Why your PT charges so much money

"Wow! $60 for one session? that's a lot!"

"That's half of what a PT will charge you at [big gym franchise who shall remain anonymous]!" I replied. That's not mentioning that guy in Brisbane who charged $400 per session back in 2013. His policy was to double his rates every year... I shudder to think what he must be charging these days!

When discussing Personal Training with people, the "cost per session" topic always arises. Whether they're talking about my rates, or others rates, people ​always say how expensive it is to get training. And when you think about the rate for a session in comparison with the time you may actually spend with your trainer, you're probably right. It IS expensive (especially if your trainer costs $400 / session). But there's a lot going on for us PT's that you may not have thought about. So on behalf of every Personal Trainer in the industry, let me share with you where your money goes when you pay us!

(Note: This is not a rant or vent or complaining session about people not paying us. It's something to help you understand why we charge what we do. It's important that we understand each other, right? Understanding makes relationships better :) )

• Knowledge, training and experience.

Every personal trainer you encounter will have their certification. In Australia you can't be an active Personal Trainer conducting sessions without at least your Certificate Four in Fitness. Depending on the training institution they go through, this will take anywhere from 6 weeks (yikes!) to one year to achieve. During these courses aspiring trainers learn everything they need to know to make sure you reach your goals as quickly as possible, while being as safe as possible. On top of this formal education, trainers often have years of experience in different sports as well as exercise itself. We don't charge what we charge because we feel like it, it's because we know what we're doing.

• We're running a business.

Now, just because we're running a business, it doesn't mean that we're all about getting numbers and making as much money as we can at the expense of those we train. Not at all! With running a business comes a LOT of financial responsibility.
- We have to sort out our own taxes (starting at 28% in Australia) & superannuation,
- Professional insurances (anywhere from $120 - $500 per year),
- Music licensing (approx $375 for a small bootcamp, right up to $3,500 for a facility with 100 members),
- Professional registration (anywhere from $220 - $440 every two years),
- Continuing education courses (often courses with enough credits will cost at least $1,000),
- Purchasing equipment, first aid kits as well as doing first aid courses,
- Vehicle registration and maintenance costs (at least $700 per year for registration alone),
- Uniforms,
- Programming software, etc.
I'm sure there's things that I've forgotten, but this is a good summary of what we need to pay for and these things are not cheap!

• We pay rent.

Whenever I tell people that Personal Trainers pay rent to the gym / studio they work from, they are surprised. The vast majority of Trainers subcontract to a facility, and have to pay to be there. They do not get paid to be there unless they are working on the front reception desk, or are a manager of some description. The only time they get paid for training is when they have a session. So if a Trainer has a client at 6am, and then doesn't have another client until 4pm, that's a whopping 9 HOURS that they are in the gym unpaid. I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't be happy with only getting paid for 2 hours of their working day! The cheapest rent in a gym that I have heard of is about $220 per week. The most expensive I have heard of is $475 per week. We have to pay this, or we can't earn money to even feed ourselves (sounds dramatic? Well, it's true).
What about those outdoor trainers who run group sessions in parks, or trainers who use community halls? You've still gotta pay! Depending on the council, Trainers need to pay for use of public land. And community halls are cheap, but it's still an expense. And if you work from home, you still need to pay rent at home, or mortgage and rates if you're lucky enough to be a home owner. Often if you run a business from home, your home insurance rates increase too.

• We need to train ourselves.

Just like you, we need to train ourselves! Sometimes we use the gym / facility we work at because we might get a free membership (which isn't actually all that free when you think about how much our rent costs...). Often we have our own Trainers or participate in our favourite sports, which costs extra money. We don't train ourselves just because it's our job to be fit and healthy and look our best. We train ourselves because we enjoy it and often it's a bit of "me time". (Side note - if you see your trainer having a session, give them a friendly wave and leave them be. They probably love to see you and chat to you, but they may have had a crazy day and need a bit of quiet time).

• Compensation.

I wasn't quite sure what heading I should use for this one, so I really am sorry if it doesn't quite fit what I'm trying to say. Being a Personal Trainer is often a very emotionally (as well as physically) taxing role. Don't get me wrong - we love our jobs! But dealing with the public is hard. Dealing with people who are trying to change is harder. And often, we have stuff going on in our lives that we need to shove into the back of our minds every day so we can help you reach your goals. You see, we're not just people who conjure up a workout, count your reps and check your form. Often we become a counsellor, but we aren't taught how to deal with emotionally heavy situations as a regular counsellor or psychologist is. We are invested in your success from Day One and sometimes it can feel like we want your success more than you do. We get up early for you and we stay up late for you. We think about you in our down time, and we worry about you when you don't show up for a session and you haven't contacted us. We are your biggest supporters!

• Investment.

You are not investing in your Trainer. From the list of expenses a few paragraphs ago, you can see we have a lot of expenses and just because you pay us $60 per session it doesn't mean we're getting rich off you. You are investing in YOU. I've heard it referred to as "hurt money". Because we're motivated by avoiding pain, when we waste our hard earned money, it hurts us, right? So paying your Trainer $60 and not showing up for a session is going to hurt! It's extra incentive for you to turn up, put in the hard yards, and eventually say "Thanks, I couldn't have done this without your help" when you reach your goals. As much as we don't like to think that we do it, we let people down. Even our friends and family. Especially ourselves. When you don't turn up to a session, sure, your Trainer is disappointed. But you are disappointed too, aren't you? You feel like a failure, you feel like giving up, then we have a discussion about you feeling like a failure and you feeling like giving up. Your Trainer tries to encourage you not to give up. We both know that you don't really want to give up. You don't want to fail again. You don't want to have another experience that "didn't work." You want to be successful, you want to be happy and you want to be healthy and look awesome. And if you give up now, all of that hard work is just a waste of time. Don't do that to yourself, okay? Contrary to popular belief, we're not trying to "keep you on the books" so we can take your money. You came to us for help, and we know that we can help you. Don't let yourself down and waste your investment. You are the best investment you will ever make!

There's probably other things that I can write down on this list, but I think that's probably going to be overkill. You get the idea. We're not here to rip you off, or get rich off of you. Our rates are set so we can pay our bills, have a roof over our head, eat, and motivate you to actually set foot in a gym / go to a bootcamp / whatever so you can reach your goals and live your best life possible. It's absolutely up to you how much you pay for a Trainer. You're an adult and you can make up your own mind how much you want to pay. If you don't like a Trainer or how much they charge, try again with someone else. Simple as that! Hopefully you feel informed now, when the topic of cost comes up and you can be confident that you won't get ripped off :)