The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Join Chris Hitchko, author of 'How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer' VOL 2 and CEO of Show Up Fitness as he guides personal trainers towards success.
90% of personal trainers quit within 12-months in the USA, 18-months in the UK, Show Up Fitness is helping change those statistics. The Show Up Fitness CPT is one of the fastest growing PT certifications in the world with partnerships with over 500-gyms including Life Time Fitness, Equinox, Genesis, EoS, and numerous other elite partnerships.
This podcast focuses on refining trade, business, and people skills to help trainers excel in the fitness industry. Discover effective client programming, revenue generation, medical professional networking, and elite assessment strategies.
Learn how to become a successful Show Up Fitness CPT at www.showupfitness.com. Send your questions to Chris on Instagram @showupfitness or via email at info@showupfitness.com."
The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Ep. 210 LIVE SF - Equinox vs. Life Time Fitness Which is a better gym for Personal Trainers?
Send us a text if you want to be on the Podcast & explain why!
Choosing the right gym environment can make or break your personal training career. After visiting nearly 50% of all Equinox locations and 15 Lifetime facilities across the country, I've gained unique insights into which premium fitness giant might offer the better path for ambitious trainers.
The differences are striking. While Equinox offers brand prestige and exclusivity, they cap trainer rates around $175/hour regardless of experience or demand. Lifetime, with their expansive facilities featuring everything from water slides to extensive wellness areas, allows trainers to charge whatever the market will bear—some reaching $250+ per hour within their first year.
Beyond compensation structures, the cultural environment varies dramatically. Equinox trainers often operate in a competitive atmosphere where interaction between colleagues is minimal. Lifetime fosters a more collaborative culture where networking happens naturally. This distinction impacts both job satisfaction and client acquisition potential.
What truly matters is developing the complete package: technical expertise, business acumen, and exceptional people skills. The 90% of trainers who fail within their first year typically lack supervised experience and the confidence to command premium rates. Success requires investment in your education through quality certification programs that teach practical skills rather than just theory.
No matter which environment you choose, approach your role with professionalism and confidence. Remember that clients aren't rejecting your rates because they can't afford you—they're indicating they don't see sufficient value. When you deliver transformative results and communicate your worth effectively, you can command fees that might seem impossible to less qualified trainers.
Ready to elevate your training career? Visit showupfitness.com to explore our certification programs designed to give you the skills premium gyms are des
Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!
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Become a Personal Trainer Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Personal-Trainer-Successful/dp/B08WS992F8
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NASM study guide: ...
Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry, one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody, and welcome back to the show fitness podcast.
Speaker 1:Today we are live from the beautiful city of San Francisco. We have a two-day seminar here tomorrow, saturday and Sunday, 12 to 5. This one's pretty cool because Terrell, the owner of Body Mechanics he was my student almost 15 years ago when I was a teacher at MPTI. He's still training. That's what happens when you level yourself up, become qualified. He has his own gym and he is treating his trainers to our seminar and so it's open to the public as well. At the end of the month, we will be at Lifetime. Today we're going to be talking about should you train at Lifetime or Equinox, but before I do that, I got to talk a little bit more about Sacramento, because that's a pretty cool milestone for us. We've been doing the seminars for about two and a half years now.
Speaker 1:I started out in San Diego and then we would go to mom and pop gyms. I would pay a fee of a couple grand and then we would market to the area. It was very tedious and, to be honest with you, I did not like it. It took a lot of work. I was trying to finish my book and I was all over the place. I was like a fricking octopus one arm over here, another over there. I couldn't focus on what I needed to get done and, as Dr Waterbury's always told me, two most important things a trainer can do extreme focus and networking. And those are the things that are really going to drive your business. And so we were lucky to get trainers qualified and hired at some of the best gyms. And, to be honest, I was all about Equinox. I met with Matthew Burnick at the time. He was the head of Equinox trainer development and I remember vividly. I went into his office in Beverly Hills and first time I met him shook his hand. I was super nervous, had my pitch deck on why they need to partner with show up, and after I pitched to him, he looked at me and just said you don't have much. Where's the proof in the pudding? And it's like 2016. So I spent the next seven years getting as many trainers as possible hired at Equinox and I've helped hundreds and hundreds. It's cool. Going to Equinox is like in Santa Monica and you look on their wall and they have six trainers from show up. It's really cool to see that they're sticking around past that dreaded year marker, because 90% fail within the first year.
