How many clients do you need to make 120k/ yr as a personal trainer

$120,000 as a personal trainer is not a mystery, it is math plus strategy. We start with the clean target of $10K per month and work backward into what your week actually needs to look like, including the part most people ignore: clients say they will train three times a week, then life happens. Missed sessions, weak cancellation policies, travel, sickness, and burnout turn “perfect plans” into messy income fast, especially at $50 per session.

We walk through the real numbers at $50, $75, and $100 per session, and how each tier changes the size of your client roster and the stress level of your calendar. We also get blunt about the thought experiment that should shape your whole business: why work more when you can work less and get paid more? If you want a sustainable personal training career, your pricing has to match your skill, your market, and the results you deliver.

Then we go beyond sessions into personal trainer revenue streams, especially nutrition coaching done the right way. We talk about separating training from nutrition, earning the “green light” after a month of consistency, building accountability with food logging, and even partnering with a registered dietitian for monthly calls and deeper client support. We close with a simple 60/30/10 model for training, nutrition, and supplements, plus ideas for email lists, content, and online coaching so your income is not tied to one gym or one crisis. Subscribe, share this with a trainer friend, and leave a review with the rate you want to charge next.

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Transcript

The $120K Goal In Plain Math

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How many clients do you need to make $120,000 as a personal trainer? $100,000 is messy. $80,333. $120 is easier. That's $10K per month. So let's work backwards to help you see how many clients you need, how much you need to charge, and then we'll also talk about streams of revenue. This video is for trainers who are working at the high-end gyms or independent because you need to be at least making $50 per hour. If you're getting less than that, you're gonna be working like 80 hours a week, not realistic. So let's start off with the easiest one, which is gonna be 50 bucks. How can I make $10,000? So if you break that down into each week, you're looking at $2,500 per week. So $2,500 per week is going to be when you divide that by $50, we need to have at least 50 sessions. So $50, $50 sessions. How many clients is that? The average client trains 2.2 tons. How can they train 0.2? It's because in a month they do 10, divide that by four, 2.2. On your books, they're gonna say, I want to train three times a week, but they're gonna miss, they're gonna get sick, they're gonna be hungover, whatever life happens. NBA finals last night, client texts you at 6 a.m. Can't make it. And most trainers don't have a solid cancellation policy, so you're screwed for that session. So 2.2. If you had 10 clients, that's gonna be 22 sessions. If you had 20 clients, now we're looking at 44 sessions. So take that in half. 25 sessions is gonna be roughly 55 or so, and that's what you're gonna need to aim for because again, of the fall off. You're gonna have clients that leave for work, for vacation, get sick, long-term leave, whatever it's gonna

Why $50 An Hour Gets Messy

SPEAKER_00 1:52

be. You're gonna roughly need 25 clients paying you $50 per session, or you're at a gym where you're charging 100 and you get 50. 25 clients is what you're going for. Now, when you start charging 75 per hour, roughly 150 at a gym, it's gonna be a little easier. You're looking at 75, 33 sessions. Now, how many clients are you gonna need? That's why I always suggest when you have that conversation, how many times a week do you want to train? I don't settle for two or three. If my client asks me, I'm gonna say six times because we know the more you train, the better shape that you're going to get. I've had clients that will do double days for more than two weeks. That's that's they're gonna overtrain. No, they're not. If your client wants it, provide that for them. I would much rather train a dedicated client twice a day, six times in a week, than that flaky client who's barely shown up twice. So when you do these sessions, 10 clients, 22, 15 clients would be 33. I would shoot for a couple more. 18 would probably be your magic number there. If they're training on average 2.2 times. Again, you're gonna have some clients training four, some training two. If your whole book of business is clients training one time, obviously you're gonna need 33 clients to get that session. Add in a couple more just to safeguard that, maybe 35.

