The 3 Traits of Personal Trainers Making $125K+ Per Year

How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer vol. 2 interviews coaches and trainers who have lead a successful personal training career. HINT HINT, they don't praise textbook certifications, they focus on hands on learning and building teams.

If you want to make real money as a personal trainer, “getting certified” is not the finish line, it’s the starting line. We’re pulling back the curtain on what we see from the one percenters in the industry: the coaches clearing $125,000+ a year while everyone else wonders why their calendar is empty and their confidence is shaky. 

We walk through three traits that keep showing up among high performers. First, they chase hands-on learning, not just books and bundles. They do seminars, internships, mentorships, and supervised reps in the trenches, because that’s where you learn to handle knee pain, shoulder issues, and real-world client chaos without freezing. Second, they build a serious network, especially physical therapists (DPTs) and registered dietitians (RDs) they can actually talk to, not just follow online. That support raises your competence, your results, and your ability to charge premium rates with integrity. 

Then we tackle the taboo topic: looking the part. Not extremes, not unrealistic influencer standards, but a clear signal that you practice what you preach and you fit your market. We also share practical ways to “level up” fast, from picking the right mentors to running a SWOT analysis on your business and physique. If you’re done with the quick-fix mindset and ready to build a sustainable personal training career, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a trainer friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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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

What High Earners Have In Common

0:00

If you want to become a successful personal trainer, you need to study successful personal trainers. As a teacher of trainers, in my book from 2009 to current date, I've interviewed more trainers at the high-end gyms, independent, international, and managers who work with personal trainers overseeing hundreds than any person out there that I could tell you. I want you to be successful. These are the three most common traits, and I'm going to focus on these 11 individuals over here, which is a pretty accurate sample size of the current market: 60 to 70% male, 30 to 40% female. Two Joes, Pujan, Tilo, Cody, Dylan, Megan's, Chelsea, and Miranda. These are the one percenters. And if you are the one percenters, you're making more than $125,000.

Hands-On Learning Beats Book Smarts

0:46

Number one, the passion for success. And this is widespread. It's not just about helping people, it's the foundation and fundamentals of where and how they learn to become a trainer. All of these trainers, right here on the left-hand side, went to numerous hands-on learning seminars. On the right side, all attended a two-month internship. If you study some of the great celebrity trainers, Ben Bruno, Luca, Eric Cressy, Tony Genocor, they all did hands-on learning. Whether if they went to Eric Cressy's internship in Florida, Mike Boyle's in Boston, I believe, they are gaining hands-on experience. This is one of my favorite photos. I have this photo in my book, and I think this is one of the most important things for trainers to understand. The average trainer studies a textbook. Even worse, they get a bundle. A year's worth of reading a book, no hands-on learning. The most successful trainers are over here. They are learning hands-on in the trenches. It'll be like a race car driver, just reading a book and reading a book. You're not doing it. If you want to be successful as a personal trainer, you need to be learning hands-on with proper supervision. You want to be this person over here. Unfortunately, what we do is we go on Reddit, Facebook, we're listening to podcasts or people who haven't even done this for 20 years. They need to be in the trenches. Are you currently training people? People over here are in the trenches. They're going to hands-on learning seminars. I love the podcast that I did with Luca, Dr. Davidson. Hundreds of thousands of dollars they're investing into their education. The average trainer studies a book, they waste $1,500 in the beginning. They have that sunk cost fallacy, which is really important because that drives imposture phenomena. You're not doing it. So you have that self-doubt. Can I train anybody? You start talking to family members and friends. I'm becoming a trainer. They go, oh, I need to lose weight. I have knee pain. And you go, Oh, well, I didn't read about that. Um, self-doubt, self-doubt. So then you're going to postpone another month, another month. I was talking with an individual today because we have a study guide and a course to pass NASAM if you came across as too late. They got that in early December 2025. We're in summer of 26 and they're still studying. You've wasted six months when you could be learning from trainers, surrounding yourself with better people, and that's exactly what number

Build An Elite Support Network

3:24

two is. Who you surround yourself with. Do you have DPTs? Do you have RDs? In the last two years, we've coasted over 500 trainers at Lifetime in Equinox. The single most common denominator for the trainers who are struggling, they don't have a DPT, which is a physical therapist, or an RG, a registered dietitian, who they could reach out to and have a conversation with that day. I'm not talking about someone who you follow. We have partnered with the best therapists out there, Dr. Farnsworth, prehab guys, Dr. Waterberry, Dr. Coleman. We have so many who we could reach out to and say, you know what, I have a client who's coming in with a shoulder issue. Could you be on a FaceTime if there's any contraindications so we can get some more info on what's going on there? We have weekly calls with physical therapists and dietitians. When you surround yourself with people who are the most elite, you become elite. I just did one of our mentorship calls with our team physical therapist, Dr. Andrew. And it was just so fascinating to see because we were going over lateral and medial elbow stuff. And I was giving them some curveballs, talking about other issues with the thoracic spine, breathing mechanics, low back. But the topic was elbow. There was no uh give me 10 minutes and let me go think about that. You know, let me go look at a book. Uh well, what what are my options for an answer? Is this a multiple choice test? No. Boom, boom, boom. The confidence because of the foundation. Trainers need to mirror more physical therapists, RDs, versus influencers. The easy way out. You read a book, post online, I'm a trainer, and then what? You don't have the confidence nor the competence to deliver the results for your clients. You have a passion for this. You want to become successful, you want to be making $125,000 a year. I had a great talk with Teal just the other day, made his first $24,000 in one month. The average trainer makes $40 to $50 in a year. In two months, he's gonna make that. He's been to numerous seminars, he participates online, he's in the trenches, constantly learning. We don't just do the foundation and then quit. I can't tell you how many trainers have never been to a hands-on learning course. So the next time you're on Reddit or you're talking to a trainer, because hopefully you are interviewing trainers about your career path. If you wanted to become a doctor, you would go and interview doctors, survey them, gain knowledge, best routes. You wouldn't just go online and click on the first link, would you? And then you have a career counselor who's like a mentor. So our industry is the laughing stock of all industries because we're not professional, because we want the quick fix. And if you choose that path, you're gonna be like all these trainers who are struggling to make ends meet. If you want to be like the elite, you have to have skin in the game. You have to get out of your comfort zone. Are you charging what you're worth? Most trainers have a fear because they're thinking about their bank account. $50 an hour, that's a lot. We charge $150 to $350 here in Santa Monica per session. We don't freak out about that because we have the best therapists, the best RDs on our team, and we know for a fact we will get you results. If you need to get out of pain, we'll get you out of pain. If you need to work with an RD because you have some metabolic disease, cool, we got you covered. We know how to navigate each case scenario.