Speaker 1:It makes sense. You get certified and then you send me a message or someone else and you go what next? What do I do Then? You waste more money on specializations that don't teach you how to train. Think of a hairstylist, a mechanic, electrician All of them have to go through some type of apprenticeship where you learn from an expert, which is supervised experience, and then you have to learn the material on your own and get tested out of it. That's what we teach at ShowUp. So you go through our program. You have to level yourself up with anatomy, which teaches you the competence of our trade. 17 muscles around the shoulder, 20 of the lower body that's just entry. Eight core movement patterns with diagonals and synergies along with those, and then design a program on the spot. You have 15 minutes to do that. We now have a test that you have to take. Before you sit for the exam, you submit your video. So there's three parts there. You do the test first, where you got to go through the material, which is online but also on demand. That takes about a month. And then, as you develop your month program that you need to submit. Now that's going to give you the confidence wherever you go.
Speaker 1:Some gyms may say design a month program. You say I already have it. Actually, better yet, bring it in with you during the interview. We will help you with your resume and I got to take a little note off here because, a little sidetrack, someone submitted a resume to a big box gym. I'm not going to tell you which one, but I know people everywhere, especially Equinox and Lifetime. I have recruiters that I meet with and harass daily, weekly the head people, senior vice presidents. I reach out to them every seminar. I will send them a photo and anecdotes, videos of what we're doing. These are timestamps.
Speaker 1:And this manager reached out to me and said do you know this girl? I went into our system. She was part of our program for one month, never got certified. Well, guess what she had on her resume Show up fitness internship two years. And I was fuming. I said do not, I repeat, do not hire her. And they're not because. And I also sent an email to directors at other gyms and I said do not hire this person, blacklist her, because what's going to happen is she's going to go into your gym because she lied, 100% lied. She took one of our resumes that we had on the platform and just copied it 100%. And I said if you want to interview her, have fun with it. Ask her the 17 muscles of the shoulder, ask her who Craig Labenson is. What is the FMS? Because that's what she had on the resume Shadowed 13 trainers over 200 hours.
Speaker 1:That's a complete farce. She did not do that and that really frustrated me. But I also took a step back, had a sip of my whiskey and said that's pretty cool. People don't have the balls to go through this and level themselves up, so they want to steal it. How awesome is that? Because what's going to happen is she's going to go to your gym and she's just going to steal the clients. Go out, train for a lesser amount, charge 125. And then you're going to go somewhere else and charge 60 because you're making more per hour, because lifetime takes all your money.
Speaker 1:And guess what you just did to yourself internally? You just showed yourself those internal dialogue voices that happen on a daily minute basis. You're telling yourself you're not worthy, you're not capable, you can't grow anything by yourself, you're not going to make this into a career and that's well. Unfortunately, there's a lot of trainers out there like that because we victimize the industry. It's so hard to make it. It's saturated no, it's saturated with trainers like her who aren't willing to put in the work to level themselves up, to understand anatomy so you can reach out to physical therapists and dieticians.
Speaker 1:I got to give a shout out to Tori because she's crushing it right now with the nutrition cert. She has clients who she's training regularly but as an additional stream of revenue she's getting them to pay her for nutritional consulting. So she pays an RD X amount who gives a hops on a call once a month and she's helping them with nutrition and they're getting their results significantly faster. That's what trainers should be doing. You shouldn't be giving away free nutrition advice part of your training. It's like going to get checked up and if you're above 45, the doctor's going to stick a finger up your ass, but you're not going to ask the doc. Hey, doc, can you also take a look at my ankle? And while you're at it, can you see what's this mole over here? And I think I have no. You go to the specialist, the expert, and you go to the next expert. I can help you with nutrition, but that's separate. It's 250 bucks per month and I think you should charge more as you level yourself up and have more RDs on your team.