The $75 And $100 Sweet Spots

SPEAKER_00 3:10

But here's the gold zone, in my opinion. If you can charge 100 per hour independently or work at a gym where you can charge 200 and get that 100, that's gonna be your lifetimes and your equinoxes. Then you're looking at 100 per session that you are making because the gym takes half. So you're only gonna need 25 sessions, it's a lot more reasonable. I'm gonna shoot for 30, but if you go off of what we were saying earlier, 10 clients, 22 sessions, 15, you're gonna be good to go. So if you have between 12 to 15 clients charging 200 or bringing in 100, you're gonna be able to make $120,000. Now, here's my kicker to you, my thought experiment.

Work Less Get Paid More

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Why work more? Wouldn't you rather work less and get paid more? So, one of the things that we're really big in here at Show Up is streams of revenue. And so, especially if you have all those clients and you're at a big box gym, that means you're gonna be building your email list. I want people to be working online with me and provide nutrition coaching. So, if we take this example right here, you need 15 clients roughly paying you 100. If you had nutrition consulting, you charge 250 a month for that. 15 clients, and this is

Selling Nutrition The Right Way

SPEAKER_00 4:24

all on the delivery. Most trainers include nutrition within their services. I highly disagree. What we do, and what I know works because we've helped numerous trainers do it, you when you sit them down, 12 sessions cost this, 72 cost that, 10% discount. Which one do you want? They commit. Now that I have you here, I want to talk about nutrition coaching. After a month of being consistent, that turns on the green light to start getting this service. It's 250 bucks a month. What you're gonna get accountability. The first phase is called metabolic awareness. We're gonna track your food, I'm gonna get you a scale, I'm gonna get you a bunch of supplements. You're gonna be really set up for success, but you need to earn that right. I've worked with so many people who come in and they're excited and they want everything. It's too much for them to handle. So they quit within a couple weeks. Why do you think the fallout for New Year's resolution is right around that 17 to 21 day period? Because they want it all. I'm gonna start running 15 miles a day. I'll listen to frickin' David Goggins, I'm ready to go. You're not realistic. That's where their SMART goals come in: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. So if you set these clear expectations as the professional, just like if you went to the doctor and you had a cold, you don't start asking for the most potent medicine. They work their way up. If they need it, that is a backup plan. It's the same with us. We need to be acting as more medical professionals. We are in the front line of defense. So when you tell your client, I'm gonna suggest being consistent. Eat more fruits and vegetables, don't eat like the fat kid from Charlie and Chocolate Factory, drink more water, consume more protein within reason, don't make it all fatty meats. Stick to that for now. After a month, we'll dive into nutrition. And that's when the fun really begins. Because the first month of training, as we know, because we're competent, qualified coaches, it's really more neurological. You can't do a push-up very well. Your body adapts with the motor unit recruitment. So day one versus day 30, the synchronization improves. You don't get a lot of hypertrophy, you're not gonna get a ton of fat loss, maybe one to two pounds per week. But after you really learn that client and they understand that they can do it, turn that green light on for nutrition coaching. And if you had half of your clients, so let's just say eight because you're really good, and eight clients are paying you 250, that's an extra 2K per month. So we go back to that hundred dollars that you're charging. You don't need to be doing 25 sessions. You only need to be doing 12 to 15 because you have this other stream.

