Trainer Turnover... Trainer Burnout? [Forum Archive]

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Trainer Turnover... Trainer Burnout?

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Posted by: Pierzin

I am curious about something, and maybe those of you in the know can tell me about it. I have been a member of my gym for about four years now and I've seen so many personal trainers come and go, it's like this gym has a revolving door for them.

Why is it some personal trainers just don't stick around? At another location, their turnover is not so high. Even so, only about half of them(at this 2nd branch), have been there 2+ years. But the one I go to, I think there is only one that's been there as long as I have been a member, and he's gotta be a manager. Hell, some of them are only there 6 months, -if that- then poof!, you just don't see them!
There are exceptions, of course, like the trainer I saw last fall. I had decided to splurge and give myself a 101-er- re-evaluation with how I was training. (and yes, it was totally worth it!) Anyway, my trainer had been with the company 7 years. He still loves it. He had to have the longest tenure of anyone I had seen there yet!
Are they like retail clerks, or fast food workers, just faceless automotons who come and go? Are most of them college students? I usually don't talk to them, because the last one I talked to tried to sell me a weight gaining powder.

What happened to people who stayed in one place for at least a few years before they moved on to something else?

Is it symptomatic of other careers in customer service, working with the public? Burnout? Do some companys have sales quotas they have to meet, or what? Curious....

Posted by: Dale Mabry

It is the way the industry is. First off, most commercial gyms have a quota, an amount of training you have to sell per month. If you miss that quota twice, yo are gone. I worked for a gym that said selling PT was the last thing they were worried about, they only worried that the members were happy and that as long as member services were good, no one would be let go. Funny thing is, they led off every meeting with how much PT was sold and, eventually, let a couple people go for unkown reasons. I am a horrible salesperson and if it wasn't for my pleasurable demeanor and friendly relationship with 90% of the members, I would have been shit canned too. As it were, they asked me to come on full-time, but I told them no since I was about to get brought on full-time where I am now, making far more than I would have there.

Another reason is that the PT business is a very unstable business when working at a gym. Gym usage drops severely in the summer which means so will your income. Most cannot save to survive this problem.

The only other reason I can think of is the same reason I stopped. You could call it burnout, I call it, "I am sick of telling these retards what to do, then seeing them out at the bar getting shitfaced, and then asking me a month later why they haven't lost weight."

Posted by: P-funk

Quote:

The only other reason I can think of is the same reason I stopped. You could call it burnout, I call it, "I am sick of telling these retards what to do, then seeing them out at the bar getting shitfaced, and then asking me a month later why they haven't lost weight." I will never train a soul again because I find it a waste of my time and effort. Out of the about 80 people I have trained, I would say 10 were a pleasure to work with. That would mean that 1 hour out of every 8 hour work day was pleasurable, this I cannot handle. Some people have no problem handling this, I do.

Posted by: Pierzin

The only other reason I can think of is the same reason I stopped. You could call it burnout, I call it, "I am sick of telling these retards what to do, then seeing them out at the bar getting shitfaced, and then asking me a month later why they haven't lost weight."

I will never train a soul again because I find it a waste of my time and effort. Out of the about 80 people I have trained, I would say 10 were a pleasure to work with. That would mean that 1 hour out of every 8 hour work day was pleasurable, this I cannot handle. Some people have no problem handling this, I do.

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Thanks Dale for your response. That explains a lot. That's an unsavory commentary on a company that they shitcan people if they don't meet their quota, but if that's the way it is, that's the way it is. That also explains the tension I have felt from some of the people there. The folks that are doing well, you can read it all over their faces. And the ones who aren't, well....

As far as giving advice goes, I hear you loud and clear. My attitude toward advice is, take it or leave it. I work in a business where we give advice every single day. I could care less what they do with it. That is their responsibility. In fact, I expect people to forget what I have told them within five minutes. People need to get a grip. We can't hold their hand when they leave our business.

Trouble is, most people are just too busy, they've formed too many habits, and if they want to change those habits it takes too much effort. Those people who are willing to make the effort to change themselves should be applauded. It is unfortunate that they are the minority.

All of this is not to say I am a negative person. In fact, I feel I run on a pretty even keel. I have lots of regular customers and most of them are great.
I would only consider training as a part time job for the reasons discussed above, and then consider changing careers after a while. I just figured there were a lot of people on this board who would be interested.