Speaker 1:Don't settle for one, get five. Get five physical therapists, that's what we're building. Get five physical therapists, that's what we're building. And if you are new and you just got certified and you came across, show up too late. Read my book how to become a successful personal trainer, volume two, 39 bucks. That's expensive. You're not going to make it. If you use an excuse, you can't get to a seminar for 600 bucks. Throw in a flight hotel is a thousand bucks. It's too expensive. How do you expect to ask someone next to you, across from you, during the assessment, for a thousand bucks per month? You don't have what it takes to figure it out. So the person across from you is not going to see the value in yourself because you're thinking about your bank account. We are a bunch of victims today and what happens is we want to make all this money and sit in front of a Porsche but not doing shit.
Speaker 1:I want to be an online trainer. Where's your career capital? Where have you trained? I want to see Equinox on your resume. For five years manager developing other systems, you are doing it. That person has the right that's the right of passage to start developing your online stuff. So it really is not a saturated market.
Speaker 1:If you pass one of your textbook certs, it's going to be hard for you, very hard for you to get hired at Equinox in lifetime, because they want experience. When we were in Austin last week, I met probably one of the sharpest trainers in my career and I've been doing this for 20 years. I've met with hundreds of managers. A lot of them are just so-so. Maybe they're great with sales, they can play the political game, so they move up fast because they're, yes, men or women. Some are really technical, but this dude had it all and he was a trainer and the manager at the spot for almost nine years, and when we were talking about what he looks for, the first thing was I want at least two years of experience.
Speaker 1:So if you get your textbook cert, you're essentially not going to one of these gyms unless you have your show fitness CPT. Because, with the help and developing your resume, when you get that chance and you have the confidence and mind, you, if you want to go to Lifetime which I'll talk about here in a second, when we compare the two Lifetime you're guaranteed an interview with your Show Fitness CPT. No other certification offers that. I don't care. If you have 15 fricking NASM certs, you are not guaranteed an interview With Show Fitness CPT. You are. We are globally recognized. And if you go to a gym and they say they don't recognize Show Fitness, connect them with me. I will get on the phone with them, talk to them about their struggles, where their pain points are. We are globally recognized. And after that conversation I guarantee you they're going to accept us.
Speaker 1:Some may be drinking the Nassim punch like at YMCA and they just want that. Okay, whatever. Or ISSA at F45,. I just had a call. Thank you, emily, I'm supposed to meet you here this weekend.
Speaker 1:She went to the Austin seminar it's so cool because she was going through NASM and of course they screwed her over. She was trying to get her test date pushed back and so they want to charge her 200 bucks and she said you know what Screw it. I'm not going through that. I did the in-person. I learned more in those two days and I actually feel confident. It was cool because when she stood up in the beginning and we did the intro, she's like I feel out of place. I'm around 25 trainers who've been doing this and you all are rock stars. I'm new and it was just so cool to pair her up with other trainers and they just took her under their wings and by the end of it she's like wow, this is exactly what I needed. I have the confidence. It's not going to be easy. You're not just going to show up and all of a sudden be a great trainer.
Speaker 1:But they gave her the words of affirmation that you can do this, you are worthy, versus when you're doing it by yourself. You have those ants, automatic negative thoughts I'm not good enough. I can't train someone with knee pain. What do I do if someone wants to lose 50 pounds? I can't train someone with knee pain. What do I do if someone wants to lose 50 pounds? I haven't done that before. Those thoughts are just going to build up when you're isolating yourself.
