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Best Online Yoga Teacher Training & Certifications of 2025

Best-Online-Yoga-Teacher-Training-Certifications-of-2021

With this accelerated rise in the demand for virtual fitness comes the need for online yoga instruction. But all training is not created equally.

Here, we’ll explain how to become a certified yoga instructor – including the requirements. Then we will show you some of the best online yoga teacher training options that exist today.

Here are the certifications we’ll explore:

How to Become a Yoga Instructor

Formed in 1997, the Yoga Alliance® is a nonprofit organization that sets a standard in yoga education and offers accreditation for various teaching institutions. Many gyms and studios require their yoga instructors to be certified with a Yoga Alliance approved curriculum. This type of education comes from an RYS®, a Registered Yoga School that meets the Yoga Alliance standards. Other fitness facilities may simply require that you register with the organization.

While it is not a requirement to have any sort of certification to teach yoga privately, the certification adds credibility to your effectiveness to share your knowledge and technique with others.

You also do not have to be trained by an Alliance approved Yoga Teacher Training to provide yoga instruction. Yoga is an unregulated segment whereby anyone can share their knowledge in a group or private setting. But since many training options are currently virtual, Yoga Alliance accredited certification is much more accessible and highly recommended.

To become certified, you need to enroll in Yoga Teacher Training (YTTs). While some trainings are Alliance approved and some are not, a true certification should be. Recent changes resulting from the pandemic have allowed many more virtual options to be available. The Yoga Alliance has extended their provision to enable an RYS to facilitate their training entirely online through December 31, 2021.

So what exactly is required to become certified?

Requirements to Become a Certified
Yoga Instructor

While we’ve mentioned that anyone can be a yoga teacher if they’re working for themselves, you must complete 200 hours of YTT from a Yoga Alliance approved program to become certified. 300-hour and 500-hour programs also exist if you wish to advance your expertise or specialize in the types of individuals you work with.

It’s also important to note that if you choose to work virtually for a gym or yoga studio, many may have their own requirements as to what certifications and which yoga instructor training you should possess. It’s best to check with your potential employer to determine what you need to be eligible for work.

Much like becoming a personal trainer, insurance is also required to shield yourself from any mishaps or liabilities. Without liability insurance, you are not legally protected.

Now that you have an understanding of what you’ll need to become a certified yoga instructor, read on for some of the best online options for your training.

Best Online Yoga Instructor Training Certifications

With many training options available, and some not accredited, we’ve narrowed it down to some of the best options for certification, with many approved by the Yoga Alliance.

Yoga 200

Yoga 200 is the International Sports Sciences Association’s (ISSA) 200-hour yoga certification. Under the guidance of industry-leading yoga experts, you can gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to build a professional yoga career.

In this comprehensive online yoga course, you will learn pose sequencing inspired by the 7 body chakras to confidently lead Hatha and Vinyasa-style classes. The Yoga 200 course is divided into 10 weeks, each week building upon the previous week. The course content and their yoga experts encourage a deeper connection with yourself and provide you with the tools to create a strong foundation for a professional yoga career.

You will develop the skills to design your own yoga class, identify your unique class style, and build an impactful practice. Students who complete ISSA’s Yoga 200-Hour Teacher Training are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT).

Movement Wisdom

Movement Wisdom provides a host of education and courses for current and aspiring yoga teachers, including their flagship 200-hour online Yoga Teacher Training with Deluxe and Lite options available.

This program’s edge is its focus on anatomy, biomechanics, alignment, and working with injuries. All of this training is through the understanding that everyone steps onto their mat with unique bone structure and body. The lead trainer, Jess Rose, specializes in helping students utilize yoga in a way that’s best for them by understanding a variety of modifications and adaptations to existing practices.

Having this skill set in your toolbox is a step toward becoming a highly respected, in-demand yoga teacher who is able to work with anyone on their yoga journey.

Yoga Farm Ithaca

The Radiant Warrior Online Yoga Teacher Training offers high engagement. Yoga Farm Ithaca is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with a focus on mindfulness.

The 12-week program boasts being the most ‘in-person’ online yoga teacher training in the world. Also available is a shorter, 8-week accelerated course. All courses have specific start dates with live classrooms, but some self-paced components, like teaching videos that you have up to 1 year to complete.

Topics covered include anatomy and physiology, breathwork and meditation, mindfulness, teaching in schools, ethics, history and philosophy, Asana, and the business of yoga.

My Vinyasa Practice

Offering 200, 300, and 500-hour training and many other specialty programs, My Vinyasa Practice is currently wholly online, and Alliance approved. The RYS maintains its integrity in training and depth of learning while teaching entirely through a virtual platform.

You can work at your own pace and complete training in as little as eight weeks. Training covers Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the history and philosophies of yoga, energetics, meditation, dharma and karma, chakras, anatomy, Ayurveda, and practices to elevate consciousness.

This YTT also guarantees job placement once you’ve graduated and continues to offer career counseling as guidance if needed.

Uplifted

Brett Larkin, a veteran yoga teacher and an award-winning yoga instructor, boasts 15 years of teaching experience and 5+ years of leading online training.

While many yoga schools are just now accommodating for the new online curriculum, she has been training in a virtual setting for half a decade.

Uplifted takes pride in a high-impact online learning experience with award-winning video content, a 600-page physical manual, and accountability with a set group of classmates.

Training includes anatomy, meditation, Asana, Yin, Ayurveda, Fascia, injury management, social media marketing, chakras, and more. This course is not “go at your own pace,” so it’s suitable for anyone who prefers structure. Every student graduates together.

YogaRenew

This comprehensive YTT provides a strong foundation for yoga philosophy. The entire yoga certification is self-paced, so you can finish as quickly as you’d like or take your time to let it all sink in.

Topics covered include history and philosophy, anatomy, Asanas, Pranayama, meditation, business & marketing, Mudras, teaching tips, chakra, and more.

Your enrollment includes access to an active Facebook group full of students and graduates offering support from all over the world and lifetime access to the course materials.

Santosha

Santosha proclaims their course is “so much more than just a yoga training… this is a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey, from our heart to yours.”

As an established RYS with 12+ years of Yoga Teacher Training experience, the online training courses are fully flexible to fit your schedule.

