Is a personal trainer worth $100/hour? July 18, 2010
Posted by jamieatlas in personal trainer, personal training, physical therapist.Tags: personal trainer, personal training, physical therapist
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This question was posed on an Australian Blog written by Ryan Hogan, one of the sharper minds in Australian Fitness today. He noted that some personal trainers are now charging more than other professionals (eg physical therapists) with more education. A valid point. I had other thoughts that I think often get overlooked.
Rather than write a space-hogging comment on his blog, I posted it here instead.
Just a warning, this post is aimed at personal trainers and health and fitness professionals. If you are curious as to how trainers justify their cost, then read on. Otherwise, sorry to have mislead you.
First, here’s the Australian Network Blog post if you need the direct link:
Now, while I cannot argue that a person who has more education deserves more money because they have worked harder, have invested more and can (in theory at least) help their clients more, there are some other questions I might ask that do not usually get raised:
Hey, they do it to the football coach for winning - why not the lucky grads!
IS EDUCATION THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR?
Is it right to compare education as the most important factor when asking people why they pay what they do?
Should perhaps the physiotherapist be charging more money for their service if there are people who will pay $100 for a trainer?
Why is it that one trainer can have a masters in kinesiology but not make as much as the other trainer with a minimal amount of education? Does personal training have more to do with training the person than the parts?
If it were true that we go to the best qualified person, then the most educated trainers would have all the clients and the rest would be starving on the streets.
In my experience travelling around the world talking to trainers, the truth is that education helps – to a point. Past that, it becomes a poor predictor of success.
WHAT VALUE DO PEOPLE SEE IN A PERSONAL TRAINER?
We could say that a trainer brings more value by doing more work in and around the sessions, but the truth of real value might be in how much the trainer inspires/encourages/influences that person to do the work OUTSIDE of the personal training session.
To me (and it’s just my opinion) the truly beneficial (and appreciated) work is not in the preparation for the session but in the application of care to the individual. And by care I don’t mean knowledge, I mean checking up/following up/showing genuine empathy/working with peoples challenges/treating them as a person and not a program.
BUT WHY ARE THEY WILLING TO PAY ANYTHING AT ALL?
So the question I ask is not ‘who deserves to get paid more’ but rather – ‘why is the market willing to pay more for personal training?’ I would argue it is because people want someone they can trust to change and adapt the program as they change. People are willing to pay for the relationship (professionally speaking) because they know that the relationship is what will make sure they get the job done. We like making others that we like happy. It’s in our nature.
If I bust an ankle, I go to see a therapist to fix my ankle. I already know that once the ankle is fixed, the relationship is over.
My goals and dreams, however are more complex than my ankle (well, I like to think they are, anyway).
If you are a trainer, ask yourself this – to be more successful, do I need to know more about my clients body, or know more about their habits, hopes and dreams.
If you are thinking about hiring a personal trainer and wonder what they are worth, ask yourself this. What would you pay to get to where you want to be and what would you gain by being there? Could you really put a price on it? If you haven’t achieved it already, would you get there without a friend/commandant to pick you up when you are down, push you a bit further when you don’ t think you can?
Only you know the answers to these questions. My purpose here has not been to answer the question ‘is a trainer worth $100/hr’, but to give light to the reasons that people are already paying that amount.
Yours in health,
Jamie Atlas
PS Whenever I raise a point like this some PhD comments about dumbass personal trainers not knowing their ass from their elbow. I am not arguing that you don’t need knowledge. I am however arguing that there is a point where personality, empathy and enthusiasm are more important than this. And also manners, Mr PhD! :)
PPS Some people pay much more than $150/hr for their training sessions. Why do you think this is? Leave me a comment below to tell me why someone would be crazy/smart enough to pay this amount per hour.
Training is important, Great Post