Speaker 1:So when you get into a community event that's hands-on with supervised experience, and I say, emily, go take her through a workout, use the CCA that we give you within the workbook so you have the squat pattern, the push and the accessory. Then you have a coach who's going to challenge you after that first round, say that was really great, emily, but next time try this. And you go, wow, that's super cool. And then you do it. So she connected me with someone from Orange Theory and we're about to get connected and put on their list 57 gyms there's over like 2000,. But you have the developers and certain institutional investors that will buy a big block. So, as we check those off Orange Theory, if you want to work there, get your show up fitness CPT, because that will level you up and it's just cool to see the momentum, because managers are looking for trainers who are qualified, that can retain their clients and get their clients results safely. That's exactly what we produce. And so when you have your shelf in a CPT and you go through the interview process, then you're between an Equinox and Lifetime. Maybe you interview at both and they both give you a job offer. Which one should you take? That is a loaded question because it depends.
Speaker 1:As I said earlier in the beginning of the podcast, I'm in San Francisco. This was the first Equinox 15 years ago that I went to. It's down in the financial district. It's a very, very small gym and it's based just for the finance guys and girls in that area. It's right next to the stock market thing and I remember going in there and checking the gym. I'm like, okay, this is nice, it's definitely nice. I've never seen in there and checking the gym. I'm like, okay, this is nice, it's definitely nice. That I've ever seen Chico and where I was at in Alameda, and I was like, okay, well, let's bring my students in here. So we had a field trip and we met and I think this is pretty cool. So I went to the next one.
Speaker 1:I went to the next one, and so since then too, when I went with Matthew Burnick, when he said that we weren't good enough, I took that initiative and really focused on Equinox. Since then it's been about 10, 12 years I've been to over 45 Equinoxes. I'd be willing to bet I probably outside of senior execs and Harvey, who's the CEO. I've probably been to more Equinoxes than any person out there. Have yet to go to the UK I want to go over there, heard, they're phenomenal. Have yet to go to Toronto, but I've been to Miami, new York, texas, all over the place. Now with Lifetime.
Speaker 1:I really first heard about Lifetime with our vision of opening gyms around equinoxes, and so when we moved down to San Diego, just serendipitously, there was a lifetime that opened up right when COVID was going on. I was like what the hell is lifetime? Because we don't have them in California, there's just a few of them in the OC and they opened one in La Jolla. So I went in there. I was like okay, this one's okay, nothing special, it's definitely equinoxes are way better. And then I went to Texas as we were doing our launch for the in-person there, and I went to the one downtown that one sucks. And I apparently went to like there's maybe like 10 out of the whole 177 lifetimes at our boutiques and that's what the La Jolla one and the downtown Austin one was. So then I went to the South Austin Lifetime. I was like holy shit, what is this? There was a water slide. There's pools inside, outside there was an amazing whole cold plunge and wellness thing, but these are legit alcohol equipment. Tons of racks Like this is like a super gym, the nicest gym I've ever been to.
Speaker 1:Then Cisco got hired and he had his NASM. They didn't hire him. He went to show up in his CPT, got hired, started moving up the ranks and then, when we're going through our seminars, we went to the first one there and the latter end of 2023. And that's when the partnership began and we went there, checked out that one in Miami, brickell, coral Gables sorry, I'm like that is freaking amazing. Are all the lifetimes like this? Got connected with some high SVPs and then we signed our first contract and we'd go every month. And then we went to Sacramento and that one was phenomenal. That's where we're going to be at the end of the month at Roseville, the end of the month at Roseville. And then we went to Newark, new Jersey and the Red Bank. That was great. Then Chicago and then everyone we were going to after that I was like holy moly, these things are fricking amazing. So I've been to about 15 lifetimes out of 177. And I've been to over almost 50% of equinoxes. So I will say I've been to more Equinoxes. I know the compensation for both and here's my take If you had a choice, if you had a job offer from both, I would want you to look at the trainers there.
Speaker 1:How many trainers are there? What's the market like? Because, for example, here in San Francisco the clients don't really care if you're in good shape, they don't care about much unless you're kind of to put it nicely kind of nerdy and you're well-versed in the whole Silicon stuff. So a lot of the trainers here they're just well-rounded in the finance stuff it. If you were to be a trainer and you're not into that whole aesthetic stuff and superficial world, if you were to go to the West Hollywood Equinox, that's not a fit for you. If you go to the Santa Monica one, it's completely different. The Westlake one completely different. Austin completely different.