Santosha offers the ability to start right away with immediate access to the course material. With interactive live classes via Zoom, you’ll receive extensive support from your teachers and peers alike.

The curriculum includes anatomy, postures, philosophy, therapeutic application, meditation, yoga business, Pranayama, Mantra & Kirtan, Yoga Nidra, and more.

Drishti Beats

This 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training is a globally connected teacher training filmed worldwide, creating an immersive training experience at your own pace.

With beautiful videos and a logical structure, you’ll learn vinyasa flow, Asana, meditation, anatomy, Pranayama, Sanskrit, Mantras, Mudras, Dharma, Krias, learn how to treat injuries, and work with special populations.

Drishti Beats offers internationally recognized training, which is key to having your work valued and your skills acknowledged.

A Final Word From a Fitness Professional

Whichever Yoga Teacher Training you choose, now is a great time to get on board with the online fitness teaching trend. While virtual training has skyrocketed since the beginning of COVID-19 in early 2020, studies show the movement is here to stay.

In the aforementioned MindBody study, 46% of survey participants said they would continue to make virtual training a part of their routine, even after gyms and studios reopen and they’re comfortable returning in-person.

With so many people in the world looking to continue reaching their fitness goals in an at-home setting, there is no better time to get certified in online training.

Are you looking to go beyond a yoga specialty? Check out Fitness Mentors’ Ultimate Virtual Bundle to become a certified online personal trainer and fulfill your dreams of financial freedom!

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ISSA Review: Costs, Exam, Salary, How to Become a CPT & More

So, you’re thinking of becoming a personal trainer and you’re researching the different certifications out there. Here is an in-depth ISSA review!

ISSA vs NASM: Which Personal Training Certification is For You?

Becoming a personal trainer starts with deciding which accredited certification to obtain. Here, you will learn the differences between ISSA and NASM.

Certifications Education ISSA NASM New Format online personal trainer certification

Best Group Fitness Certification: Top 4 GFIs for 2023

Group fitness has gained tremendous popularity in recent years, as more people recognize the benefits of working out in a supportive and energetic environment. As a group fitness instructor, you have the opportunity to lead, motivate, and transform the lives of individuals who come together to sweat, burn calories, and have fun.

However, to embark on this fulfilling journey and establish yourself as a reputable group fitness instructor, it’s essential to acquire the right knowledge and credentials. This is where group fitness certifications come into play. A certification not only validates your expertise but also equips you with the necessary skills and techniques to create safe, effective, and engaging workouts for diverse groups of individuals.

In this comprehensive blog, we will explore the world of group fitness certifications and highlight the best ones available. Whether you’re just starting your fitness career or looking to enhance your existing qualifications, this guide will provide you with valuable insights and help you make an informed decision about which certification is the best fit for you.

So, if you’re ready to take the first step towards an exhilarating career in group fitness instruction or seeking to advance your current standing, join us as we explore the best group fitness certifications and help you uncover the right path to achieving your professional goals.

Group Fitness Certifications we Analyzed:

ACE: ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor
AFAA: Certified AFAA Group Fitness Instructor
ISSA: ISSA Certified Group Exercise Instructor
NASM: Group Personal Training Specialization

We will look closer at pricing, expected study time, CEU requirements and the primary focus of education.

Here’s a quick glimpse:

Certification	Pricing	Expected Study Time	CEU Requirements	Primary Focus of Education
ACE	$285-$465	Self-paced, exam within 6 months	20 hours every 2 years	Comprehensive fitness education with an emphasis on exercise science and practical application.
AFAA	$299-$858	180 days, but many students take 6-8 weeks	15 hours every 2 years	Blending exercise science with choreography and music to deliver dynamic group fitness classes.
ISSA	$640	Self-paced	20 hours every 2 years	Holistic approach covering exercise science, program design, coaching techniques, and business skills.
NASM	$399	Self-paced	Is a CEU in itself	Scientifically-based training methods with a focus on corrective exercise, functional movement, and injury prevention.

Get ready to inspire, motivate, and make a lasting impact on the lives of those who choose to follow you on their fitness journey!

Why Trust My Opinions?

As a certified personal trainer with years of experience in the fitness industry, I have dedicated myself to staying abreast of the latest trends, research, and developments in the field of group fitness.

My passion for health and wellness, combined with my commitment to continuous learning, has led me to obtain multiple certifications and immerse myself in various group fitness formats. Throughout my career, I have trained and worked alongside numerous group fitness instructors, gaining firsthand knowledge of their expertise and the certifications they hold.

By sharing my insights and recommendations on the best group fitness certifications, I aim to provide you with well-informed and trustworthy guidance that can empower you to make the right choices for your professional journey. Rest assured that my recommendations are rooted in a deep understanding of the industry, a commitment to excellence, and a genuine desire to support aspiring instructors like you in achieving success in the world of group fitness.

Bonus Tip: > Certified personal trainers are able to instruct group fitness classes but group fitness trainers are generally ineligible to train one-on-one in most corporate settings.

Here are the factors we looked at to determine the best group fitness certification course:

Price: considers cheapest study materials and exam.

Expected Study Time: considers the time you have to take the exam from the time you register and purchase study materials.

CEU Requirements: refers to the amount of continuing education units that are a requirement to maintain a certification.

Primary Focus of Education:

considers the educational foundation of the course and what students can expect to learn.

Best Group Fitness Instructor Certifications

ACE

The ACE Group Fitness Instructor certification is a comprehensive program that equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to lead safe and effective group exercise classes, focusing on proper form, exercise selection, and class management.

PRICE

$285-$465

Expected Study Time

3-6 months

CEU Requirement

20 hours every 2 years

Primary Focus oOf Education

Comprehensive fitness education with an emphasis on exercise science and practical application.

Pros

Cons

Writers Note

I strongly believe that the ACE Group Fitness Instructor certification is an excellent choice for fitness professionals seeking to expand their expertise in group exercise instruction. The ACE certification carries significant recognition and respect within the industry, opening doors to numerous employment opportunities and enhancing credibility with potential clients. The program’s comprehensive curriculum covers essential aspects such as anatomy, physiology, program design, and class management, equipping instructors with the knowledge and skills needed to deliver safe and effective workouts.

