any 24 hour fitness PTs?

[onelife08]

hi all. i'm about to quit 24hour and go independent. just wondering if there's any policy against training my old clients from 24 hour. thanks!

[Aoife]

Maybe you should look in your employment contract, employee handbook, etc.

Most places would, at least, not let you recruit your trainees and take them with you, but if they happened to leave and find you it might be fair game, or might not… again depending on what's in your materials.

Asking us is a little silly because if there are people who have, you're assuming the policy in their contract is the same as yours, and it might not be.

[John Izzo]

I guessing you may have signed a "not compete-non-disclousure" agreement when you were hired by 24. The agreement may state that you are not allowed to work for a company of similar service within a 2-5 mile radius (may be different for every establishment). Those agreements are usually good for 1 year. If you didn't sign such an agreement (and they are supposed to give you a choice), then you are golden.

That was the "policatially correct" part of my repsonse. Now, the truth. I have trained many a client, even I after I left the gym I met them in. If you keep it on the down low and don't brag/promote/or boast it, chances are you'll be fine.It would cost teh club too much money to pursue you legally, and not really worth it to them. They will simply replace your client with 3 new members.

[ivey]

Originally Posted by John Izzo

That was the "policatially correct" part of my repsonse. Now, the truth. I have trained many a client, even I after I left the gym I met them in. If you keep it on the down low and don't brag/promote/or boast it, chances are you'll be fine.It would cost teh club too much money to pursue you legally, and not really worth it to them. They will simply replace your client with 3 new members.

Agreed. Unless you're trying to bring your client back into their facility and train them there, how are they going to know?

[ndrcvrbrthr]

hey, i've been lookin for a 24 hour pt to talk to...when u first started at 24 did they pay for your training and cpt testing or did you get certified on your own before you started working there? your help is greatly appreciated.

[AskTheTrainer]

Originally Posted by ndrcvrbrthr

hey, i've been lookin for a 24 hour pt to talk to...when u first started at 24 did they pay for your training and cpt testing or did you get certified on your own before you started working there? your help is greatly appreciated.

I worked at 24 for a year back in 04.

The way it went when I was there is they paid me hourly for their training course and they did NOT pay for the NASM-CPT cert right away.

It was something (don't quote me on this) like work 600 hours and they will pay for the 1/2 of the NASM cert then work another 600 hours and they'll pay for the 2nd half.

As I worked at 24 a friend opened up a fitness studio and I started to take clients (behind 24 hour fitness' back) to train them outside. I took the clients I liked out of 24 and got a website to get clients for the private gym and finally left 24 when I had a good number of clients.

Take as many clients as you can from 24 and slowly make your move, don't do it too early where you're struggling to make ends meat.

Don't worry about 24 suing or anything because it's very unlikely and just like John said they'll just replace your client w/ 3 new members and replace you w/ 3 less qualified trainers...

[msmogreen]

My experience was a little different. I did get an outside certification before I applied at 24 Hour because the fitness manager at the club near me said to get certified then he'd talk to me. Then 24hr puts you through their own cert, which is 4 days (32) hours of instruction based on NASM and a test at the end (watered down version of NASM). That is the in-house cert, only good in house, but mandatory no matter what you come in with.

The only way 24Hr pays for the NASM cert is if you earn with sales. If you have $5,000 in PT sales, service x sessions and sell x in supplements, you earn the NASM cert. I was lucky in that respect because while I never had sales like that, they were having a special promotion and all I had to do was service 10 Biggest Loser agreements within a two month period. So, I hold the NASM now because they paid for it. A place like 24HR is a good take-off point. Even though my experience there ended with me being fired after nearly 1-1/2 yrs. for not meeting my sales quota, I'm glad I did it to get the training under my belt.