Speaker 1:So you need to know the market and who you're going to be working with and really where you succeed working with professionals. You're not going to go to an Equinox your lifetime working with kids or athletes. These are business professionals and maybe you get some rich kids with mom and dad are paying for it. But for the most part 80 to 90% of your clients are going to be 25 to 50 plus. So you need to have the people skills being able to have conversations outside of freaking TikTok and on God and betting this. You need to have professionalism and so, again, I would look at the area you want to go and if it meshes with your type of clientele you want to work with. Now, with those things being said, when it comes to compensation, you're going to make more at lifetime. They're going to set you up better than Equinox.
Speaker 1:Equinox you get like 10 to 15-hour floor shifts where you go out there and you prospect, you talk to people. That's where the quote-unquote sales comes in. That's not sales, you just talk to people and some of the best trainers I've met are introverts and you excel in that environment because it's one-on-one. We get in our head which we all live in, right, but we think about oh, I got to talk to all these people. They just smile Hello, how are you? I will say the biggest difference between the two from a trainer perspective is trainers at Lifetime are a lot friendlier. I don't come across a lot of trainers at Equinox who are very friendly In Texas, though they were, la not so much. So again, it may be biased towards superficial Southern California, but trainers are not nice. They walk around resting bitch face, resting dick face.
Speaker 1:I've been at Equinox in Santa Monica for 10 years. Three times a trainer came up to me and had a conversation. One is currently there and she's very bubbly. She's from the East coast, it makes sense. Another one was from Texas and another one was from Hawaii. Those are the only three trainers. Everyone else just kind of is in their world and they think you're out to get them.
Speaker 1:Your best potential clients are the ones who are strong and in shape. I'm not Adonis over here, but I'm in decent shape and I'm strong. I could be a potential client. You should see me as that person is so focused on their looks and their strength, you better believe they want to move the needle 1%. It's crazy to me that we think about a male or female who's in great shape, oh, they don't want a trainer. That's like thinking, oh, someone's not going to spend $10,000 a month on personal training. What'd you just say, chris? Yes, $10,000. That's a retainer right there and I've helped coach trainers to pitch that. That's your home run. Your sticker price 200. Your price you're going to drive them into for 12 sessions 175.
Speaker 1:I just did a YouTube post on this as well, and I go over how to pitch your training. Remember the pitch? You need to sit down. You look at them in the eyes and you ask them how many times a week do you want to train? But after you've already asked how awesome was that? You told me you wanted to grow your glutes, you want to get stronger. Whatever you get them in the yes mode, you sit them down and they're like holy crap, my chest is pumped right now. My glutes are on fire. That was amazing, awesome.
Speaker 1:How many times a week do you want to train with me? And they're going to give you a number three. Or they're going to say Chris, I don't know, what do you suggest. I start with six and then we negotiate. So if they say two or three, I'm going to say 12 sessions cost this. Always go to the for Tori 12,. 12 sessions cost this. How do you want to pay for it? And then you wait for them to respond that's too expensive, let's talk about that. And you say it in a friendly voice. What do you mean? It's too expensive. I saw you wearing this. It's not going to work, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:What were you expecting when you came to work with the best trainers at Equinox. What do you expect? When you came to work with one of the best trainers at Lifetime and you say it with a smile, but you're serious you told me you want to lose weight, you want to get stronger. What did you expect? You say it in a friendly tone, you smile. I need to talk to my significant other. Awesome, let's get him on the phone. Let's talk about that, because I mean imagine going and saying I'm going to be working with this big, hunky belt buckle trainer. It's not going to go over very well. So how do you plan on pitching it to him here? Let me help you design that and I'm going to help coach them up on how to have that conversation.
