Personal Trainer Salary
Can you guess what profession is ranked among America's best jobs? If you are looking for a high level of satisfaction, a trusted and respected profession you can be proud of and a way to help others, you will love your new job as a personal trainer.
Thanks to an extensive study by CNN Money, the median annual pay reported for personal trainers was $56,000 and it was listed as number 18 in the top 100 best jobs you can have in America. The actual range of annual income based on a number of studies is between approximately $40,000 and $68,000.
What you earn per year will be largely dependent on your geographical location, your experience level and any specializations you may have. The average hourly rate ranges from $13 an hour to over $48 an hour. In many cases, personal training income can exceed $100 an hour. One of the biggest factors will be dependent on any advanced certifications you may have.
If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, it may also be a good time to explore the many benefits of becoming a personal trainer as a profession.
Personal Satisfaction
Imagine going to work every day with a suit and tie or dress and professional slacks. While this dress is considered acceptable for the vast majority of professionals working in the marketplace today, it is completely different for a personal trainer. Now...imagine putting on your favorite pair of exercise shorts and running shoes. How differently might you feel every day as you go to work?
Personal trainers enjoy a high level of satisfaction in their jobs. This is because there is a relaxed atmosphere and a sense of peace that is different from working in a typical day job environment.
Low Stress
Personal training is a low stress job that allows you to be free to help people as you choose. Depending on whether you are an independent contractor or employee of a gym or wellness center, you may have some corporate structural rules to follow. However, the environment tends to be much less stressful than a regular 9 to 5 job.
You also get to talk about a subject matter that is important to you and your clients. While many regular jobs can become routine, personal training can be varied in the types of people you will train. You may train people for improved sports performance, managing specific health issues or concerns or general strength and flexibility.
You will also likely train people of various fitness levels, interests, goals and motivations. This presents some challenging opportunities to help people, but all within a low key and upbeat environment.
Highly Flexible
Hours for a personal trainer can be as flexible as you choose. Some of your clients will prefer to work out during lunch or in the evenings. This will allow you to structure your work around your own life and that of your clients. If you work as an independent trainer, then you get to choose your own hours and days of the week you provide training services. If you work for a gym or other facility, you may need to maintain certain hours for floor coverage, but there is still some flexibility in the times you handle personal training clients.
You can set your own hours, set your own pay rate and take time off when you need it. This is the reality of many personal training jobs in the workplace today, although you may need to build in some time and earn your seniority if you work for a typical large gym chain.
You also have a lot of flexibility when it comes to choosing where to work. You can be an independent contractor which means you can contract with a local gym or facility for a set of hours or clients. You can own your own gym or rent space at a facility. You can go to work for a large gym chain or small gym chain. You can also choose to work for a hospital or corporate health and wellness center.
Live Your Passion
Everyone wants to live their passion, but not everyone has the motivation or risk taking behaviors to make it happen. Most people go to their regular day job because it pays the bills and covers the monthly expenses, but they dream of doing something completely different. For those who become personal trainers, they get to train every day and live out their passion for helping others achieve important goals.
Most trainers have an honest and sincere passion for working out and making an impact on other people's lives. This is a driving passion that wakes them each morning and allows them to live the principles they believe in. Living a life of passion is fulfilling in every sense because you are being true to yourself and the message you want to deliver to the world.
Make A Difference
What if you were able to help one person lose significant weight, gain confidence and turn their life around? There is a great sense of accomplishment in being a personal trainer. You get to help people make change. Sometimes that change will be small and sometimes it will be life altering. Through your knowledge, education and expertise, you can alter the course of someone's life and their longevity in many cases. You can teach the principles of a healthy lifestyle and bring joy and meaning back into a person's life.
The profession of personal training is about making a difference in one's person life, then repeating that over and over again. The more lives that are changed through your teachings, the more impact you can make on society as a whole.
There are not many professions around the world that allow you to make a decent living while pursuing your passions. Personal training is one of the few professions that offer many attractive benefits like good pay, a low stress environment, an opportunity to have a positive impact on society and flexibility with where you work and who you work with.