How to Price Your Personal Training Rates (LEARN HOW TO SELL $100+ PER HOUR)

Anyone can get certified.
 Very few know how to charge.

Most trainers underprice because they lack confidence, experience, and a real system. So they default to $40 to $60 sessions… and wonder why they burn out.

In this episode, we break down how to actually set your personal training rates based on value, not fear.

You’ll learn:

•  Why cheap trainers struggle to survive 
•  How to justify $100 to $300 per session 
•  The biggest pricing mistakes trainers make 
•  How to increase your rates without losing clients 
•  Why confidence, assessments, and results drive income 

If you want to become a successful trainer, you can’t think like the average trainer.

Pass fast.
 Get real experience.
 Charge based on value.

KEEP SHOWING UP.

Comment SUF CPT if you want help becoming a successful trainer.

Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world!

Want to ask us a question?  Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

Transcript

Burnout From Low-Pay Schedules

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And then your last appointment's at 7 p.m. You get home, you're still wired because you just took some fucking bang energy and you're all wired up and you can't go to sleep. The cortisol levels are high, can't get into that deep REM. So then you're playing games, you're looking on weird shit on social media, you go to bed at one o'clock and you're waking up at four. It's not a recipe for success. 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 showupfitness.com. 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, y'all. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we're going to talk about setting your personal trainer rates depending on the market that you live. If you're not familiar with Show Up Fitness, fastest growing certification 2025, we're excited to get to a lot of locations in the next couple months. Santa Monica this weekend will be at Vegas Coaches Summit. We're one of the sponsors for the 27th, 28th. May 1st and 2nd International will be in Toronto, 15th and 16th, Orange County, the 30th and 31st in Largo, Tampa. And that's May. Ending out June, we will be 19th and 20th in Austin, south of Lamar. That's part of our lifetime partnership. Excited to get to those level two seminars. This weekend will be our first level one in Santa Monica as we launch more opportunities for trainers to level up their skills. And that goes a lot into today's podcast, talking about where you should begin. Now, let's not be average, but first let's identify what the average trainer is going to do. We get that simple textbook SERP, we post that photo. Yay, I got my NASA ISSA. Now what? I'm looking for three people to start training. And then you have a conversation with them without any assessment forms. You don't even do a par queue. You don't look at their movement competency and you have a basic conversation. You know, I'm just starting out and I, you know, whatever you can afford, 20, 30 bucks. And what happens is because you don't have that transparent conversation, they tell everyone else that that's how much you charge. And then the buy-in from them is extremely low because trainers who are at the upper end of the spectrum, they're going to be charging 150 plus the buy-in significantly higher. Always the most difficult clients are the ones who are not paying that much. So in the beginning, burnout's going to be really, really high because you have clients who are paying you 20, 30 bucks a session. You don't have any type of contract forms, you don't review cancellation policies, they're not doing a package. So they're paying every session they come in, they start canceling, they don't get the results, you get frustrated, and then those ants start kicking in automatic negative thoughts. So that's what the average trainer does, but you're not average. You don't want to make between 40 to 60,000. You want to be elite. That's the top one to five percent, making 120K. I don't know why we settle for 100,000 because when you do the math, it's$8,333 per month. Who wants to make that? You want to make 10K per month. I know we didn't get into this to make a billion or trillion dollars like Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies with my pinky to my lip. We do this to help people, but you need to be able to make enough so you can support your family. If it's a side hustle, it's a different conversation, which is perfectly fine as well. But the people who follow our podcast and get the SUF CPT, they're serious about becoming a successful personal trainer. That's why I wrote the book, volume two. It has an entire chapter reviewing how to set your pricing. So what I would do is look in your market because it's gonna depend on where you're at. If you're in Bakersfield, you're not gonna be charging what we charge here in Santa Monica. In Santa Monica, because we're next to an equinox, we can charge 150 plus. If you're you know 10 blocks up and you're on Wilshire, not the same environment. You are outside of that three mile radius. So your pricing may change. Are you going to someone's house because your pricing should be more? Because technically your time commitment is going to be three hours. How does that work? Because you