Speaker 1:Go to the store, get some wine, get a bottle of whiskey. Go buy them a gift, sit them down. Honey, I really need this. My goal is to get in the best shape by this date and I need your support. I'm going to get training. This isn't really a conversation. This is what I want. I'm going to get it. I just want you to be on board and when I do get it, we're going to take a trip together. That's how I coach them up.
Speaker 1:There's objections that I cover in my book. I have other podcasts and I have YouTubes to help build your confidence for those objections. Rarely do qualified, great trainers hear the cost. I know that's a tough pill to swallow because you may be thinking like, oh, it's all here all the time. It's too expensive. They didn't see the value in you. I'm sorry. There are cases absolutely where they can't afford it. It's April 15th. I just paid a shit ton on taxes. I get it. Put them into your mail list, as you should have an email list, and you send out weekly monthly stuff with your pipeline. Keep those. That's imperative, but more times than not they don't see the value.
Speaker 1:Working with you. You have me do some weird foam rolling for 15 minutes and then a BOSI ball squat and a squat curl press. Or I saw someone the other day doing a reverse lunge and lateral raise Like okay, that's cool, they didn't want that. Oh, but that's what I do. You have to learn and observe what your client wants and then give them that. If they're in pain, soft tissue, get them out of pain. It's easy. You came in here with knee pain. It's gone. How many times a week do you want to train with me and have that home run, and I've told trainers have a retainer on there. Why not 10,000 bucks a month? You're going to get me for the next six months this hour every single day, five days a week, whatever. And I've had trainers pitch that to executives and they got it Monday through Friday, 8 am you always be at this private spot, even if I don't show up? That hour's mine. So they're investing in 20 hours per month and that retainer is an EFT Boom, boom, boom.
Speaker 1:We got to think bigger. We got to think the moon is not that high. We got to think mercury, uranus, uranus is actually how to say it. Think huge. You can turn your passion for fitness into a career. So when we look at these two gyms, they're both great. If I had a choice now and I said this in the past five years ago I would have said Equinox Today, 2025, and we're at April 11th, happy Friday, four o'clock in San Francisco. I'm going lifetime and here's why I believe the future is going to be more lifetimes, less Equinoxes.
Speaker 1:Equinox prides themselves on the label oh, you're an Equinox trainer, you're special. But it's kind of like Lexus. Like 20 years ago, lexus is really cool, not anymore. The industry is going more towards the development of trainers, hands-on learning. You don't see that at Equinox. They don't have a lot of hands-on learning. They have their EFTI and that's it. Oh, go get your PN1 precision nutrition. Oh, you're now a level three coach.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know what I, what do I do with this? I can't really. I guess I charge more. Okay, you have a cap at Equinox and you have to go to a tier X. That's it 175, no cap at lifetime. You can charge as much as you like and had Roy, who's in Sacramento within the first six months of being there. He charges 250 an hour. That's what I want.
Speaker 1:I want to be in an environment where I had that interview with the manager and he says do you have any questions for me? I said, yes, I do. Actually, what trainer here is your top performing one and they say, joe, awesome, how much is he doing per month? Great, how fast does it take him to do that? Oh, great, I'm going to beat that, just want to let you know. And the managers are going to go oh, wow, you're hired. How much does Joe charge? I think on average succession, like X, 140. Cool, what's the most the company's ever charged, because I want to be at the top of the company, not this gym, the company. How many trainers are at Lifetime? Oh, there's 3,800. I'm going to be one of the top 10 and I'm going to be charging $300 per hour because I'm the best trainer and this is the best decision you've ever made.
Speaker 1:Think about what Tom Brady said to Kraft when he got hired. He said oh yeah, you were the sixth pick. And he says I'm your best pick ever. You just drafted. You just made the best decision in your life because you drafted the goat. He didn't say that, but he believed in himself. You have to believe in yourself, but you need to speak their language, and management is hiring people who can help clients. Yes, that's what we want to do, but they need people who can perform. If you can name all the 17 muscles of the shoulder and all the actions while your eyes are closed, talking about proprioception on a fucking BOSU ball, but you can't convince the person in front of you to work with you, you're not going to make it there. So that's why you need to have all three of those things people skills, business skills, the technical skills and then you are turning into Neil. You can stop bullets. That's a Matrix reference.