With an emphasis on safety and proper form, ACE ensures that instructors prioritize the well-being of participants, reducing the risk of injuries. Additionally, ACE offers a range of continuing education opportunities to keep instructors up to date with the latest trends and research, allowing for continuous growth and professional development. Overall, the ACE Group Fitness Instructor certification stands as a solid investment in one’s career, providing a strong foundation and the tools necessary for success in the dynamic and rewarding field of group exercise instruction.

AFAA

The AFAA Group Fitness Instructor certification is a widely recognized program that trains individuals to lead dynamic and engaging group exercise classes, emphasizing effective instruction techniques, class design, and motivation strategies.

PRICE

$299-$858

Expected Study Time

180 days, but many students take 6-8 weeks

CEU Requirement

15 hours every 2 years

Primary Focus oOf Education

Blending exercise science with choreography and music to deliver dynamic group fitness classes.

Pros

Cons

Writers Note

I wholeheartedly recommend the AFAA Group Fitness Instructor certification as an excellent choice for fitness professionals looking to excel in group exercise instruction. With its established reputation in the industry, the AFAA certification carries significant weight and recognition, making it a valuable credential for employment opportunities and client trust. The comprehensive curriculum of the program covers essential topics such as exercise science, anatomy, teaching methodologies, and program design, providing instructors with a well-rounded knowledge base.

One standout aspect of the AFAA certification is its practical focus, emphasizing hands-on application and effective teaching techniques, enabling instructors to deliver engaging and impactful group fitness classes.

Additionally, AFAA offers continuing education options, allowing instructors to expand their skill set and stay up to date with industry advancements. While there may be some limitations in terms of specialization options or specific formats, the AFAA Group Fitness Instructor certification serves as a solid foundation for any fitness professional seeking to thrive in the dynamic world of group exercise instruction.

ISSA

The ISSA Group Fitness Instructor certification is a comprehensive program that provides individuals with the knowledge and skills to lead effective group exercise classes, focusing on exercise science, program design, and teaching methodologies, while also offering flexible study options and ongoing support for aspiring instructors.

PRICE

$640

Expected Study Time

Self-paced

CEU Requirement

20 hours every 2 years

Primary Focus oOf Education

Holistic approach covering exercise science, program design, coaching techniques, and business skills.

Pros

Cons

Writers Note

I confidently recommend the ISSA Group Fitness Instructor certification as an excellent choice for fitness professionals seeking to become skilled and knowledgeable in leading group exercise classes.

One of the standout advantages of the ISSA certification is its flexible study options, allowing individuals to learn at their own pace through online coursework. The comprehensive curriculum covers all the essential aspects of group fitness instruction, from exercise science and program design to teaching methodologies and practical application.

ISSA also provides ongoing support to students, ensuring they have access to valuable resources, forums, and a dedicated student success team. While ISSA may be less recognized compared to some other certifications, its focus on delivering a well-rounded education and the flexibility it offers make it a solid foundation for aspiring group fitness instructors.

NASM

The NASM Group Fitness Instructor certification is a highly respected program that equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to effectively lead group exercise classes, focusing on exercise programming, coaching techniques, and class management strategies, following the evidence-based approach of the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).

PRICE

$399

Expected Study Time

Self-paced

CEU Requirement

Is a CEU in itself

Primary Focus oOf Education

Scientifically-based training methods with a focus on corrective exercise, functional movement, and injury prevention.

Pros

Cons

Writers Note

The NASM Group Fitness Instructor certification as an excellent choice for fitness professionals seeking to excel in the realm of group exercise instruction. The NASM certification provides a strong foundation in exercise programming, equipping instructors with the knowledge and skills to design safe and effective workouts for various group fitness formats.

What sets NASM apart is its evidence-based approach, ensuring that instructors stay up to date with the latest research-backed information and strategies. Additionally, NASM places a significant emphasis on coaching techniques and effective communication skills, enabling instructors to motivate and engage participants during group fitness classes.

With its recognition and credibility in the fitness industry, the NASM certification opens doors to numerous job opportunities and enhances one’s professional standing.

Primary Focus of Education In More Detail

The below information was taken straight off the websites of the certification bodies.

ACE:

Understanding human movement
Intelligent selection and sequencing of exercises
Providing inclusive classes
Communication strategies and behavioral change
Class participant safety and legal considerations
Creating memorable movement experiences

AFAA:

Fundamentals of exercise science
Class design and planning
Class instruction and presentation
Notable topics: professional and legal responsibilities; nutrition
Fundamentals of virtual coaching

ISSA:

Skills for teaching 12 different exercise formats (including HIIT, Bootcamp, Kickboxing, Step, Stretch, Muscle Conditioning, and more)
Safety and injury prevention
The science behind group exercise and how it works
How to design and instruct a group exercise class for every level

NASM:

Coaching skills specifically designed for groups
Program creation rooted in exercise science
Business skills to excel as a group trainer
Motivation skills to engage participants

Group Fitness Instructor Takeaway

There are many factors that can influence how much you can make as a group fitness instructor. Brand new, entry-level instructors with just a handful of classes should not expect to make as much as seasoned instructors who are teaching classes of 10+ students, two or more times per day.

However, the limits to your salary as a group fitness instructor may be entirely up to you as the online group training world allows you to monetize your business while you sleep. If you create courses on-demand, you can potentially have an unlimited amount of students compared to the instructor that is subject to how many hours there are in a day.

Accreditation

Accreditation for group fitness certifications is an important factor because it speaks to the professionalism and quality of a course. Accreditation is performed by reputable third-party organizations that review courses to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the public.

Group fitness certifications that wish to become accredited must submit their courses and final exams to third-party credentialing companies for review along with a hefty credentialing fee. These are the baseline in which certifications meet fitness standards and promote competency for entry-level employment.

ACE, AFAA, and ISSA all have NCCA-accreditation while NASM’s course does not. However, NASM, perhaps the biggest name in personal training certifications, offers their course as a continuing education specialization and assumes aspiring group fitness instructors to be existing certified personal trainers. Remember, certified personal trainers can already train group fitness classes with their existing cert so this specialization makes sense for their brand.