Why Looking The Part Matters

6:38

And last but not least, the common denominators with the most successful trainers is they look the part. Now, this one is taboo. If you go online, you're just gonna get into a cluster F of a bunch of people arguing. It's this U-shaped curve. You got people over here who are in phenomenal shape, bikini competitors, and they're saying, Oh, these people over here, they're a bunch of fatos, and the people who aren't in the best shape are commenting over there, it's not realistic, blah, blah, blah. It's not going anywhere. It's like politics, right versus left. So, my question would be: instead of asking trainers, survey clients. As a gym owner of 10 plus years, I get inquiries on a regular basis. And then my responsibility is to ask them, would you prefer male or female? And the majority of the time, what I hear back is, I want this person because they're in great shape. You will get, I prefer a female or I want a dude, but more times than not, it's based around the looks aspect. So let's dissect that. What I'm talking about is under 15% body fat for males, under 20% for females. That's what this group right here has. And again, this is a tough pill to swallow. I'm not saying you need to be a runway model. You just need to be in better shape than your clients. As a teacher of training, I'm not some jack, I got some big arms, but I'm not some physique competitor. I'm in better shape than all my clients, though. And when I teach seminars, I'm in better shape than most trainers. I feel the responsibility. I need to practice what I preach. You'll hear the common analogy you wouldn't go to a dentist with no teeth. Yeah, you probably wouldn't. You'd be like, what the hell, Doc? You don't even have nice teeth. They look like freaking butter sticks. So my challenge for you is ask yourself, are you in the best shape of your life? And if you're not, what could you do to improve? Could you hire a trainer? Why not do 75 hard or a three-month prep? We don't need to go to the extremes and now create eating disorders. But what can you do to level yourself up? There's a really cool story from a trainer over here in Santa Monica. We helped him get hired at Equinox. And he was, meh, average. He was struggling with his business. He took a personal accountability and he went through a crazy transformation, like literal rock star status. His book of business went through the roof. He was able to quit Equinox and he does everything independent and online all because of that transformation. So again, look in the mirror. Use some David Goggins. Look at yourself in the mirror, the accountability mirror. Are you in the best shape of your life? If not, why? And we can't be looking at a 20-year-old and comparing it to a 40-year-old. Wait the same amount of hours in a day. That's bullshit. Because if you have kids, if you're the CEO of a company, your life is different than the 20-year-old who's at home living with mom and dad, no financial responsibilities, on TRT at freaking 20, taking peptides and all this crazy shit. That physique is not realistic. So it's who's your market? My clientele, 40 to 70 plus. Who are you working with? And if you're at a gym that's very aesthetic appeasing, you're gonna need to level yourself up because the clients are looking at you, they're sizing you up. The other trainers are gonna say, Oh, it doesn't really matter, but it's in the eyes of the beholder. Who's your potential market? And if your clients are going, oh, I don't want to work out with him because he doesn't look like a trainer, or I don't want to work out with her because she doesn't look like a trainer, that's the most important thing.

Action Steps To Level Up Fast

10:02

So look at these three areas of opportunities. Where does your learning come from? I just did a great podcast with a PTL1 from Lifetime in Colorado. He talks about the diversification for trainers' backgrounds. He loves seeing an SUF CPT, an FRC program around pain, variety, not just NASA and PES, CES, wellness coach, all the same curriculum. Diversify your learnings and become more of a critical thinker. Surround yourself with the best. Do a local search, trainers near me. Pay the most expensive one. Get that experience. Why is that individual charging so much? See if they will mentor you, pay them, invest in yourself. And last but not least, especially in these summer months, you're gonna lose some business. Take it on to yourself to level up your physique. Go on some extreme workout challenge, sign up for a marathon, go through a transformation. Look at your SWOT analysis for your business and physique, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Where could you improve? If you've always wanted beautiful calves, don't blame your genetics. How can you incorporate a calf program to get bigger calves? 90 days the giant calves. Do some donkey calf raises like Arnold was. What can you do to better your physique? Because I guarantee you that will have a direct impact on your business. Incorporate these three things into your business. Check out the book Volume Two, the podcast. And if you want to become a successful personal trainer, we have certifications online, in person with our partnership with Lifetime. Remember, big buy sips are better than some keep showing up.