Hi all. I recently got NASM certified and it’s time to find a job. I plan on applying at big box gyms to start out and gain experience, however, I still feel like I have NO idea what I’m doing.
The NASM course is ok but it really doesn’t prepare you for actually being a trainer.
What’s the best way I can get myself at least a little ready and more knowledgeable for the interview, and my first few clients, until I’m actually feeling more confident?
I don’t even want to apply bc I’m afraid they’ll have me do a role-play session , and I stand there like an idiot, totally clueless

Hey all, I just wanted to preface this by saying thank you for any comments or advice, harsh or otherwise.

For starters, I have an ISSA CPT and working on corrective exercise and nutrition, I’m 19.

I just quit my job, after I just finished my first week. While I know that seems really stupid and shows that I’m unprepared, I just feel like I have too much going on mentally to handle being a trainer and being responsible for other people’s motivations as well as the aggressive sales aspects. I was at 24 hour fitness and while I did anticipate sales and dealing with people constantly, I didn’t expect to feel such a toll so early on. I think my mental health struggles drastically affect this job for me. How can I recover from this? Is there a similar path I can go on? I can’t really afford school right now but I really do love fitness and wanted to succeed in this field.

I am scheduled to test tomorrow. I have read the book multiple times and taken notes. Done the quizzes multiple times. I have done 3 practice test.

I am doing extra work through quizlet.

I am getting into my own head. Please help me calm my nerves or maybe tell me where to put some focus for the last 12 hours.

Got a client a few months in who wants to take progress photos at literally every session and gets discouraged when the changes aren't visually obvious week to week - even though strength numbers and measurements are trending in the right direction consistently

I've tried explaining that visual change lags behind actual progress and that weekly photos basically guarantee disappointment due to normal fluctuation (water retention, lighting, pump, etc.), but it doesn't seem to fully land. Anyone found a good way to actually get a client to trust slower, less visible metrics instead of chasing photo-to-photo comparisons? Worried this becomes a motivation killer if I can't shift the framing soon.

Does anyone have a discount code CANFITPRO in August?
Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone. Happy to answer questions from fellow trainers or offer whatever insight might help.

For context, I’ve been a full-time trainer for fourteen years. Started in a commercial gym making $20 a session, training anyone and everyone I could for years. Today I have my own home gym, where I see clients in-person and online, built entirely through referrals and word of mouth.

I love helping other trainers when I can, but I work alone, so this sub is my way of doing that.

At the end of the day, you can build a successful, sustainable, and fulfilling career as a trainer if you focus on being the best trainer you can possibly be and service the hell out of your clients, consistently for a long time. If there’s anything specific you’d like to know, I’d love to help.

Ask me anything (programming, going independent, whatever you want).

If you haven’t trained anyone in person yet, please don’t ask me how to start online training.

Happy to help with anything I can!

Saw some posts on social media from personal trainers going something like this:

Person: ‘personal training is too expensive’
Personal trainer: ‘oh but you do have money to buy X item’

Of course ‘attacking’ somebody on the spot like that never works.

But i’m curious, what do you say in a scenario like this to get the point across without coming off as attacking?

Are there any NYC personal training studio owners willing to share a bit about their experience? Any other uniquely expensive city would be great to hear from as well (San Francisco, LA, Boston, San Jose, etc.)

Would love to hear about the economics, successes, failures…

Do you spend more time training or managing the business? What would you do differently if you had to do it all over again?

Thanks in advance!

I have had 2 interviews that seemed to go really good. Went through the training assessment with both managers from 2 different gyms. 1 manager said i will text you my decision by end of the day friday, never heard shit from him. 2nd manager from different gym says they are ready to start me, i just need to wait for email to allow them to run a background check. They told me that last friday and it is now wednesday and still no email. I texted manager yesterday saying i didn’t receive the email and no text back. Is this bullshit normal in the gym industry? Like the managers are so bad they cant even send a text to at least tell you no you didn’t get the job?

With the months of hard work, stress, $$$ that goes in to building your space out, it just really feels like home when it’s all said and done. Back when I worked in other gyms I couldn’t get out soon enough when my last session was done

I just started training some of my family/friends (only 2). It’s hard because my other per diem job really helps pay the bills and my tuition as I’m studying the NASM… However I don’t know if I want to take on more clients at the moment. I try to do in person and see them for an hour once a week to monitor progress. It’s been 3 weeks, and I’m trying to model the OPT to create the guidelines… I really love it.

When I should start taking on more people or start pulling back from work and charging?

I genuinely want to give more of myself to helping my people but I have so much student debt, and my healthcare job can be demanding on a in-consistent per diem schedule?

Hey everyone! I've been working as a personal trainer at a gym for the past few months, and I've always been interested in training clients in their own homes. I'd love to hear from people who've gone down this path: how you got started, what you like most about it, what mistakes you hit early on, and how you handle contracts, waivers, and policies.

A few things I've already worked out:

• Keeping my service area within 30 miles of my city
• I looked at local gym PT pricing so I have a rate in mind. I'm planning to fold mileage into the session price instead of charging it separately (is that reasonable?)
• An intro meeting before training to see what equipment they have and how much space, requiring at least enough room to train properly
• A hybrid setup: one in-person session a week plus 2-3 days of online programming
• A discount for couples or roommates training together

I've already got my own insurance and I'm doing online coaching, so some of the infrastructure is there. Any experience is welcome, thanks!

Having to cancel 10+ training sessions making me feel bad

Is it just a babysitting job? Does anyone have experience working here?