NCCA Accredited Group Fitness Certifications:

ACE
AFAA
ISSA

Group Fitness Instructor Takeaway

Accreditation is a very important factor for those group fitness instructors that want to work within a corporate setting. Many gyms or fitness facilities will require an accreditation for gainful employment. However, lack of an accredited certification does not mean you can’t become a great group fitness instructor; you just have to weigh your career path and consider if this is important to your end goals.

Choosing the Best Group Fitness Certification for You

No one can tell you what the best group fitness certification is. At the end of the day, the choice is subjective and depends on how you weigh the above factors. For example, if learning about 12 group fitness exercise training format sounds awesome to you, then ISSA may be an ideal choice. On the other hand, you may find that the price point of ACE and the curriculum better resonates with your wallet.

Another very important factor not mentioned above is the career path you are choosing. If you know that there is a specific gym you want to work with, you’d want to check with them to see which group fitness certifications they require for employees.

The point is you need to be honest with yourself and look at all the variables for choosing a course and weigh them to determine the best option for you.

I hope that this post has helped you make the decision to choose the best group fitness certification that much easier. If you have any questions, or would like to see anything else added to this list, please leave a comment below.

Best Group Fitness Certification FAQs

1. How do you get certified to be a group fitness instructor?

Before sitting for a group fitness instructor exam, you’ll likely need to meet the following:

Be 18 years old or older
Have a high school diploma or equivalent
Have a current CPR/AED certification
Possess a government-issued photo ID

From there, you’ll need to choose a certification body, schedule your exam and begin studying, pass your exam, then get a job as a group fitness trainer. Learn more about

how to become a group fitness instructor here.

2. How long does it take to get a group fitness certification?

Most group fitness certifications can be obtained in about 6 months.

3. What can I do with a group fitness certification?

There are a lot of group fitness jobs available to you when you have a certification including the instruction of: yoga, pilates, cycling, Zumba, barre, HIIT, and virtual training.

4. What is the cheapest group fitness certification?

ACE currently offers the cheapest group fitness certification at $224. However, this is subject to change and looks to be a promotion off their regular $449 package.

5. Are there any free group fitness certifications?

There may be some free group fitness certifications out there but they are unlikely to be reputable or help you get a job.

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How to Become an Online Personal Trainer in 2025

Chances are, if you are considering this niche you are attracted to it because there is no income ceiling. Online personal training works while you sleep, doesn’t care how many hours there are in a day, and doesn’t put you in a box that forces you to focus on time as an income limiting factor.

Simply put, online personal training as a business model is scalable.

Creating online training service offerings that help people achieve their fitness and health goals, but do not require a ton of time, allow you to gain back that ever so important personal and financial freedom.

Watch Our Video: How to Become an Online Personal Trainer in 2024

So, this sounds fantastic doesn’t it? Of course it does, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Today we will learn how to become an online personal trainer, the six different types of online personal training business models, touch on some online personal training revenue streams that you may want to consider, and learn a little about online personal trainer software.

But first, let’s define exactly what an online personal trainer is.

Launch Quiz

What is an Online Personal Trainer?

An Online Personal Trainer is someone who enhances the health and fitness of others through internet-based technological mediums.

The definition of an online trainer is very broad, and to be frank, it is supposed to be. Online personal trainers can do the things that are normally associated with personal trainers — improve fitness levels, body image, health, and performance — all online.

With today’s technology, personal trainers can connect with clients from anywhere, at any time, making it easier than ever to build an online personal training business. By leveraging tools like an Online Booking Plugin for Personal Trainers, trainers can streamline scheduling, manage appointments, and focus on delivering top-notch training sessions.

Before you begin training clients online, it’s essential to set up your business for success. Start by establishing yourself as a professional online personal trainer, equipped with the right systems to enhance both client convenience and your own financial freedom.

4 Steps to Become an Online Personal Trainer (the right way)

There is a logical path that exists for you to become an online personal trainer. In fact, we’ve created an entire course around it. Let’s discuss how to become an online personal trainer while also assuming you are already a personal trainer.

1. Transition Your First Client Over to Online Training

Before you go head first into online training, my recommendation is to transition one of your in-person clients over to what is called the “hybrid personal training model.” The hybrid model is a blend of traditional personal training (in-person) along with online personal training (more on the online personal training business models below).

This gives you some experience working with clients online and allows you to begin to develop additional revenue-generating programs in the process. For example, you can take an in-person client and create a PDF workout plan for them to follow and interact with them via online mediums. In between in-person workouts you allow your client to follow your guide and regularly check-in with them via email, text message, phone, or some other method that allows for tracking and accountability.

If you like the freedoms this hybrid method of training affords you, you will likely want to learn how to scale it.

Launch Quiz

2. Get an Online Personal Training Certification to Help Structure and Scale Your Online Business

Let’s get something out of the way as it concerns becoming an online personal trainer. You don’t actually NEED any special certification to sell or provide personal training services online.

But, and this is a strong but, would you trust a doctor that didn’t have a proper educational background? Would you let a dentist with no dental education work on your pearly whites?

A professional with credentials is important to the consumer, as it builds credibility and trust, and therefore it should be important to you as well. Earning an online personal trainer certification provides you insight into assisting your clients online, understanding business and program creation, scaling your business, and provides you with credentials that were created to enhance the lives of your clients while protecting their safety. In short, in helps to maintain the integrity of the personal training industry as a whole with a set of principles, guidelines, and recommendations that help both you and your clients succeed using this great medium.

So, while you can skip getting an online personal training certification, I highly recommend you start here before establishing yourself as an online personal trainer.

This portion of your education will also help to transition you into a larger role as an online personal trainer while also allowing you more personal and financial freedom, the hallmarks of the online personal training industry.

3. Start Building Additional Online Training Revenue Streams

If step one taught you how to gain experience using online training and the hybrid model, step three will be the part where you really scale your online business. In the Fitness Mentors Certified Online Personal Trainer certification (FM-COPT), you’ll learn the various assets you can build to help you sell personal training online.

Online personal training really weighs heavily on business structure, and understanding how to structure your business from start to finish is very helpful for new online trainers. For example, learning how to leverage online PDFs, video libraries, client management platforms, and integrate them into your website are all educational paths you can learn the hard way or the easy way. The FM-COPT will show you how to start building these assets as well as your new online business model based on the six kinds of online business models I’ll explain more below.

