determining how much revenue you will earn – this is not profit and your business expenses must be taken into account prior to your decision on your first figure.

For one-on-one personal training

The first thing you need to decide is how much money you want to earn per year. Let’s say $150,000.

Secondly you need to decide how many weeks you want to work per year? Let’s say 46, so we can take 6 weeks off during the year to stay fresh.

Thirdly you need to decide how many hours you want to work per week? Let’s say 30, so we don’t over work and we can spend time doing other things we love.

Now do this formula:
$150,000 ÷ 46 = $3,206 ÷ 30 = $106 per hour we need to charge or $53 per session. This fits well within a $90 ($45-90 is the going rate) per 30-45 min session.

There you have a simple and easy to follow formula on how much you should charge your clients.

If you are thinking about a career in fitness however, the first step is to get qualified. Jump onto our website  to check out the course options to have you training clients in no time!

AIF

AIF

The Australian Institute of Fitness
The Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) is the largest and longest established fitness training organisation in Australia, with dynamic training methods and expert course coaches nationwide - spanning fitness, massage and nutrition. The AIF qualifies more fitness professionals than any other provider in Australia, as well as offering a broad range of continuing education courses (CEC), upskilling resources and partnership programs for existing industry.

Read more articles

View all articles

Disclaimer: Where Certificate III in Fitness, Cert III/Cert 3, or Fitness Coach is mentioned, it refers to SIS30321 Certificate III in Fitness. Where Certificate IV in Fitness, Cert IV/Cert 4, or Personal Trainer is mentioned, it refers to SIS40221 Certificate IV in Fitness. Where Master Trainer Program™ is mentioned, it refers to Fitness Essentials and SIS40221 Certificate IV in Fitness. Where Master Trainer Plus+ Program™ is mentioned, it refers to SIS30321 Certificate III in Fitness and SIS40221 Certificate IV in Fitness. Where Certificate IV in Massage or Cert IV/Cert 4 is mentioned, it refers to HLT42021 Certificate IV in Massage Therapy. Where Diploma of Remedial Massage is mentioned, it refers to HLT52021 Diploma of Remedial Massage.

chatsimple