There are personal trainers in London who charge £150-£200 per session! On the flip side there are also PT’s who charge just £15 per session…

When I started my own personal training business 5 years ago my hourly rate was just £7.50 per hour – i’m not even joking! I literally had no clue as to what I should be charging, so I went in right at the bottom end because…

1. I lacked confidence in my own ability
2. I thought if I charged less I would attract more people

I spent the first year of my business working my ass off and for very little return! Nowadays I charge nearly 10x more than when I started. I’ve written this article to try and prevent you from making the same mistakes that I made.

In this post i’ll be talking about the factors that influence how much you can charge as a personal trainer and also how to increase your prices so you can increase your earnings…

Factors that Influence How Much You Can Charge… 

I have highlighted 5 key areas:

1. Supply & Demand
2. Confidence
3. Location
4. Level Of Service
5. Experience

#1 Supply & Demand 

There’s a HUMONGOUS difference as to what you can charge as PT when you have 5 clients… compared to if you have a waiting list of hundreds of people! It’s pretty simple…. the more in demand you are the more you can charge! If you have a line of people queuing up to do business with you your value increases.

You can achieve this level of demand by…

• Building a positive reputation (online and via word of mouth)
• Accumulating a portfolio of results (before and after pictures, success stories, etc)
• Implementing a successful marketing strategy (targeting your specific audience)

In his book ‘Oversubscribed’ by Daniel Priestley he talks about how to build a business where customers are literally cueing up to do business with you. I would highly recommend reading this book if you’re a personal trainer looking for more business than you can handle!

#2 Confidence 

This is arguably the biggest and most important trait needed in order to demand higher prices.

When I started my PT business ‘LEP Fitness’ 5 years ago I lacked confidence, not in my ability to coach and help people but in regards to how much I could charge per session. Back then I had the belief that I didn’t deserve much more than the minimum wage!

I mentioned early in the post that my initial rate was just £7.50 per hour! In hindsight that was ridiculously low and I could have easily charged £15-£20 per session. The only thing stopping me from charging more was my confidence, as I didn’t believe that people would pay me any more! It was my own perception of myself that held me back.

It’s pretty simple… the more confident you are in your own ability to help others the more you can charge as a personal trainer.

#3 Location

In places like London some personal trainers charge £150-£200 per hour, whilst in other areas of the country PT’s charge just £15 per hour! Putting it mildly…that’s quite a difference!

One of the factors that will definitely influence how much you can charge is your location and where you train your clients. For example the PT’s in the UK who charge the most typically live or work in affluent areas. For example in Chelsea and Mayfair (London) lots of personal trainers charge £150+ per session.

There’s no doubt that this premium rate can be down to numerous factors:

• experience
• level of service
• expertise
• high demand

But it’s also because of the type of people who live in these areas: celebrities, footballers, CEO’s, surgeons, etc, etc! £150 to them is like 5p to most people!

You probably won’t be able to charge £150 per session in an area where all of the other PT’s charge £20-£30 per session! Regardless of the level of service you offer the financial gap is likely to be too BIG!

Location isn’t everything but there’s no doubt it will influence the rates you can charge as a PT.

#4 Level Of Service

Like with any service based industry the difference in quality can vary greatly. For example the difference between a 5 star and a 3 star hotel is enormous (I hope so anyway! if not get your money back!)

The exact same can be said for personal trainers – quality can vary greatly.

For example are you a personal trainer who…

• Just counts reps? or Do you teach your clients and coach them professionally?
• Do you offer extra meal plans and workouts plans for clients outside of sessions?
• Do you only communicate with your clients in sessions or do you help them outside of sessions i.e. emails, txts, support groups, etc?
• Do you spend time writing valuable content for your clientele i.e. blogs, social media content, emails, etc??
• Do you offer the same service as the PT down the road or do you offer more?

If you are a hardworking personal trainer you will be putting in long hours outside of sessions. You will spend lots of time planning sessions, writing meal/workout plans, typing up content, texting, emailing, WhatsApp ing! You name it.

The more you can offer to your client the more you will be able to charge.

#5 Experience 

Your experience in the industry is another one of the determining factors that will dictate how much you can charge.

Who do you think could charge a higher price for their personal training service?

Personal Trainer 1

EXPERIENCE: Has completed personal trainer level 3, has 6 months worth of experience, working with a limited range of clients.

or…

Personal Trainer 2

EXPERIENCE: Has over 10,000 hours worth of coaching experience, has worked with a broad spectrum of clientele and has a large portfolio of results to show to prospective clients.

Based solely on experience the answer is pretty obvious right?!? Personal trainer 2!

Of course experience alone isn’t enough to sell your service, but it’s definitely a key component to your overall success as a coach and to what you can charge. No doubt experience is something that takes time to acquire, but there are some things that you can do to speed up the process…

1. Do as many sessions as you can, especially when starting your career.
2. Work with a wide range of clientele – any coach can write out a diet/workout plan but the hardest part is actually getting your clients to stick to it! Working with people can be challenging but this is where you learn some of your most valuable lessons as a personal trainer.
3. Invest in ongoing education: courses, and seminars. Even hire your own coach, someone who’s far more experienced and who can help you accelerate your knowledge/coaching skills.

So How Much Should You Charge As A Personal Trainer? 

It’s definitely not down to me to say what you should and shouldn’t charge. It’s extremely subjective, and for you to decide… but hopefully this post has given you some food for thought. Here are 3 things I would suggest to help you figure out how much you should charge…

1. Look at your competition – what do they charge? What level of service do they provide? Is yours better, similar or worse?
2. Ask yourself would I pay £X amount for my own service? if the answer is YES… that’s great! if you said NO… then you may want to reconsider your offering or figure out how you can provide more value to warrant your higher fee.
3. Focus on helping your clients as much as possible, provide a 5 star service and along the way build up a positive CV of client results, put them on your website, and ask your clients to write testimonials – social proof is a key influencing tool to attract clients.

If you want to charge higher rates you must put in lots of hard-work and be willing to go the extra mile both with your clients and with your own self-development.

Thanks for reading,

Nick 🙂

P.S. If you are a personal trainer and want to learn how to get more clients, improve your business and earn more money then check out this section of my site – it’s 100% dedicated to helping personal trainers.