Get hired at Life Time PRACTICAL w/ Show Up Fitness

Show Up Fitness has helped more trainers get hired at Life Time than any company. In fact, 2025 we had 3 SUF-CPTs who were top performers bringing in over 200k into the company (Yes, it's possible to make over 100k as a QUALIFIED personal trainer.) 

How to get hired at life time?

The Lifetime Fitness practical can feel like a performance test, but it’s really a professionalism test disguised as a workout. We walk through exactly how we approach it so you can show up calm, prepared, and unmistakably hire-ready. From arriving 30 minutes early to dressing like a coach, we explain the small signals that tell a manager you’re reliable, confident, and ready to work with real members on day one. 

Then we get into the coaching that wins the room: how to read the floor, run a quick medical screen, and handle common issues like shoulder limitations without freezing. We share a simple, repeatable programming framework built on movement patterns (lower body, push or pull, accessory/core), plus practical modifications that keep the session safe and effective even when a client can’t do the “ideal” version. If you want to sound like you know the why behind your choices, this is the blueprint. 

Finally, we go where most trainers get uncomfortable: the sit-down sales conversation. We role-play how to ask how often they want to train, how to talk about pricing with confidence, how to respond to objections, and why Lifetime personal training can create bigger earning opportunities when you pair great coaching with clear communication. If you’re serious about getting hired and building a real income as a personal trainer, subscribe, share this with a trainer friend, and leave a review with the part you want us to break down next.