After you begin to build out these additional revenue streams, it’s all about getting more clients online.

4. Get More Clients Online

At this final stage of becoming an online personal trainer you’ve now learned some of the ins and outs of online training with your experience with a hybrid model, you’ve gotten a certification that helps set some structure and shows you how to build assets out to sell more services, and now all you need to do to be more successful is to get more clients online.

Notice I did not specifically mention marketing here as that is not the only way to get online personal training clients. There is an opportunity for you to bring your existing in-person clients over to your online suite of services and that is probably an easier transition than marketing itself. While marketing will eventually become an important part of scaling your business, I recommend using existing relationships to truly kickstart some of your online training while you laser focus your online business.

If you want some insight into marketing your business, check out our blog on personal trainer marketing and specifically some of the ideas that relate to websites or online services.

Read on to learn about the types of online personal training services can you offer.

Online Personal Trainer Business Models: The 6 Different Types of Online Personal Trainers

Coaching and training clients online can happen in countless unique ways but the starting point always remains the same: your goal is the focus on improving the health of your clients.

The way you set yourself up as an online personal trainer will dictate the ways you can make money online. It also will determine the amount of clients you can have.

These methods include:

Private Personalized Online Training
Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs
Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs
Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Training
Live Video Chat Workouts Online
Online Group Personal Training

Let’s take a closer look at each variation to see how they create an online personal trainer business. As you read through these think about how they fit into your style of training and your personal interests for business development.

1. Private Personalized Online Training

The personalized element of personal training is retained in this type of online training, but the difference is this method is that the trainer does not work with the client in-person. Using various communication methods — phone, email, text, and especially software — the trainer provides their clients the tools and program needed to achieve a specific fitness goal. Using some of these same technological resources, the trainer is able to track client progress and ensure client success and retention.

2. Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs

Non-personalized PDF fitness programs are created by trainers for general or specific population types. These premade programs usually live on a website and are made available for download. This type of online training requires zero client interaction, but strong online marketing to help drive attention to the program and convince clients to make purchases.

3. Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs

Like the above PDF programs, these video programs also do not involve direct client interaction. Instead, trainers provide clients access to a video or a series of videos in which they can follow on their own.

4. Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Training

The hybrid model is a mix of in-person personal training combined with online resources that allows trainers to provide hands-on services and reinforce them with online tools. These programs usually are more cost-effective for clients as they usually only see a trainer in-person a handful of times each month, and then are free to use the online resources to maintain their workouts on their own. This approach is a good starting point for trainers who are looking to transition clients from 100% in-person to a combination of in-person and online.

5. Live Video Chat Workouts Online

Live video chat or in-person online streaming is a form of training that allows a trainer and a client to see and interact with each other from their computers or mobile devices. A trainer who uses this tool can provide immediate feedback to clients on form, demonstrate exercises, and answer questions in real time.

6. Online Group Personal Training

An extension of the above, innovative personal training software company WeStrive also allows trainers the option to do one-on-one live streaming sessions or train and interact with larger groups of clients, all online. For example, trainers can hold a yoga, pilates, or other group fitness class and have the option to live stream it, record themselves and make their workouts on-demand via memberships. This potentially opens up the door for much larger revenue opportunities for trainers and this online training opportunity has been proven by Peloton with much success.

If you are looking at the above and are wondering if you can combine them together, you absolutely can. Just like in traditional in-person personal training there is nothing stopping you from adding additional services to your offerings. You just have to learn how to find the appropriate channels in which to deliver your services, market your business, and leverage software to your advantage.

In case you want some other ideas for how to monetize your online personal training business, consider some of the following to set yourself apart from other personal training businesses:

Nutritional Programs
Phone Consultations
Weekly Phone Calls
Email Support and Check Ins
Online Assessments
Memberships
Affiliate Programs
Accountability Services

Considerations for Online Personal Trainer Software

If you are considering expanding your personal training business online one of the investments you’ll want to make will surely be software. Software will help manage your clients, help to deliver programs or services, automate specific tasks, house your documents or videos, and can even help with billing and payments.

Before you decide on a software you should first determine what features you need to run and operate your business. If there is one mistake I see too many trainers make it’s purchasing a software solely based on brands that they’ve heard of rather than features that they need.

Fitness Mentors’ view on online personal training software is that you should focus on finding something that saves you time. Having time allows you to scale your business and potentially make money while you sleep.

Another aspect of online personal training software to consider is how it will play into the evolution of personal training. For example, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the trend in fitness for online training and on-demand and virtual, live streaming classes. Many of the existing online personal training softwares don’t allow trainers to leverage this, while newer technologies like gymGO are keeping up with the trainer of the future.

The point is, consider the services that you want to deliver, the demands from clients, the state of the personal training industry as a whole, and how software can help integrate all these aspects to help you scale your business.

FAQs for How to Become an Online Personal Trainer

Can you be an online personal trainer?

Any willing person can call themselves an online personal trainer, but just because they call themselves one doesn’t mean they are qualified. A true certified online personal trainer will understand health and safety protocols, program design, and more.

How do online personal trainers make money?

There are six primary ways in which online personal trainers can make money:

Private Personalized Online Training
Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs
Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs
Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Training
Live Video Chat Workouts Online
Online Group Personal Training

Is online personal training profitable?

While there is no magic recipe for a profitable online personal training business, yes, online personal training can be very profitable. High profits for online personal trainers are particularly associated with those who can build a successful online presence, sell products or services through automated processes, and develop a scalable business model that is not contingent on the amount of hours in a day typically reserved for in-person training.

How do I start an online personal training business?

The most logical way to start an online personal training business is to transition existing in-person clients over to online clients. Creating online workout programs and giving in-person clients access is one of many examples that can be used to start an online personal training business.

What should I charge for online personal training?

Online personal trainers should charge according to their experience, the target population they are working with, and how much value they are bringing to their clients.

Where can I get an online personal trainer certification?

The Fitness Mentors Certified Online Personal Trainer (FM-COPT) is the only company nationally recognized by the NBFE (National Board of Fitness Examiners) to offer an Online Personal Training Certification.

How to Get Hands-on Training to Build Your Online Personal Training Business

Starting an online personal trainer business has its challenges. Deciding where to put your efforts for the best chance of success and developing strategies can be a bit overwhelming.