have to drive somewhere, that's an hour. You train them, that's an hour. Then you have to drive back, that's an hour. Whereas if you're at our gym in Santa Monica, you can have an eight, a nine, and a 10, but you cannot have those back-to-back-to-back sessions if you're commuting to people's houses. So that's why you should charge more. Another mistake a lot of trainers make is they charge the same amount or even less because they just want the reps. I'm not saying I'm against that mentality of taking every opportunity, but the conversations need to be transparent. So, what that looks like, I just passed my certification. I post it to my story, I'm all excited. And I let people know I'm bringing on three clients. When I do that discovery call, you let them know what you are going to be charging. Six months from now, after I go to these two seminars and really level up my skills, I'm going to be charging$80 per session. So, right now, this is going to be a family and friends, a beginner discount rate. What do you think would be fair? Put the ball in their court. Don't just say$30, because then you're lowering the value of your product. And your product as a great trainer is exponential. There's no cap. There's trainers that are charging$300 plus per hour, and they should because they are qualified. But in the beginning, there isn't a roadmap for success. And that's something that we're trying to help trainers establish. And we've done it time and time again. So where are you located? The big cities, the affluent areas in Chicago, where we were just at in our seminar, where we do our seminars in Vegas, in Toronto, Orange County, Tampa, Miami, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Sacramento, the pockets where there is a lifetime or an equinox and you're within a one to three mile radius, you can charge 150 plus. And when I say plus, the sky is the limit. I think 150 is a great rate because what you can do is train 15 sessions per week and make that 10K per month. So if you're not charging 150, the step down will be 125. That's roughly 20 sessions per week. If you don't feel comfortable with 125 and you go to 100, that's 25 sessions per week. And when we start going below that, you're just gonna have to be putting in a ton of reps.$75 per hour, it's 35 sessions per week.$60 per hour, that's 40 sessions per week.$50 per hour is 50 sessions per week. And that just begins to be very mentally taxing. That's where we talk about burnout because you're training at 5 a.m. And then your last appointment's at 7 p.m. You get home, you're still wired because you just took some fucking bang energy and you're all wired up and you can't go to sleep. Your cortisol levels are high, can't get into that deep REM. So then you're playing games, you're looking on weird shit on social media, you go to bed at one o'clock and you're waking up at four. It's not a recipe for success. You want to find a block where you can train five to six hours, five to six days per week, and you can have days off, you can have vacation. But in the beginning, you have to test the limits of your what you're capable of doing. So, my challenge for you would be charge more and learn to love the negotiation process. If you get a no and a no and a no, A, your value proposition during the assessment process is not great. You haven't had someone shadow your sessions, your sales is not optimal. They don't see the value in working with you. Or B, you're finding that upper limit of what you can charge. If there's not an Equinox or lifetime around you, reach out to trainers, give them a call. Yes, call them. Because most trainers are not going to put their pricing on their website. That's the smart way to go, unless you are an upper echelon gym or a boutique place. We put our prices on our studio. It's 150 to 350 per hour because we've been around for 10 plus years. Our assessment is 150 bucks. We've established ourselves as the top gym in Santa Monica. We have a plaque on our wall. And so we're able to charge that. In the beginning, you may not have that leverage or that confidence. So you need to call people and just hop on a call, ask them, hey, I'm thinking about working out how much does it cost for one-on-one training? And if they're good, they're going to work around it. They're going to say, Oh, you know, come in for an assessment and we'll we'll talk about our pricing options. And you know what? I don't want to waste anyone's time. I want to know what the hourly rate is. What is it? Get that number, write it out, do it 10 more times. If they do post how much they're charging, take the 10 best examples and then put yourself at the upper end of that if you are a qualified coach. Now, how I label qualified is different than a lot of other people. I know we get our panties and jockstraps in a bundle, but if you have your SUF, CPT, NSCA, ACSM, background kinesiology, you went to MPTI, you go to weekend seminars, you are interning under physical therapists, you have an RD on your team, you are at the top of that list. So you can charge more. A lot of trainers are not charging what they're worth. And so then 12 months later, they're not able to make it. But that's not you. Don't get frustrated if someone says no, because maybe that's just not your market. Where are you finding people? Did you