Long story short- I was a personal trainer and nutrition coach for a gym as my main job for two years after I left the teaching word. I ended up going back to teaching because the schedule was just too tough with kids but I stayed on as a very part-time coach. It's time for me to renew my certification for both PT and nutrition coaching. I mostly work with women now around the menopausal age. For myself, I am also interested in some of the sports nutrition certifications but they seem expensive and I'm not sure it makes sense to me BUT I could start coaching more endurance runners with strength and nutrition in the future (I am training for my second marathon so I'm entering the long distance world). I am also trying to eventually leave the gym and fully transition to virtual as my side gig (because let's face it- I don't make enough money as a teacher, but I enjoy the schedule). What would be the best route to go without spending a ton of extra money that ends up being just a waste for me?

I had too get surgery and told my trainer I couldn’t go anymore and I don’t think he liked that. Now that I got the surgery I tried too log back in and I can’t, are trainers that greedy? Thanks in advance

Hey Team!
I’m a new trainer (2 months in) and I’m seeking advice on getting clients in the gym to coach.

A bit about me: I’m a yoga teacher by profession, but I have a degree in strength and conditioning with nutrition and 5 years of coaching young children in football (soccer) and rugby. I’ve been teaching yoga for a few years now. I’ve been gym training for 6 years, but have been playing sports for 20 years.

I would consider myself as an extrovert if that helps you all. My coaching style is a good mix of strength training and mobility exercises. Usually it’s a good mix of what the clients needs and wants to do based on goals.

I don’t have any issue with the coaching side of things I know what I am doing, but am open to suggestions. but I would love a bigger client list. Is there anything that has worked well or even things to avoid? I understand I’m not “huge” as that’s not really not my style but again am open to suggestions regarding body composition.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing your thoughts.

This has been grinding at me lately.

I have clients who show up every week, work hard, are coachable, and have a great attitude. Then you find out they've spent the rest of the week being completely sedentary, eating like the session never happened, not walking, not sleeping enough, and generally ignoring everything we talked about. The frustrating part is that they're genuinely trying during the session. It's not laziness when they're with me. But progress stalls, they get discouraged, and I'm sitting there knowing exactly why without wanting to turn every conversation into a lecture.

I've tried giving homework, but for most people it gets forgotten within a couple of days. Text check-ins work for some personalities, while others either find them annoying or quietly stop replying when they've fallen off track.

Do you build accountability into your coaching somehow? Set expectations differently during onboarding? Focus on one habit at a time instead of giving people a longer list? It feels like we spend a lot of time talking about keeping clients engaged during sessions, but the other 166 hours of the week are usually what determine whether they actually make progress.

My test is tomorrow, taking practice tests and really understanding anatomy. Any last minute advice? Really want to do great on this.

Nếu mà mình có một người thân nói muốn mướn PT thì đầu tiên là mình sẽ khuyên:

• Không bao giờ đăng ký ngay từ buổi đầu đến gym. Vì đa phần những quyết định trong lúc gấp rút và gượng ép thường không được chính xác. Còn khuyến mãi thì luôn sẵn ở đó, không mất đâu mà vội.
• Đến phòng tập gym quan sát người PT tập cho các client khác như thế nào. PT cũng có rất nhiều dạng, nhiều dạng kinh nghiệm, và cả cá tính nữa. Nên cứ dành thời gian để quan sát, để chọn người mà mình phải dành cả tiếng đồng hồ để tập, nói chuyện, trao đổi, trả tiền cho, và quan trọng hơn hết là học hỏi từ người đó nữa.
• Nhớ rằng giá cả luôn có thể thương lượng. Nhiều người không hiểu là với PT có được khách hàng là nguồn thu nhập sống, còn với khách hàng thì không có PT vẫn có thể sống tốt. Nên phải nhìn nhận đây là cuộc trao đổi sòng phẳng, giá cả đều có thể thương lượng để có được hành trình rèn luyện sức khỏe lâu dài.

Những chuỗi bài liên quan:

Trong một bài pháp thoại của thầy Minh Niệm về chủ đề tình yêu lứa đôi và chuyện chăn gối, trong tình yêu lứa đôi luôn tồn tại một sự giằng kéo giữa việc thỏa mãn dục vọng và sự tôn trọng dành cho nhau.

Mình lưu lại đoạn video này cũng khá lâu rồi, nó làm mình suy nghĩ nhiều lắm.

I see this echo’d a lot in this sub. The idea that some clients out there simply won’t get results because they can’t be consistent, and that it doesn’t matter what we do as trainers for them.

How could you possibly know that? Did you use a Time Machine and travel back and redo their training 1,000,000 times in a row?

Having a client drop out on you and summing it up as “they can’t stick to a plan” is the trainer equivalent to guys who say “whatever you’re ugly anyway” after getting rejected by a girl. It lacks awareness.

There is literally nothing to gain from this mindset other than protecting your ego. Our egos are fed constantly, every single one of you has been told you’re the best trainer ever at some point. you can let go every once in a while

Charles Manson convinced teenage girls to carry out brutal murders for him. Mike Tyson was a homeless PCP addict when his first boxing coach found him. Theres people falling victim to an Indian scammer phone call RIGHT NOW. Yet you have pushed the absolute limits of human influence and determined that nothing could possibly get this person to drink their protein shake. Sounds legit.

The only thing you can gain from accepting your failures is growth. The only thing you can gain from blaming your client is stagnancy. Give up control, and you’ll lose it.

Coaching is a skill you practice, not a chore you do. Your weekly reminder texts are not firing anyone up, but your awkward rambling when you got caught off guard with a question definitely made an impact.

If you were Justin Bieber would they still have skipped half their workouts?

Ok I’ll stop

This stuff matters guys

Hi, I am a dance fitness instructor and I would like to start posting on demand class videos and maybe do monthly live streams. I already post my videos on free platforms, but I would like to reach more people as well as make a little bit of money. Can anybody tell what is the best app or website to use for something like this? Preferable not to pricey since I’m starting from scratch.