RDs Email Lists And Online Reach

SPEAKER_00 6:56

You bring an RD on your team, you reach out to them, you proposition them with your proposal. Once a month, hop on a call. I have a lot of clients who are gonna want food planning and one-on-ones with you. I'm gonna be sending you potential clients in exchange. One time per month, hop on a call, debunk all the stupid stuff we see on social media, answer questions. If there's more metabolic concerns, take them on a one-off, charge your hourly rate. I don't want any of that. I just want you to do one hour per month. I will pay you your hourly rate. Most of the time, you don't even need to offer that because an RD sees an opportunity to get in front of 15 people, but this is actual in person. What about the people you're not training? That first assessment that you do, your client says, I can't afford it, it's too expensive. Uh, I'm gonna try it myself. Take their name, put it into your email list, and you build that relationship. More points of contact. You send out weekly blog articles, start writing a sub stack, start posting more in your social media, let people know you have nutritional consulting available. Be careful with which gym you work at. They may not agree with it, so you have to be a little creative per se. You're not telling your boss, oh, I'm gonna start making a bunch of money with nutrition. They're not gonna be aligned with that because at the big box gyms, they're gonna say, do three sessions and then take another session and do nutrition, which you could potentially do. Trainers don't do it though. So I love this because now you're gonna start greasing the wheels on nutrition coaching. As we know, abs are made in the kitchen. 90% of success is made in the kitchen. You need to focus on nutrition. But what trainers do, they get PN1, they get NASM CNC, and they don't give you the business side of it. How to incorporate this is the most important. You need to know the fundamentals. We have numerous calls. Watch our series on how to and why we're fat, 10 part series breaks down all the macros and the T D E E. You need to master the basics, just like as a competent coach, you need to know the movement fundamentals, the patterns, how to progress, regress, periodization, all that stuff. That's the foundation. I'm not saying we're skipping that, but macro coaches, in my opinion, do. They just say, oh, we're gonna give you 40% fat and 30% protein and 30% carbs. Here's your blanket statement. Oh, we're gonna base it off of uh this equation that doesn't really make sense for this individual. So when you do more and you provide more daily accountability, do a food log, send me photos. We will meet once a week, whether if it's Zoom or in person for 15 minutes, you have complete access to me. We're gonna do a grocery list, foods to eat when you go out, what to have for breakfast, supplements

Supplements And The 60 30 10 Split

SPEAKER_00 9:28

that you should consider. And then with that supplement conversation, that could turn into your 10% stream. So I suggest trainers to get 60% in the thing that they love to do the most. Small group training, you're an alpha instructor, whatever, Pilates, 60% comes from that first stream, 30% comes from nutrition coaching, 10% comes from supplementation. And you may be thinking, like, a supplement, I don't believe in that. Toxins. If you don't allow for that conversation, your clients are gonna be scrolling when they're drunk or stoned on night, whatever the hell they're doing, and they're just gonna look at someone and they're gonna buy some random ass supplements. Wouldn't you rather to be in that conversation? Your moral compass dictates this. I'm not saying to start throwing down peptides and all this stuff that you don't believe in. I take creatine monohydrate, protein bars, protein shakes. I love beef sticks, I love sleeping aids. This is what I take. If you're really active and you sweat a lot, electrolytes. I'm not pushing anything in every cortisol, cocktail. No, I'm doing it based off what the research says. So I can provide two to three hundred dollars in supplements that my clients were gonna already be doing, and then I get a percentage of that. So go back to this number right here. I think this is an important one because you're looking at it like that's a lot of people. 15 people in person at a gym. But the beautiful thing about social media, it's endless. You could be working with a client in Turkey or in Belgium, Africa, wherever, and they're consulting to work with you. This rate isn't fixed. You can charge more, you can charge less, depending on what you provide. I know this sounds scary because A, trainers don't talk about it and you've never done it before. But ask this question: can you provide better information than all the horseshit that you see on social media? Strawberries cause cancer. That's the stuff your clients are seeing. So instead of talking about it during your workout in between sets, oh, I just crushed 185. Oh, let me talk about my macros real quick. Last night I had uh three pieces of cheesecake and have 14 slices of pizza, and oh my god, no, I I'll I'll I'll empathize with you. That's fine, but I'm not talking about this now, where we just have days to digest your nutrition, pun intended.

