at most big box gyms, PTs get an hourly rate that usually sucks, for example, $8/hr, then they get a certain percentage of all the people they train that have paid for packages, varying depending on how many certs the trainer had, usually between 11-25 percent of what the customer paid the gym. on top of that they get commission on the packages they sell, something like 15-20 percent. overall if you can sell, you can make decent money, if you cant sell, you're not making s**t. anyone working at a big box gym should be trying to get into management, where you can make pretty ok money for the real world.

i sure hope the trainers at planet shatness are free because the programs they set people up with are complete garbage imo.

they teach them all the machines, it has to be because learning how to use freeweights properly is time consuming

Well they know less than nothing about the subject why would the routines they give their clients be anything less than ******ed?

ballys has 6 levels. They are priced at 59 69 79 89 99 and 109 per session. A trainer that sells at 59 has no certification (yes scary i know). 69 means you took the basic foundation class ballys makes every new hire go through which runs once a month and is 4 days and 4.5 hours long each day. 79 means you have a certification or a fitness related degree. 89 means you have a fitness related degree and a cert or hold 2 certifications. 99 means you have 3 certifications. 109 you have to be the fitness director to sell. Trainers get 40-50% of what they sell depending on your productivity. If you work more than 40 clients out during a 2 week period, you get a productivity bonus.

The ****ty thing about being a personal trainer is that if you are at the gym and not working out a client, you are either getting paid 0 or if your lucky, minimum wage. They dont like paying out trainers that are not with a client though because some trainers just stay there all day and dont sell anything.

I agree that most personal trainers are horrible. Its understandable the hatred for trainers on this board. For some reason, personal training is a job where is perfectly fine to have 0 experience with fitness and still get hired. The foundations class they have is not the worst class but is limited because of time. Most of you will disagree with at least something in the programming.
Heres what goes on in the foundations class. They have basic nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, selling strategies, etc. They have different workshops with the machines, freeweights and then small apparatus (bands, bosu, step, medballs) They do actually steer us away from using the machines and towards the freeweights. The part most of you will disagree with is the small apparatus.

To some extent the small apparatus is used as a gimmick. Its something alot of people arent familiar with and they cant really do by themselves. If a trainer just does machines, most clients will think they can do everything by themselves.

They do not teach squats on the BOSU. Im not sure why some trainers think thats a good idea. They dont teach olympic lifts. They do teach proper squat form. (This is not to say that after going through this class, everyone can teach or do the proper form for all exercises.) They do teach a circuit training type workout that is moving from one exercise to the other with active rest in between exercises.

Alot of info but if you really are interested in working with a trainer, ask them their background, certifications, how long they have been training, how many clients they have etc before working with them. During the first free session ask to learn squats and deadlifts. If you get the sense they don't know how to teach or do either one of these, find someone else.

going to a CF gym for a couple months can def be more valuable than few trainer sessions

my nearest CF gym is £30 a month, go as much as you like. they do personal training if you want but there's usually only 5 or 6 people there anyway.

fwiw... CF is fkn hell expensive when compared to other gyms/trainers in my city...

afaik, there is only one cf gym in my city (coincidentally, it's actually quite close to where I live, though I've never visited...)... it is $175/month for unlimited access... no thanks... I pay a third of that at my franchise gym...

I also just checked their site and they offer personal trainers at $80/hr for a level 1 trainer and $120/hr for a level 2 trainer...

Thats ridiculous. The crossfit gyms here are £30 a month almost universally.

Ridiculous but true.

http://www.crossfitbrisbane.com/blog/schedule-fees.html

fwiw a franchise gym around here is $60-$70/month, so that's around #30/month I guess.

Outrageous. How do they justify being so out of line with the other affiliates worldwide?

I'm going with "lack of competition" - they are the only one in the city as far as I can tell... and after a quick look around, I count a total of 4 in the whole state... the state being roughly 13 times the geographical size of England.

