The purpose of this short article is to outline all the revenue streams a personal trainer can have. Quite often during our various fitness courses we get asked how personal trainers can make more money… as if £30-£40 an hour isn’t enough 😉

I have been in the fitness industry for over 12 years. I have been personal training for 11 years and although since March I look after the day to day operations of Fitness HQ, I still see my regular personal training clients of an evening and some early mornings. My passion for this industry grows year upon year.

Over the last 12 years I have seen lots of fads, trends and quick money making schemes come and go. I have also noticed that the personal trainers who sign up to these schemes are also flash in the pan trainers and don’t last in the industry that long. On the flip side, I have lots of friends who are extremely successful personal trainers and earn in excess of £50,000 a year through hard graft. In fact, one of my best friends who qualified with me all those years ago now owns his own gym which was voted ‘best independent gym of the year’ in 2017 and has over £350,000.00 worth of top of the range equipment and 14 personal trainers working for him. Again, this is a direct result of hard work and not from embarking on faddy, quick buck, money making schemes.

As I mentioned above, I have been in the fitness industry for over 12 years and I would like to share with you as many different legitimate income streams as possible to help you succeed as a personal trainer. But be warned, success isn’t easy and it does require hard work:

1. Clients – never ever neglect your clients. When you train your clients, when you interact with your clients give them 100% of your attention. Your clients are paying you for a service, give them a good service and they will be loyal, refer friends and direct others who are looking for a personal trainer to you. Your clients are the foundation of your business!

2. Semi private training sessions – 1-2-1 personal training sessions are expensive and not everyone can afford them. By offering semi private training sessions for small groups of 3-5 at a reduced cost means you receive more money for your time and exposes you to more clients.

   e.g. a 1-2-1 session with you may cost £35

   a semi private session with 5 clients at a time may cost £12 per person = £60

3. Supplements – everyone wants a quick fix and quite often they turn to supplements. I believe that supplements are exactly that, they should supplement a good diet and a regimented training regime, they should not replace a diet or replace food. Having said this, it does provide you with an opportunity where you could become affiliated with an organisation and refer your clients to them for their supplements (e.g. protein shakes, Omega 3) in return for a commission. However, be warned and don’t just recommend supplements for the sake of it or to line your own pocket. Always be ethical in your business and only recommend something which the client needs.
4. Online training – the main restriction of 1-2-1 or semi-private training as outlined above is time and your location. Online training allows you to access a wider audience and a greater number of clients.

5. Health MOT’s – I have only just discussed this with a previous student last week. This student completed one of our personal trainer courses in Manchester and is now working predominantly with large businesses and organisations offering health MOT’s to their management and senior management teams. She charges £15 a head and delivers a 20-minute MOT with a manager where she does the following:
• Blood pressure
• BMI / Body Fat
• Hip to Waist measurements
• Gives out a healthy eating pack

Off the back off this she often picks up new clients and referrals to other organisations. The healthy living initiative by the government is encouraging large employers to monitor the health and wellbeing of their employees.

6. Health retreats – funnily enough I am writing this short article on my way to a retreat in Spain where a partner company (bodyandmindretreats.co.uk) delivers several health, fitness and weight loss retreats every year. This is a great way of exposing your services to other clients, convert attendees to online clients and even to generate an extra income. *It’s also great fun and a good excuse to visit Spain! Check out our most recent retreat in the video below:

7. Exercise referral – As the health initiative programme by the Government grows and develops, the number of referrals by health professionals of patients to exercise programmes will increase. This naturally exposes you to more clients and clients who you may not otherwise have access to. An exercise referral course doesn’t take long to complete, especially if you have your personal training qualification already.

8. Sports massage – if you sit and think about it, how many clients have turned up to their session with niggles or cancelled their sessions due to injuries? How many clients have you referred to a sports massage therapist? Another potential income stream is sports massage therapy. Why refer your clients to other professionals when you can offer them this service and generate another income?

The list above certainly isn’t exhaustive. There are several other avenues where fitness professionals can generate an extra income to complement their personal training services. The only word of caution would be to focus on your clients and don’t neglect them as they pay your bills, refer you other clients and they are the foundation to your business.

I hope you found the above article interesting and useful. Please tag any friends and share it within your networks.