[Forza Trainer]

Originally Posted by rarebreed

I find lifetime fitness too risky considering the fact that it must be a good location or else there won't be any income made. That whole reimbursement thing is a really big turn off.

I used to work at L.A. Fitness and it was okay. Anyways, L.A. Fitness is pretty good. They have a different structure.

L.A. Fitness works like this. There are trainers who sell fitness and then there are trainers who actually train. Sales counselors only focus on selling memberships. Trainers who sell fitness get 5% commission and base pay. I don't know what the base pay is. Trainers who train only train their clients for thirty minutes. The thirty minute sessions are $6. However, the thirty minutes sessions clients may be upgraded to full hour sessions by the trainer which gets you full commission for the upgrade and $18 for the hour session.

Here are the downfalls:
1. It's always slow in the beginning and your clientele depend on the trainers who sell fitness. Be their "friend".
2. Clients are not permanently your client until they upgrade with you. This means they can jump from trainer to trainer if they choose so.
3. Trainers can steal your 30 minute session clients for themselves. That's why trainers hated me while I was there.
4. It is manditory for trainers to write down a workout routine for members who are looking for a workout routine and you don't get paid for it. It's part of the customer service obligation that trainers are sucked into, but only if you aren't training someone or are just finished training someone and you got thirty minutes until your next client arrives. That doesn't mean you have to show them how to do the exercises, but it is possible to schedule them for a workout.
5. Certain members have a limited amount of training sessions per week and/or per month, so be on the lookout or else you end up training someone for free.
6. Nobody is your friend. Rake up and pull away as many clients as you can from the other trainers and upgrade if possible or else you won't make much money. I don't want to come off as an ass, but that's just part of the game.

And people wonder why the professionalism in this industry is so watered down. How can you expect to have qualified trainers who get paid as much as McDonalds employees. If the trainers get paid so little, I assume that LA Fitness must be making a good percentage of the clients money.