This is why the Fitness Mentors Certified Online Personal Training certification was created. This program, which is also offered as a 6 Week Mentorship, will provide you the insight into creating the business that works best for you while revealing the best strategies for transitioning to a full or part time online personal trainer.

We encourage this through 5 Major learning sections:

Prepare Your Business – Learn the necessary tasks needed to prepare your business and create services for online success.
Take Your Business Online – Discover the strategies that transition your business to the online space.
Generate Leads to Grow Your Business – Learn the marketing, advertising, and outreach techniques used for attracting an abundance of clients.
Convert Sales – Dive deep into defining your sales personality and use it to set efficient pricing and close sales.
Care for Your Clients – Understand the best practices for supporting your clients and retaining their business to provide yourself with financial freedom and consistent income.

Choosing to take this path toward creating the career that you envision is an envious task. Your passion for success will shine through as you learn every step toward becoming a successful online personal trainer.

This passion will allow you to establish yourself as a leader in this new and fast-evolving industry.

You will be backed by and supported by the quality education provided in this certification course, with the credential to assist thousands of people in improving their health, performance and overall happiness.

Give yourself credit for taking this step and mentally prepare yourself for the commitment of completing this course and creating the life you want.

Learn more about the Fitness Mentors COPT today.

Instructor

Eddie Lester

CEO of fitnessmentors.com – Teaching 30,000+ students how to become CPT’s

How to Start a Personal Training Business: The Ultimate Guide for 2025

With over 330,000 personal training jobs forecasted in the US by 2026 and a growing body of fitness-conscious individuals, it seems now, more than ever, is the best time to start a personal training business.

However, without a strategy or a sound personal trainer business plan, you’ll make the process of becoming a self-employed personal trainer harder than it needs to be.

To help you start a personal training business that has the greatest chance of success, we’ve put together this ultimate guide so you can avoid common pitfalls, save money, and understand how to put a business plan together that works.

In this ultimate guide on how to start a personal training business, you’ll learn:

First Steps for Personal Training Business Preparation
How to Create a Personal Trainer Business Plan
Types of Personal Training Businesses You Can Start
How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer

And if you want an even deeper dive into business structure, building your book of business, sales techniques, and more, check out the online masterclass, Business and Sales: The Guide to Success as a Personal Trainer.

Types of Personal Training Businesses
You Can Start

Today’s personal trainers come from a mixed bag of backgrounds. Some work at gyms, others with colleges or sports teams, many work at community centers, and some create their own personal training businesses.

The businesses that personal trainers can start usually fall into the below categories:

Train at a Private a Gym that Allows You to Pay Per Session
You Train at Clients’ Homes/Facilities
You Train Clients at Your Own Home
Start a Personal Training Business Online

Train at a Private a Gym that Allows You to Pay Per Session

In a recent post on personal trainer salaries, we discussed a payment structure where the trainer could bring in their own clients to gyms that they had relationships with. In these relationships, the personal trainer and their clients are independent from the gym’s payroll or clientbase, respectively.

The gym allows trainers and their clients to utilize their facilities and the trainer is able to charge whatever they can negotiate with their clients. The catch is that the trainer will pay the gym a fee each time the facilities are used.

In-home Personal Training: You Train at Clients’ Homes/Facilities

An increasingly popular personal training business is taking your in-person personal training services to the homes or facilities of your clients. If you are interested in this route, there are a few things that you’ll have to keep in mind as you start an in-home personal personal trainer business.

The main question and concern you’ll have as an in-home personal trainer is the type of equipment the client has or that you need to bring. If a client lives within a gated community, condo, or other association with a community gym, then you may have access to some decent machines and/or equipment.

If the training setting is, for example, your client’s living room, you’ll have to get more creative. This may limit the exercises you are able to perform and may impact the results without proper planning.

Regardless, a good trainer can adjust to the equipment on hand and will figure out a way to make the training as effective as possible.

In-home Personal Training: You Train at Your Own Home

In-home personal training in your own homes is similar to training at your clients’ homes with the exception that the training is performed at your home and your clients come to you.

Most trainers I know who train at their own homes have fairly elaborate garages that are built out to accomodate a number of different machines and equipment. This too is a popular form of personal training and can be an ideal business model for trainers who have the space within their homes or who don’t mind clients coming to their personal residences.

Start a Personal Training Business Online

Online personal training is by far the most exciting new personal training business model out there. Compared to the other personal training business models, this model varies in that the personal trainer does not have to meet in-person with a client to create a massive impact on their health. In fact, because of new technology, a trainer can work online from anywhere in the world and change the lives of tens, hundreds, thousands and even millions of people.

So, what is an online personal trainer?

An Online Personal Trainer is someone who enhances the health of others through internet-based technological mediums.

The variety of online personal trainer businesses is broad, but here is a overview of they types of online personal training businesses you can start:

Private Personalized Online Training
Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs
Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs
Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Trainer
Live Video Chat Workouts Online
Online Group Personal Trainer

Private Personalized Online Training

The private personal online model is most like traditional in-person training. The trainer performs all the tasks of a normal personal trainer but does not work with the client in-person. Through specific software, phone, email and text messaging, this trainer provides all the tools and programming needed to achieve a fitness goal, and the client follows along without the trainer being present.

Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs

Premade, downloadable programs are made by the trainer and published online. These non-personalized models involve zero client interaction and are generally pushed over to the client through automated software.

Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs

Video fitness programs have been around for a long time. However, the advantages for today’s trainers are the ability to store their premade workout programs online and provide immediate access to a workout video library. Like the PDF programs, there is no client interaction.

Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Trainer

The hybrid model utilizes the internet to deliver programs to local clients, but also involves in-person training 1-4 times per month. Using a “hybrid” model allows the client to

receive the hands-on training of a personal trainer at a lower cost, since most of

the program is performed on their own. This is a great starting point for trainers

looking to take their business online.

Live Video Chat Workouts Online

Video chats or calls allow the trainer to see, hear, and interact with a client live, but not actually in-person. This allows the trainer, and client, to benefit from immediate feedback on form, exercise demonstrations, and cueing.