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

Welcome And Goal For Today

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Addie y'all, welcome back to the show up fitness podcast, helping you get hired at lifetime, going through the practical and what you're gonna be expected to to get onto the lifetime team. We're gonna go over how you ace the practical. I have an entire chapter in my book, which is chapter five, how to become a successful personal trainer, volume two. We've helped so many people get hired at the best gym lifetime. Hands down. Now you may want to work at one of these other gyms. So this practical portion may help with that, but a lot of these don't have the practical portion. All you do is show up and then they're gonna hire you. It's not that hard, but if you want to make a lot of money, you go to Lifetime because that's where the biggest opportunities are. So, most importantly, show up at least 30 minutes early. They're testing you. Can you show up on time? Oh, there was traffic. They're not gonna want you on the team because you're always gonna be a victim and have those excuses. Smell good, look good, be a professional, wear a polo. Ladies, whatever that is for you, I don't know. I grew up with brothers, but you want to look to part of a trainer. Now, the previous interview you should address to the nines. That's with business casual. When you show up for the practical portion, it's gonna be in fitness attire. I prefer a polo. With our exclusive partnership with Lifetime, they prefer SUF CPTs. Five to 10 years of experience or an SUF CPT, you get to the front line. We've helped so many people get hired. There was 150 applicants for that Boise Eagle Lifetime. SUF CPT came in, they go to the front of the line. They get that first opportunity because Lifetime in their organization prefers our certification. Once you get that SUF CPT, you automatically get an interview. So you're gonna see something like this for a hunk and or a hunk at, which we call a guy and girl, but politically correct today. Can't say this, can't say that. So hunk and hunk at just sounds better. So you're gonna see something like a hunket here, bunch of injuries, how to modify with the equipment due to availability. Can you think on the fly? That's what we teach you. Wanted to do an in-body analysis, the first thing, which I haven't looked into or done in years, totally bullshitted my way through that. I don't suggest it, but you've never used it, you're gonna have to be able to pivot on the fly. The AC went out. That being said, it went well. I followed the SUF script almost to a T, the assessment, and then warm-up, got into some trainer engagement. We set you up for success. For a hunk, this is taken off the board in Toronto. They role-play this stuff all the time. You got a guy, 50 years old, Joe, looking to lose 40 pounds of fat, 20% body fat. Money is not an option. They are going to sit you down at the end and you need to sell them. So the programming should just be like that piece of cake. You will absolutely crush it because a lot of times they're gonna say, we're gonna give you 15 minutes to design a program for a 50-year-old guy who money is not an option, he has a shoulder issue. What does that look like? And you say, Nope, I'm ready to go. Because that's what our certification prepares you for. And that manager already goes, huh, you're different. You don't, you don't need to write anything down. No, I'm ready to go. Let's get out there. So the first thing that you do when you get out on the floor, let's start with a hunk at, there's gonna be a hypothetical scenario. A would be an assistant manager, and they're gonna have all these issues that are going on, such as shoulder injuries, hip, whatever. Or option B, that trainer, they want to move into that PTL2 role. So then maybe they just want to work out. That's what happened to me 20 years ago when I first got hired at Renaissance Club Sport. The guy took to the practical and said, you know, honestly, man, I just want a great chest workout. Can you take me through that? Absolutely. Let's go crush chest. Then he told the manager, that trainer's good. That's how I got hired. So you have to read the room in the beginning when you go out on the floor. Check out the flow. You're gonna find an area and implement the CCA based on the person's goals. Do a quick medical screen. Anything I should be aware of heart history, lungs, metabolic disease, everything check out good. If there's any issues at the shoulder, screen, can you get your hands above your head? Can you come above parallel with your humerus? Can you lift your hand off the back? Those are simple three tests. When in doubt, refer out. A lot of lifetimes have a chiropractor, sports PT, whoever it may be, you would refer to them, but they're going to give you an opportunity to train. So for a hunk at, I'm going leg into upper body into an accessory. That's the first circuit, three rounds. A lot of times you won't even get past that first round because they see you're a qualified coach. So we're gonna do a goblet into a push-up into some booty planks. Get engaged, show them how to do it first. Choose an appropriate weight for the individual. You don't know? Okay, I'm gonna start out with a 25. Hit 10 reps. Big toe, little toe, heel on the grounds at all time. Drive your knees out. Good. Walk around them. Get engaged, push their knees in, drive against me. If they have bad form, correct it. Move into push-ups. If they can't do anything, you can go to a bench press and do a push on the bar. You could go down to the ground, put a band under them. I don't like modified girl push-ups because there's no such thing as a girl push-up or a guy push-up. Why are we getting sexist? They're all the same. So put a band under the individual and help them up concentrically. They control down the eccentrically. Booty planks, they've probably never done them before. Get one of these bands, put it on their ankle, put it in your pocket, bring some goodies into the workout. Put this on their ankles, and then they have to go back and forth, right foot, left foot. Whoo, that booty's gonna catch on fire. You rest, you rinse and repeat, add weight for the goblets, challenge the push-ups. Maybe they let the leg out, go back into the booty planks. You'll do that for three total rounds. If they want you to do the entire workout, you would move into the next one. We have a squat pattern and a push-up. So we're gonna move into a hinge, into a pull, into a band walk in the frontal plane. We'll do that for three rounds. And then we're gonna move into the last circuit, unilateral reverse lunge into a split stance press. I really like those, a lot more shoulder friendly. You're gonna have your lead leg forward, contralateral arm pressing above, and then we'll do some bicycles. You're gonna slow it down super, super, super slow. Right elbow, left knee, hold, pull them apart, get