Within this blog, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the world of being a personal trainer and how much one can bring home each year depending on their qualifications and experience within the fitness industry. A ballpark figure for a PT’s salary is between £15,000 to £60,000 but there are many factors that can affect this which we will be looking at in more depth.
The difference between a Personal Trainer and a Fitness Instructor
Personal Training Qualifications within the sector of personal training can vary the salary that one can make in a year, usually, if you are better qualified you will be on a higher salary. To be more specific, a fitness instructor by definition is underqualified compared to a personal trainer as they have just completed the Level 2 Fitness Instructor Course whereas a PT is Level 3 qualified. A fitness instructor’s average salary sits at around £17,000, the minimum salary starts at around £15,000 and the maximum at £25,000.
Average Personal Trainer Salary
Now let’s go over the average salary for a PT, again this can very but to give you an idea we will set some guidelines for our example. So let’s say you have completed your Level 3 Personal Traner Course and you’re a PT that works 30 hours each week, here are the averages of how much you’d earn on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis:
| Hourly Rate | Weekly Income | Monthly Income | Yearly Income |
| £20 per hour | £600 | £2,400 | £28,800 |
| £30 per hour | £900 | £3,600 | £43,200 |
| £40 per hour | £1,200 | £4,800 | £57,600 |
| £50 per hour | £1,500 | £6,000 | £72,000 |
| £60 per hour | £1,800 | £7,200 | £86,400 |
| £70 per hour | £2,100 | £8,400 | £100,800 |
PT for a business: How much can you earn?
If you are thinking of working for a gym or fitness centre you need to look at what is an achievable salary working for a company, there’s a wide range of personal training companies out there which you can be part of with the correct qualifications. Entry-level qualifications such as Level 2 courses will get you the fitness instructor-type jobs at these companies, whereas level 3 or higher can get you those moderate to high-paying personal training jobs.
The salary you’ll receive can also vary depending on the company you’re working for, regardless of your qualifications. A few examples of company salaries are as such:
Pure Gym: £16-75k per year
Anytime Fitness: £18-41k per year
Fitness First: £17-98k per year
Qualifications matter in the world of Personal Training
As previously mentioned the qualification difference between a fitness instructor and a personal trainer changes their respected salaries to quite an extent. The higher the qualification the more fitness knowledge and skills you should have, leading to a better service for your clients. It is also important to get experience within the fitness industry to show that not only have you got the qualification but that can use all the knowledge and skills gained from your qualification within the industry.
Once you’ve had a considerable amount of experience in your field you can take your personal training even further than Levels 2 and 3 courses and look at qualifying up to Level 4 to be at the top when it comes to personal trainers in your area. Level 4 courses take your skills and knowledge for specific fitness subjects up another level higher showing you to be more of a specialist, and yes, potentially increasing your salary. Specialist PTs in certain locations can demand up to £100/hr.
Location can vary your salary
There are plenty of aspects that come to play that can affect how much you earn once you’re a qualified personal trainer. One of these aspects is where you’re located, your location can completely affect how much you earn in a year, for example, according to payscale, in London the average salary is £25,000 to £35,000 per year whereas an average salary is reduced to around £17,000 per year in locations such as Nottingham.
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Self-Employed Personal Trainers: How much do they earn?
If you want to start bringing in a higher salary from being a PT then you may want to consider becoming a self-employed PT and building your own fitness business. Salary goals of up to £60k or higher per year can be achieved from self-employment by building a successful personal training business.
Building up trust and respect with your clients will make or break your status as a self-employed personal trainer, and word of mouth will come into play with more clients that come your way. If you are already Level 3 qualified and what to build your own business then our PT Mentorship Programme is for you! It helps you build and grow a successful PT business.
Personal Training on Social Media
Just like any other business, you need a way of presenting and promoting exactly what you do, and social media can help take your PT business from local to global. Social media is an open canvas for personal trainers to grow and possibly gain larger clients.
Being recognised as a leader in your industry can help you land larger clients that can help increase your salary up to £100k per year and beyond. Personal trainers are needed in all sectors of modern sports from football all the way to Formula One, building a social media presence around a niche you work in can help you land some well-known clients. If you want to learn more take a read of our blog on 10 Tips To Grow Your PT Business.
No path is set in stone for PT
Using the figures and information above should help you figure out what path you want to go down in your personal training career, what qualifications you’d like to achieve and how much you’d like to be earning. But don’t forget your fitness career is not set in stone and you may choose to start off working as a PT for a gym and then, later on, become a self-employed PT when you have more experience. If you do have any questions or just wish to talk to a personal trainer who has years of experience with the fitness industry you can always book a Discovery Call for a chat and some helpful advice.
Become a PT with Summit!
If you would like to become a PT take a look through our Online Personal Training Courses and then book a Discovery Call with us and we can help give you all the information and advice you need to start your career as a personal trainer.