Online Group Personal Trainer

The online group personal trainer performs live group fitness classes, records them, and delivers them to as many people as possible. Think of on-demand workout classes — Online Boot Camp, Yoga, Pilates, Etc.– that require membership to access the content. Companies like Peloton have cornered this niche exceptionally well and proven people will subscribe to workout in the comfort of their homes.

How to Become a Successful
Personal Trainer

Now that you have gone through the foundational steps of getting certified, specializing, launching a brand, and choosing the type of personal training business you want to start, now you’ll need to move on to business development.

We do a deep dive on the below in our Business and Sales course, but here are some talking points you’ll want to include in your personal trainer business plan.

Legal Formation

Forming a personal training business typically begins with selecting a suitable business structure, such as a sole proprietorship or a corporation. One popular choice for personal trainers is forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC), which provides personal liability protection and offers tax advantages. Hiring a reputable registered agent can help you with the process of registering the business name with the state, filing the necessary articles of organization, and obtaining any required permits or licenses. When forming an LLC, it is important to consider the costs associated with filing and ongoing compliance, the need for a clear operating agreement to outline management and operational procedures, and the potential requirements for additional state-specific filings or fees.

Setting Prices

Every successful personal trainer has to figure out how to price their services for maximum profit and value to the client. As your own boss, you are able to charge whatever you like. Here are some things you should consider:

Location- Where are you training? A trainer in Malibu will justify charging more than a trainer in Compton.
Economy- Personal training is a luxury item for most. When the economy turns, so does interest in luxury items. Be understanding of this when setting prices.
Target Population- Set a price that is attainable for your target population by understanding what they might pay for your products/services.
Cost to Train Client- Consider things like the travel expenses, the payments you have to make to use a private gym, tools and equipment such as machines and dumbbells, and other expenses like software. You should understand the difference between gross and net income.

Addressing Buyer Hesitation

If every trainer pitched a potential client and got “Yes, I’m in” as an answer we’d all be rich. Thing is, people are not always convinced of your value and have what we call buyer hesitation.

Here are some areas that are common for buyer hesitation and how you can address them.

Fear of failure- The thought of accomplishment can outweigh the fear of failure; attach a positive emotion toward your service and give them a little more inclination to buy.
Perceived value is less than the cost- Your presentation for services must convince the buyer that the the money is worth the expense.

Money- Quite simply, if you have approached a potential client and they truly do not have the means to purchase, then the sale will be impossible. It is important to find that out as soon as possible rather than spend a lot of time/effort only to find you are out of their league.

Lack of proof- If a client does not believe what you are selling will work, they will be hesitant to buy. Combat this with examples of clients like them that have experienced the results you are selling.

Read More:

Marketing

Personal training marketing… There can be entire books written on the topic and while related to starting a personal training business, it goes so far beyond those beginning stages.

One of our most popular articles is all about personal trainer marketing and has 19 personal training ideas catered at getting you more clients. Some of these ideas include:

Getting featured on industry blogs
How to use email marketing
How to create effective referral documents
How to do personal trainer search engine marketing
And more…

If you are planning on getting some help with your marketing and hiring a firm or doing some advertising, note that the Money Task Force recommends spending 12 to 20 percent of your gross revenue for marketing if you are a new company, and 6-12 percent if you are an established company.

Start Your Personal Training
Business Today

This ultimate guide has nearly everything you need to begin the process of starting your very own personal training business. If you need extra guidance, or like the idea of a reputable personal training certification, check out the Fitness Mentors CPT. If you already are a trainer but want to further specialize and hone your knowledge, check out our CEU courses and blog. If you want a full course on the above with more details and step-by-step instruction, check out our Business and Sales course.

If you have any comments or questions, please post them below.

business plan New Format Roadmap Popup

Top 5 Exercise Science Careers and The Best Education Paths

Watch Our Video: Best Exercise Science Careers – Are you considering an Exercise Science degree?

Are you considering an Exercise Science degree or asking yourself “what can you do with an exercise science degree?” to help plan for your future?

Whatever your stage in life — consideration, current Exercise Science student, or recent grad — this post is for you.

Be sure to take our quiz too!

As a previous Exercise Science graduate, I can give you a little taste of the college route (as well as other education paths) and provide insight into the options for Exercise Science careers.

But first, let’s define what Exercise Science is.

What is Exercise Science?

Exercise Science describes the study of the body under the stress of exercise including acute and chronic adaptations like the effects on overall health parameters, pathologies, and its potential to reduce, or reverse, disease progression.

Some other areas of study within Exercise Science vertical that you might see at various educational institutes are:

Kinesiology
Fitness & Health
Exercise Physiology
Biomechanics
Exercise Nutrition

You can also expect a strong educational emphasis in the areas of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, biology, and oftentimes, physics.

What can You Do with an Exercise Science Degree?

If there is one thing I want to emphasize about studying Exercise Science is that the majority of careers in the field require additional graduate school coursework. Yes, that is worth repeating.

Exercise Science is a common prerequisite for graduate level programs in careers such as:

Doctor (MD)
Exercise Physiologist
Registered Dietician
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist
Physician Assistant

The important takeaway here is that for most, the bachelor’s degree in and of itself does not get them to the career that they want. Additionally, and as I will get into more below, the career you want might not require a four year college degree in Exercise Science.

However, if you are interested in some of the above careers that require education beyond a B.S. degree, by all means continue on the path that makes the most sense for you.

I emphasize this point because I have met many people who studied Exercise Science in college only to find that they either did not realize they needed additional education to get the career they wanted, or realized there were quicker, more affordable ways to get into the career they wanted.

That said, listed below are some careers that you can get without additional education after your Bachelor’s in Exercise Science degree, including:

Athletic Director
Community Program Director
Massage Therapist
Recreation and Sports Director
Sports Coach
Sports Facility Manager
Strength and Conditioning Coach

Provided below are the most popular career paths in Exercise Science, which may or may not include a college education, are below.

Top 5 Exercise Science Careers

Personal Trainer

By far, the most common career path chosen by people looking to have an Exercise Science career, as well as who are currently studying Exercise Science, is personal training.

The benefits of a career in personal training are numerous and can even be aligned with that of any of the other careers on this list.

For starters, you don’t need to get a bachelor’s degree to become a personal trainer. In fact, there are five separate ways you can become a personal trainer, ranging from certification from accredited companies, to vocational college, to university programs, to online options, and internal gym programs.

