I got my Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) from NASM a few years ago because it was the next level of fitness knowledge. By then I had a master's degree in Exercise Science, so the fitness stuff was more or less a review. The concepts that were new was the business side of personal training. The process of building and making a sale. Fast forward a month or two and I passed the test.
I inquired about using the base gym for personal training. The deal was I had to pay the gym a % of the sale to "rent" the gym. I turned that deal down. The gym was free to base members.... why would I pay for something free?
After we moved to our new duty location, I fired up indeed and applied to a bunch of gyms to train as a side hustle. This is where I learned the "real" business of gyms and personal trainers. One gym offered me $12 bucks an hour to train. I was shocked at the offer.... $12??? Really?? Get the heck out here. I could have acted maturely and thanked them for their time. I did not. I asked if the gym would pay for my doctorate? pay to market my book? I made the case that you would be the only gym in town that would have a doctor level education personal training or how many gyms have a published author for a trainer. Shocker they said no.
Another a few rounds of interview with either too little money offered or would not work time wise I found a gym that would be flexible with hours, cool with me leaving from time to time (they had two other Army guys training), and the pay was head and shoulders above all the other gyms. I accepted the offer and started training.
Training consisted of learning the Functional Movement Screening (FMS), In Body machine, and practicing reviewing a person's exercise and nutrition background and fitness goals. All easy topics for me. Giving me an opportunity to talk fitness with someone is like those memes and reels with "Let him cook!"
Learning the computer system for scheduling and inputting session was a bit more complicated, but doable with notes. This would have been one of those things that would have taken me a bit more to learn. I learned the basics and thought I was good to go. The way it worked at that gym was that membership could "book" a member with you to go over FMS, In Body then a fitness history conversation. After that setting you get 1 free session with a trainer. All this is free for members
I was booked with an older gentleman that was actually in good shape. He exercised three days a week already, ate well, didn't smoke, drink, consume soda and only drank black coffee. He moved well during the assessment. The conversation was really good. We mostly spoke about family and how he wanted to be physically there for his grandkids. At the end of the conversation, I told him that he didn't necessarily need me to train him. I could meet with him for the free session and show him how to perform basic lifts then that's it. He's already in good shape and he could save his money and take his grandkids to get ice cream. In my mind I was making the right decision for this guy. Personal training is expensive, and I did not want to take this guy's money that he could have spent on his kids and grandkids.
My boss on the other hand didn't see it that way. It was a protentional sale that I failed to close. Me being older I know that commercial gyms are a business, and a part of the business was making money for the gym. I don't blame her for the reaction. If my paycheck depended on my employees' booking clients, then I would be more focused on that aspect too. That sentence makes her seem like a scrouge like character. Nothing could be further from the truth. She would have been a really good boss. Very few civilian employers understand work/life balance and she was one of them
That ordeal stuck with me for a while. It made personal training more of a selling business instead of a fitness business. I learned the majority of what I know from free resources on the internet, so shouldn't I pay it forward? I watched lectures from folks with PhD's putting out information on YouTube, Who I'm I to charge someone $34 bucks an hour for fitness knowledge when YouTube exists. This was my problem with commercial personal training. It's all about the sale instead of fitness. Ethically, I could not justify taking Somone's car payment in return for training.
Training is more than fitness knowledge; its relationship building and holding a client accountable for their fitness. However, that relationship is dependent on you paying me. You pay me to hold you accountable? Do I want to work with someone like that? I need to text/call you multiple times in order to get you to show up? What's going to happen when I move, or you stop paying me? Those reminders will stop, and you will be on your own to accomplish your own fitness goals.
A wise man once said, "Don't horde knowledge"
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