Speaker 1:You young kids, go watch it, one of the best movies ever. If you have a job at Equinox and you're thinking, should I go to Lifetime? That's tough because you're going to be starting from scratch, but your ceiling is going to be significantly higher. Maybe you're training at a gym at Equinox in LA and you want to go to New York. I think it'd be pretty cool to be a top 10 trainer at Equinox. Go to Lifetime, become a top 10 trainer there. You write a book about it. You can then go consult with these companies in the future five, 10 years down the line.
Speaker 1:I was the number one trainer over here. I was the number one trainer over there. I'm going to let my resume speak for itself. But what are you looking for? Because, whatever it is, I can deliver that. That's the confidence that these gyms want, and you may be thinking, well, I don't want to be at that gym forever, but it's a great starting point.
Speaker 1:Whereas most trainers they go to YMCA, la Fitness 24 Crunch for a year and they build up their clientele, but they don't have the confidence. They're still thinking well, it's expensive to go to a seminar, I can't do that, oh, then I'll work another year before I go to Lifetime. And then you get to Lifetime and then three, four years later you get burnt out and you think what do I do next? And then from there you try to start it up independently. You have some clients and you pay less. So they're charging $130 at Equinox for Lifetime. And you go leave and you steal your clients and you're charging 100. Why? Why are you doing that? Megan? When she left, she charges more. She left Equinox charging 150. Now she charges 250. That's a competent, confident trainer and that's what we are leveling trainers up to think bigger.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, lifetime and Equinox are your best option. If you live in a small town, you can absolutely crush it. I'm sure you can Link up with therapists, rds and so forth. But if you really want to be that big fish in a big, giant ocean, get to a big city, move there and tell yourself I'm going to give myself a year and see what I can do and go in there every single day looking at help Nick, be hungry, educate yourself daily, look the part, train yourself, look at the standards, get after them. Run a mile in seven minutes, we say 730 or less. But if you can't do it, focus on it, get after it. On the treadmill, can you do 40 pushups as a dude, 20 as a girl? If not, get after it. How much are you benching, squatting, deadlifting? Get after it. Hire a coach. Be there every single freaking day.
Speaker 1:Record content, get into your story confidently. Engage your followers. Be disciplined. Have the personality. That's the P, the N is network. You're going to be around doctors and lawyers and business folk who have a lot of money they could invest in you for the future.
Speaker 1:Be innovative. Look at your SWIFT. What can you do to improve and innovate? You have to be confident and cocky. Together, con cocky and the K is knowledgeable, and that's going to be over time, as you build experience, going to more seminars, gaining more hands-on learning. The average trainer doesn't do that. The average trainer sticks to their comfort zone. They may go to YouTube, watch some Jeff Nippert stuff or Mike Isratola. That's great. But that's not what training is like.
Speaker 1:You don't have a client come in six days a week, typically wanting a bro split. You have working professionals three to four or five times a week, full body for the most part, and they want to get results and then, after you've built that career capital the sky's the limit. Do whatever the hell you want to. If you want to chase money, do it, but remember why we got into this in the beginning help people. And the more confident you are into this in the beginning, help people. And the more confident you are, the more efficiently you can help people and you can network with your clients to get more referrals.
Speaker 1:And as I was telling Tori, she's building her online nutrition business, I said you know what, tori, let's think big, because we did a swift analysis. You know what? A year from now, how about you have a hundred online clients as a teacher of trainers would show up, you could bring on a couple interns who you feel are going to be really, really successful and you could pay them a thousand bucks each. You pay your RD a thousand bucks. They're taking care of your book of business. Guess what? You're making $84,000 a year. Guess what You're making $84,000 a year just off of your clients and you're not doing anything. You have a team doing it for you. That's pretty impressive, in my opinion. Think bigger. No-transcript.