Crossfit in LV is $125/mo, and that's at the discounted rate for paying for a full year.

Just getting a training session is $60/hr.

From their website it seems like the facility is oriented to "classes" which I guess are group WODs. You can't just go there to do your own workouts.

Yea xfit Manhattan affiliate is pretty expensive: $160/month. Usually they have free sessions you guys should check out.

davet,
I'd like to hear about NASM v. CSCS

Vegas and Manhattan etc are expensive American locations though. I imagine the crossfits in random large towns or small cities are more like $50-$60 per month.

I'd be interested to see what they charge here. It also annoys me when you can't go and do what you want. I should probably just call and sate my curiosity.

http://cfcpay.blogspot.com/

in westside cleveland crossfit is 100/month but you can only work out with the instructors. 125 for unlimited access.

http://www.crossfitcle.com/2007/10/m...hip-plans.html

in eastside its 80/mo or 140/mo.

imo you cant really compare crossfit prices to a big box gym. its more comparable to a specialized gym like a martial arts studio, boxing gym, mma gym, etc. if you look at it like that the prices are in line with those type of facilities.

That is asinine.

porque?

For unlimited group classes/WODs I think that is a little low. By me it runs about $85/month (city in midwest). There are also options for 2x/week, 3x/week or punch card for less total $$ but more per session.

Why should it be? Why special training are you getting in the group classes at some of these places that would mimic the level of training/specialization that you receive in group classes at an BJJ/MMA/Boxing/etc gym?

Some offer open gyms during certain hours. Why would you want to pay and goto CF gym and do what you want? Isn't that what you have a regular gym membership for? Imo a big part of what you're paying for is to do these goofy workouts with other people for the competition. And maybe get some coaching on different exercises, form & technique.

Would you want to go and use bumper plates for Oly lifting on your own? Otherwise you can do many of the workouts on your own at home or your gym. Except for ring dips and any exercise where you want/need to drop the weight.

i think its pretty close, you go to most combat arts gyms and there are classes as well as people sparring, training, etc on their own. i also am thinking they(crossfit and martial arts gyms) have much more similar business models and expenses and costs.

Well, for one, CSCS is far out of my reach since I do not have a bachelor's in sports medicine or Chiropracy, although I don't see how much an O.D. is going to be pertinent here, although they are good with anatomy, form function, etc. However, they seem to focus on debilitated, and or group athletics.

But it is good to know that someone who cut up a human bieng may be comforting.

Looking at the web-site shows me that they are more likely to pigeon-hole the CPT into learning very specific things, ie pilates, yogo therapy, etc, and this is where I see it falls short. Also, I don't see any sort of offered work-shops for anyone interested in teaching weight-training. I would not trust anyone that has learned lifting techniques from a book or a lifting video. I would expect this person to be able to lift by themselves, and feel the form of the lift so they can identify the inherent problems.

I would NOT assume that this person has been through any sort of training from their community college, and especially not Chiropractic school.

+++++

I would feel perfectly safe using NASM practitioner, because they have a ton of hands-on classes, and have a far more focused cirriculum than CSCS. For example they offer weight training work-shops, and then after that they offer continuing education in many different fields depending on where you want to go in your career.

For example, one can go into handy-capped, or athletic, or CT. They also get a very thorough knowlege of all the facets of whatever they are learning, and they also give a 800 (approx) book that gives a great foundation for PT.

As for continuing education, they do not acknowledge any out-side sources, especially the on-line continuing education sites, and most of their continuation classes are hands-on. The classes that I have seen focus on active stretching, body-building, etc, and that is where I am planning to continue.

They also focus on movement, cardio, etc. I think it is not even close, tbh.

Power cages, round plates, high pull-up bars, bumper plates, random people who don't need spotting instructions. Personal trainers who don't chill out inside your power cage while you're using it.

If you go to a CF facility now you may have forgotten how bad standard big box gyms are.