Have you retrained as a Personal Trainer?

[ffsgloria]

I am mid 40's and looking at my next career move. A recent diagnosis of autism and adhd, and growing children, is making me reassess my life! I have always been interested in health and fitness & am a regular gym goer.

Has anyone retrained and been successful as a PT at this stage of life? Any words of wisdom? I'd be particularly interested to hear about approx salary, where you trained, what you love/hate about it.

Thank you so much!

You might find the Mature Study and Retraining board helpful:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

Seems everyone is now a personal trainer. Unsure if worth it, with the 1000s becoming them every week it seems.

This. How would you build up a client base? Have you got your own equipment? Would clients go to you or you to them? A lot of the ones I know work in a gym and do PT sessions alongside, using the gym’s equipment but then have to pay a % of their PT charges to the gym.

A couple I know went online only in Covid and still do that now, not a model that appeals to me personally as they can’t correct form etc. My ex- flatmates sisters had both trained as PTs but gave it up as there wasn’t enough money in it for them to make a living.

I did it and am qualified (in my 40s) however, whilst it was a fun thing to do and I dont regret it, I didnt take it any further as its not that lucrative and there is a lot of competition.

I did mine with the YMCA and there was a guy on the course who was clearly an alcoholic. They still passed him even though he was bright red and unsteady on his feet in the final exam. It didnt fill me with confidence that they're particularly discerning in who they pass and it seemed like they just wanted money. I wouldnt pursue this unless you really intend to go hell for leather at creating a brand for yourself and are willing to go all out on social media. Of the people on my course, most of them have other part time jobs as PT as a sole income its not enough.

I trained as a PT in 2001, back then we were fairly rare and I did very well at the time. I had my own equipment and used a lot of freeweights, body weight/HIIT style training in peoples own homes/parks etc. I also taught a lot of spin classes at various gyms and also had a part time job running a gym for the office building. I used to charge around £45 p/h and earnt about £3.5k a month. I would say that the market is now flooded with PT's and the usual hourly charge is now much less as there are lots of online/insta programmes that people tend to follow now. I retrained in 2009 as I was constantly injured as I could never 'rest' due to being self employed.

I’m a PT, I re trained in my thirties.

I disagree with most of the above, decent PT’s are really hard to find and we need more of them. Most give up in the first year because to be brutal, they aren’t good enough or are doing it for the wrong reasons.

Just enjoying being fit and healthy and working out and enjoying it yourself isn’t enough imo.

I live and breathe health. I’m constantly learning more, have invested in my education way beyond the initial certificate, which honestly, is when the learning really begins. I am so passionate about helping people improve their physical and mental health, self confidence and general life through strength training and decent nutrition.

I work part time now, have a brilliant work/ life balance and have managed to make it work around my kids. I train 121 PT and small groups. I bring home about £40k per year, working less than 20hrs per week, no weekends, two days a week I’m finished my work day by 10am. I was working and earning more than this but have chosen to cut back a bit.

It’s absolutely possible to do it and make it work, but it’s hard bloody work to get there. If it’s really your passion to help people then it could be for you. If you just like training yourself, I would say probably not.

Thank you to everyone for responding, good and bad! Lots to consider and this is all helping in my research. Great to hear your positive experience in particular @Mangoetonmess & there's lots that resonates with me from your post. Can I ask where you train your 121 clients? Their home? Your home? Or do you rent space?

My personal trainer works out of my local gym, and I picked her because I wanted a woman in my age range (40s-50s) who I thought I’d get on with.

Most of the others on the list were far younger and for the men at least, were doing macho poses scowling with their arms folded.

So I do think there’s a market, even if a niche one. She works me really hard but we also have a good laugh.

I totally agree with you and its is essential to add extra strings to your bow, I had probably 15 extra qualifications I.e kick boxing etc, I had to give it up due to injuries and good PT's are hard to find. I found a lot of fellow PT's had done a weekend course and it got really tedious working in the gym environment. I loved it and probably wouldn't have given it up had I not been a marathon runner trainer who had to ice my ankles up constantly! Good luck OP!

I’m glad it’s been helpful. It’s really tough, I’ve wanted to quit a few times to be honest but I truly love it, which keeps me going.

Without being too outing, I’m very lucky that I have a studio space at home that I use. I did have ambitions of opening a women’s only gym for a long time, but I’ve realised that to do that I will have to work much more than I do now for the first few years, which would make life much more stressful than it needs to be. I have young children that I want to be around for, and I don’t need to be earning loads of money, so I’m really happy with where I am for now.

@EmpressaurusOfCats thank you for your post as a client; that is really helpful - I would like to work predominantly with women of a similar age to myself. So glad to hear that you have a positive experience with your PT!

@Mangoetonmess yes I can imagine it is tough. It sounds as though you have the perfect work/life balance at the moment, thank you again for all the info. Now to pick the right course!

@girlmeetsboy thank you for your advice, it is so helpful. I'm sorry to hear you had to give up! 15 extra qualifications is impressive!