Coaching Calories Habits And Realism

SPEAKER_00 11:45

And when you make that a priority, your clients will respect you. I have a client that pays me $250 a month, and I just give her a couple recommendations when she goes out to eat. To type a lawyer in the trenches, she doesn't want to think about that. Decision fatigue, people will pay for. Send me the menu. If you go to Starbucks every day, I'll tell you what you need to eat. The RD can help you with your metabolic disease if you truly have that. I don't work with that stuff. I can work with the stuff that you have right here. If you're frustrated because you've tried all these diets and I've tried 1200 calories, I can't lose weight. I'm gonna educate you on that because all of my clients that work with me when it comes to nutrition, they're in the same situation. They were claiming to eat a certain amount of calories. 1,500, I couldn't lose weight. It's my hormones. Did you track your calories? Let me show you some photos real quick. How many calories in these two tacos? About 300, 900. You were 72% off. So when you thought you were eating 1500 calories, you were actually getting 3,000. The average American gets 3,500 calories per day. That's crazy because we're psychopaths. We food prep twice a week, we drink water all the time, we exercise 50 hours a week. Our clients aren't doing that. So we have to educate them and bring them through this process. Metabolic awareness is the first phase. Behavioral augmentation, the second phase, longevity integration. For some clients, this will take months and years to do. Because if you're 50, you have 50 years of bullshit eating. I'm hangry, and then you eat a whole thing of Oreo cookies. It's disgusting to watch. I'm not judging you for it, but you need to have someone coach you just with nutrition. And let me ask you, when was the last time you worked with a coach who had a team with registered dietitians? Huh. My last coach, Jared, he was just jacked and he told me to go carnivore. And he told me I didn't eat pigs, nuts, and bacon all day. No, I'm gonna give you a plan that works for you. We're not eliminating all foods or carbs or anything like that. I'm gonna educate you on what a calorie is, the best choices for your lifestyle when you go out when you're on vacation. Why is it that every time when you go on vacation, you gain weight, but then my clients and myself, I lose weight. If you're working 40 hours a week and you go on vacation for a week, that gives you 40 hours to start moving more. You can make better decisions. Those are things I'm gonna help you with. So you're peaking interest because you're like, oh shit, I've tried 13 diets, none of them worked. I thought because Betsy Online said it's my hormones, it must be my hormones. And my cortisol cocktail isn't working. And you're right, every time I go on vacation, I come back a fat ass, 30 pounds heavier. That's their words, not ours. Let me help you through that. How are you gonna feel when you have a whole entire year when you're able to make decisions and it's not this up and down, it's consistency. How many times on the New Year's have you set a goal and you didn't attain it? And that right there is why you invest into nutritional coaching. Which plan would you like? Six months or three? Oh, it's just too much of investment. I'm already paying for training, I just don't see the value. I totally understand. Let's start with a month plan. I will get you access to one of our calls with the RD. That's for free. If you want access moving forward, it's $100 per call because she's really expensive. You are working with the elite of the elite when it comes to nutritional sciences. You will get results. You have to be confident in your delivery. I know why my clients aren't losing weight. It's not calories in and calories out 100%. It is, but it's also hormones and stress and sleep, genetics, metabolic disease, hydration, mindset, habits, all that goes into it. And we're gonna unpack it. And so far, what you've told me is you haven't addressed all that collectively. You just took one small piece and you said, it's carbs. I'm just gonna focus on carbs.

Risk Proof Income And The Book

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Now, this talk today isn't all about nutrition coaching, it's about how you can make $120,000. But as a great coach, you have streams of revenue. And if you put all your eggs in that first basket of just training, what happens when COVID comes along or World War 13, whatever we're in now? You're not prepared. So you got to start going through certifications for nutrition. You need to start learning about supplementation. You need to be within the sphere of the game today. Clients are interested in peptides, they're interested in GLP ones, they're interested in supplements. So find those experts, partner with them because now you have a resource. You're not just quoting some random influencer. You are a great coach. You deserve to make more. And when you have streams of revenue like this, your life is so much easier and you absolutely can turn your passion for fitness into a career. But more importantly, you can help more people. If you want to become a successful personal trainer, check out my book. I break down the 60, 30, 10 split in a lot more detail and we set you up for success. And remember big biceps are better than small ones and keep showing up.