just do one post on social media by saying I'm looking for five clients? Well, every other trainer does that. Yay, I'm certified. I want to start training people. Doctors don't do that. Just finished my cardiac residency. Who wants to be my first open heart surgery? No, they go through more residencies and internships and mentorships with the right individuals and professionals to guide them along that process. So who's working with you? Who's gone over your assessment looking at the questions that you're asking? Because if you don't have great questions, such as, what does success look like working with me six months from now? I love that when it plants a seed because they're going to be working with you six months from now. Do you have a stick figure and says, circle the pain that you have? Do you know how to address the pain? Can you refer out if something comes up and you're not comfortable with it? Do you know how to screen for shoulder discomfort, low back discomfort, knee discomfort? What are the processes with soft tissue manipulations? That is going to put you at that top 1%. So anyone that comes through your doors, you're going to be confident in assessing, delivering a great workout, which is the most important part, showing your true colors, those people skills. You have the technical skills because you have those qualified certifications. And then you deliver with the sales proposition at the end and you pause and you smile and you soak up the quietness. Because what most people will do is they're going to say it's$100 per hour. They look at them and they go, Heart rates at 109. You go, Oh my God, I'm actually 75 an hour. Actually, I know it's kind of expensive. Maybe we'll do 50. Next thing you know, you're training them for free and you're paying them. That's not what we're all about. We can provide so much value, changing people's lives. I love asking that question at seminars. What are some of your success stories with clients? There was someone at the last one in Chicago that helped someone go from type two diabetic to reverse it completely. No longer do they have diabetes. How cool is that? You literally change someone's life more than medication. We are at the front lines of defense. We are changing the landscape for healthcare because we are competent coaches. And it comes down to what you are charging. As long as you set clear expectations, maybe you undervalue yourself because you see that$100, like, oh my God, I got all this debt, and that's just no way I could pay for that. So then you're thinking about your bank account. That's okay, that's normal. But have the conversation with your client. I want to let you know, I'm gonna be going to the OC level two seminar, show up Venice. It's one of the best soft tissue courses out there. They have a team of physical therapists, the prehab guys. Oh my God, I'm gonna get their exercise library. It's 150 bucks a year. Use our code SHOWUP20 to get 20% off. And then you're having those conversations with your clients. When I come back, my pricing is gonna go from$60 per session to$80. Now, if you want to sponsor this event, it's gonna be$1,000. I have five opportunities where you can pay$200. And then you, I'm gonna keep you at your current price. So your clients are sponsoring your weekend seminars. And then you go to Justin Farnsworth, he's gonna come out to our gym October 23rd. You go to Barbell Rehab. You constantly are learning every month, every quarter, but you're having the conversations with your clients because you're leveling up your skills. I give this example a lot. In LA, I could drive to Las Vegas and then San Francisco. And if I ask a hundred people who've done that, what way do you think they're gonna tell me is the best way? Well, you got to go to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Why not just go straight up on the 101? People are not doing that just because they're not doing it, doesn't mean that that route is inferior, because in actuality it's superior. But if you interview people based off of the survivorship bias, meaning that they got a textbook certification, they learn by themselves, they don't have a coach, they don't have mentorship, they haven't been to internships, then you're learning their route. And there's nothing wrong with that per se. But why not follow people who've done it significantly faster? You want to charge$100 ASAP. So you can be doing 25 sessions per week, making 10K and clearing$120,000 per year. It's absolutely possible. But if you ask that trainer who's charging$40 per session and they're training at 5 a.m. and they're going until 10 p.m. and they're stressed out, they're not working out, they've never been to a seminar. Their advice isn't the best. Don't go to fucking Reddit and ask people, how much can you make? Danny13 Avatar 7 with a banana avatar tells you that, oh, this is how much I make. You don't even have the conversation with them. Sit down, have an actual call with someone virtually via Zoom. Learn about the right way, and you can absolutely turn this into a career. Hopefully, you found this valuable with setting your pricing. Shoot us messages on the qualified personal trainers community on Facebook and or Instagram. Throw this into your story. And remember big biceps are better than small ones. Show it up.