involved, get them a towel, offer some water, help them up off the ground, get them a mat for the ground. Professionalism is huge. They wanna see if you can get engaged. This practical portion, they just want to see if you have a personality. Or as I talk about in my book, help Nick, the P. Do you have people skills? Because that's what it's going to be when you are the mayor of the gym. You got to go out there and talk to people. I know managers, I've done a podcast with them. The practical portion, they say, go out there, talk to a member, train him for an hour, come back and let's talk. Because I'm gonna go to that member afterwards and see how the workout was. That is amazing. That's leveling up the standard. That's what you should be capable of doing. So use that for the hunk yet. Typically, I don't like using a lot of weight on the upper body because we're fearful of getting big and bulky. It's not gonna happen, but I'm respectful by doing body weight push-ups, body weight pull-ups, working on the eccentric three to five reps, make sure it's appropriate, but challenging. For the hunk, usually upper body emphasis. We're gonna do an incline dumbbell, a lot more shoulder friendly, and do an elevated incline dumbbell row, a lot more of a stretch for the lats. People typically don't do that. That's a new exercise. They love it. Then let's do some planks. Same thing. Tap your toes, move back and forth, give them some perturbations. Get involved as the trainer. Three rounds. They're each time progressing the core movement pattern. We have a horizontal push, horizontal pull, then the accessory, ab focus. Don't do cardio here because that just smokes them. They're not testing to see if you can annihilate a client. That's super easy to do. They're testing your competence as a qualified coach. Do you know the why behind this? Most of the time, guys want to focus on upper body. That's why I chose a press. I was assuming you wanted to work on chest, as you originally said. And then we complemented that with an antagonist, which would be a pull. Second circuit, we're gonna do a split stance press, the same we're doing with the hunket. I love that one because most dudes are gonna do a barbell overhead press. We're gonna get some thoracic extension, anterior tilt, shoulder pain. It's a lot more of a shoulder-friendly exercise. I prefer the split stance press into some chin-ups, challenge them. If that trainer can crank out 10 easy or that hypothetical member, let's have them slow it down. Red light, green light, hold at the top, pull them down, get involved as the trainer. And let's do some farmers' carries. First time, just use dumbbells. Second time, waiter's carry. Third time, perturbations, push them a little bit, get involved. Three rounds, end off on a squat pattern, lower body, just do one leg because guys typically suck with cardio. And if you do a leg pattern each time, it's gonna smoke them. So, especially if a guy is 40 pounds overweight, wants to lose 20% body weight. I'm gonna do legs at the end because that's more of a cardio circuit. So then we're gonna go into a push-up because he wants to focus more on chest, have him bring a leg up, have him pause, come down to the ground, take your hands off the ground. And when I clap, I want you to press up as fast as you can. That is reactive training, trainer engagement. I'm gonna create some sound and go! I'm gonna clap loud so people are looking. Who is that trainer over there? Oh my god, I see so many trainers sitting on the wall on their iPad, not getting involved. I wanna work with them. You will be impressing the manager when you do that. Let's do some curls. 28. What? I've done 21s where I do seven here, seven here, and seven full ones, but 28. Oh my god, I've never done those before. Seven bottom, seven at the top, seven in the middle, and then end off with seven more. They will get a pump, they're feeling it. Oh my God, that was incredible. Let's talk about sales now. You're gonna sign them up. So you're gonna go into a room, you're gonna sit them down, you're gonna smile, get them some water. Would you like a smoothie? Because I can go down to the front, the Lifetime Cafe, I can get you a smoothie, order it on your app. Hypothetically, you're providing that service. You smile, how many times a week would you like to train with me? Uh, three times. I would ask the trainer before, and this is always going to impress him, and it's gonna get a little frog in your throat here. But ask who charges the most at the gym. Uh, Frank over here charges 175. Awesome. I'm gonna charge 200. So I'm gonna sit him down and ask, how many times do you want to train with me? Three, three times four. Let's see how good we are at math. That's 12, that's one month. Or would you like a discount for 10%? And I'll do 72. So this is gonna be 200, this will be 180. Which would you prefer? You're not gonna sell them, but they want to see your confidence and they go, oh, that's too expensive. Great. What were you thinking when you came in here to work with the best trainer of lifetime? And the manager's gonna be like, holy shit, that is confidence. I love you, I need you on my team. You're gonna be scared to say that. It's not overly cocky. You are confident because you're a qualified coach. You smile. The first person to talk loses. They're gonna push back, my significant other. Uh, let me think about it. Great, what do you need to think about? And you smile. That's the fun for the sales part. And the kicker with lifetime is when you sell them that big package, you get a percentage of that. That's why, in my opinion, lifetime is the best place to work because you're in a better environment with more qualified coaches and you can make more, but not in exchange for working 60 hours as you're gonna have to do down here. That is too challenging. You're making 20, 30 bucks at lifetime. If you charge 150, you can get up to 75, 80 bucks per hour and then sales commission, charge 200, you're getting 100, 110 per session, 20, 25 hours a week. You can easily, easily make 10k plus per month. Oh, it's so hard to make that much money because you're not a qualified coach. You don't understand how to program. You can't do this on the fly. That's what they want. So when you master the CCA with programming, you go in there with confidence, knowing, throw whatever you like at me. I'm a great coach. I can train whomever. I don't care if it's a kid, an athlete, it's gonna be general pop though. So, can you provide an amazing session? Are you competent with your programming? And you will get hired and then reach out to us and we'll come do a seminar at one of the lifetimes. We've been to more than 20%, over 30 now. Lifetime has an exclusive partnership with the SUF CPT. We also have our soft tissue and our nutrition coaching to help you make more and drive those streams of revenue. Remember, big biceps are better than small ones, and keep showing up.