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Posted by: MuscleNYC

Burn out is one reason trainers leave a gym. The main culprit though is money. Personal trainers who are employed at gyms dont make much money at all. I worked as a trainer for many gyms here in Manhattan and most of my clients now work with me independently, outside of the gyms. I charge a little less, than the gym would have charged my client. Now the client saves money, and I make money. Thats what happens to us good trainers. We work for ourselves. i work only 4-5 hours a day now independently and have a much better income than when i worked 12 hours a day at a gym.

Posted by: P-funk

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuscleNYC

Burn out is one reason trainers leave a gym. The main culprit though is money. Personal trainers who are employed at gyms dont make much money at all. I worked as a trainer for many gyms here in Manhattan and most of my clients now work with me independently, outside of the gyms. I charge a little less, than the gym would have charged my client. Now the client saves money, and I make money. Thats what happens to us good trainers. We work for ourselves. i work only 4-5 hours a day now independently and have a much better income than when i worked 12 hours a day at a gym.

bingo

Posted by: Dale Mabry

So true. Some scandalous shit went down at the last gym I worked at after I left. Pretty much all of the trainers were training some of their clients under the table, but the majority of them over the table. The gym was doing like $18000 a month in personal training, so they weren't running the gym into the ground. The owner found out about the under the table stuff, and fired all the trainers except one, a buddy of mine. One of the trainers who left took 90% of his clients with him and is doing at home training making twice as much as he was. Other trainers didn't fair as well and took on new jobs, but the gym's personal training went down to $6000, $4000 of which was done by my buddy alone. The training market is very volatile, if you are a self-starter, you will do well. I can think of no gym that pays their trainers any more than 50% of what they charge for PT, which is outrageous. Just think if you had to give your boss half of your paycheck every month, you would be pissed.

Posted by: rule62

If you are not working for/with a gym or one of the chain gyms, where do you do the actual training? I was wondering if it would be possible to negotiate a smaller take with a local gym as an independent trainer - my guess is the bigger chains would probably say no. Of course there would be issues of liability, etc.

Posted by: Dale Mabry

The gym I was at had gym employees and subcontractors, both were given 50%. If you brought in a certain amount each month, they would give you a little more. Training people in their own home s the way to go and all you generally need are powerblocks and an adjustable bench. If they get more into it you can talk them into buying stuff for themselves. Let's face it, most peeps who can afford a trainer could most certainly afford a squat rack and a pull up bar.

Posted by: Pierzin

Wow.
this has been an enlightening thread. thanks everybody for your response.

Posted by: P-funk

Quote:

Originally Posted by rule62

If you are not working for/with a gym or one of the chain gyms, where do you do the actual training? I was wondering if it would be possible to negotiate a smaller take with a local gym as an independent trainer - my guess is the bigger chains would probably say no. Of course there would be issues of liability, etc.

In NYC there are a lot of private training studios that will allow private trainers to bring their own clients in for a small fee. It works out pretty well if you have a client that only trains with a trainer (that would be you) meaning they don't come to the gym any other time on their own. If they come on there own then you have to work at a club were they can be members at so that they have access whenever they want.

Posted by: Jenny

I worked as a PT for a year, mostly to get some extra cash while going to college. I signed a deal with a gym where I'd pay them a set fee each month and was then able to train as many people as I wanted to, getting the money myself. This worked great when I had a lot of clients, but some months I could barely make enough to pay for the fee (summer!). After a year I got bored with it. I enjoy consulting people and giving them advise and I love seeing people change and grow. What I don't enjoy is the actual training in the gym, just pushing them to do one more set and stuff. I don't enjoy correcting peoples form a billion times when they have no sense of balance or control over their movements. Especially not if they are nasty old men and I have to touch them and see them look at me sleezingly. I even had one man send me love notes to my email, which led to me letting another trainer take over (which the man never showed up to). Seeing people not taking advise and have them blame it on whatever is also frustrating. Ugh, I don't miss that. I missed the interaction with people and helping them improve their life style, so I'm currently doing a "lifestyle coaching" kind of thing where I offer diet and lifestyle advise. I live in Sweden and don't have to be afraid of being sued, but in the US I would probably not be able to do that with a plain PT license. I wouldn't want to be a PT full time, it's just not for me. Right now I'm studying health science and will get my masters in a couple of years. I want to stay in the health field but I don't think I'll be doing Personal Training again.

Posted by: Dale Mabry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenny

Especially not if they are nasty old men and I have to touch them and see them look at me sleezingly.

I always wondered how you and Eggs met.

Posted by: Jenny

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

I always wondered how you and Eggs met.

Posted by: andyo

Wayne I have never heard it said better, I feel your pain, and me living in the most obese, uneducated about fitness area of the country doesn't help either.

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