If your heart is set on becoming a personal trainer it certainly would be helpful for you to understand your options for certification beforehand.

Now, I am certainly not knocking university or college-based personal training certification options — I got my B.S. at a university and was a college instructor afterward — but I do understand that it may not be an option for everyone.

But what if you want a career that requires a college degree? Would it still be beneficial to consider a personal training certification?

Let’s say you choose any of the aforementioned education routes for your career in Exercise Science: college degree or not.

Either way, you can benefit from a personal training certification no matter what route you take. If you are wanting to have a career as a personal trainer, you can get certified in as little as two to five months and start making money right away.

If you are in college and are studying Exercise Science, it is still a good idea to get a personal training certification because you can begin gaining experience within your career immediately and can even pay for your education, through your personal training income.

For example, while I was in college I used my personal training certification to my advantage. I was able to train clients around my school schedule given the flexibility of the career. This provided me industry experience, but also allowed me to pay my way through college.

I also became certified as an Online Personal Trainer and trained clients through the internet, which gave me even more freedom to complete my studies and enjoy the college experience.

Top 5 Reasons Personal Training is a Popular Exercise Science Career

So, no matter what your long-term goals are, getting a personal training certification can help in the following ways:

Puts money in your pocket
Allows you to gain experience in the Exercise Science field
Helps pay for college (if you are shooting for a B.S., or advanced degree)
Provides a strong foundation to further your exercise science studies

Top 3 Personal Training Certifications

Below are the best certification options to choose from:

Physical Therapist

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a career in Physical Therapy has some very promising advantages.

For starters, the median pay approaches $90,000 per year, is expected to grow 28% by 2016 (which is much faster than average), and consistently ranks as one of the best jobs in healthcare for work-life balance.

Physical therapy jobs tend to require a DPT degree, although some may accept a master’s degree. CostHelper.com says that doctoral physical therapy degrees can cost $35,000 (such as the doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago), or much more for out-of-state students, such as The University of Delaware’s doctoral program which costs over $75,000. That is on top of the money you spend for your bachelors degree.

Athletic Trainer

Athletic trainers also rank high on this list as the profession is similar in scope to that of personal trainers, yet requires a formal bachelor’s degree in a specialized program and the passing of a state licensure exam. Athletic trainers have a median income of $46,630 per year according to the BLS, and have a rapid rate of employment at 23% when looking out to 2016.

One of the coolest things I find about athletic trainer careers is that they often work alongside athletes within educational settings such as colleges of universities.This often means these professionals are the ones who work hand-in-hand with some of the best up-and-coming athletic talent in the country.

They can also work with younger students, within hospitals, or even for professional sports teams.

Exercise Physiologist

With a median pay of just under $50,000 per year, and a faster than average job outlook, a career in exercise physiology is a popular choice for many looking to put their Exercise Science degree to work.

This type of career typically requires a Masters in Exercise Physiology, which on average takes 6 years of total college time as well as requires board certification through the American Society of Exercise Physiologists.

Another interesting aspect of this career is that about half of all exercise physiologists are self-employed. So if you have an entrepreneurial spirit and enjoy the freedom of owning your own business, you may be able to do well in this career.

PE Teacher

According to ZipRecruiter, PE teachers make about $42,500 per year. While this is the lowest salary on this list, you have to remember that these teachers tend to have summers off and benefit from all school holidays as well as teacher pensions.

Typical education requirements for this career include a bachelor’s degree in exercise science as well as a teaching credential or a masters in education. Often times a personal training certification will enhance the likelihood of employment as well.

We also can’t forget that PE teachers get to hang out in gym clothes all day, coach fun sports like kickball and dodgeball, and even be physical fitness role models for many of their students.

Granted there is some give and take for each of the professions on this list in terms of knocking off all the boxes of the most ideal career, but the daily life of the PE coach can be very rewarding.

Boot Camp Instructor

Boot camp instructors are personal trainers who lead group fitness classes that are usually based on military-style training methods. However, in some cases, instructors may unintentionally display behaviors related to relational aggression, such as belittling or excluding participants to create a sense of competition or control. These actions can negatively impact group dynamics and participants’ overall fitness experience.

Exercise Science Degrees and Educational Considerations

As we have learned above, not all careers within Exercise Science require a full-fledged bachelor’s degree. Similarly, we’ve learned that many sought after degrees within Exercise Science require advanced degrees such as master’s or doctoral degrees.

With that in mind below is a comprehensive list of the many careers and their educational obligations. Note that some of these careers may overlap in multiple categories.

Exercise Science Careers that don’t require Degrees

Personal Training
Aerobics Instructor
Fitness Coach
Gym Manager
Massage Therapist
Physical Therapy Assistant

Exercise Science Careers that require Bachelor’s Degrees

Athletic Director
Community Program Director
Kinesiologist
Massage Therapist
Athletic Trainer (ATC)
Physical Education Teacher
Recreation and Sports Director
Registered Nurse
Sports Coach
Sports Facility Manager
Strength and Conditioning Coach

Exercise Science Careers that require Master’s or Doctoral Degrees

Doctor (MD)
Exercise Physiologist
Chiropractor (DC)
Registered Dietician
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist (DPT)
Physician Assistant
Exercise Physiologist
Physical Rehabilitation

FAQs for Exercise Science Careers and The Best Education Paths

How Can I Make Money with an Exercise Science Degree?

The most common way to make money with an Exercise Science career path is personal training. While personal training doesn’t require a degree, those who get certified are able to put money into their pockets quickly and build a strong foundation for further career advancement.

Why is Exercise Science a Good Major?

Exercise Science generally offers courses in Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology, and Nutrition. Jobs can range from personal trainers and strength and conditioning coaches to physical therapists and physician assistants – so Exercise Science can be lucrative.

Is Exercise Science the Same as Kinesiology?

Not quite. Kinesiology is a more broad study that focuses on human movement and its effects on an individual’s health. Exercise Science is a sub-field more fine-tuned into learning and influencing human responses to exercise.

What Are Your Degree Options in Exercise Science?

Bachelor’s degrees will open you up to mid-level jobs in the fitness industry. Examples of these degrees include Bachelor’s in Sports Management, Health Sciences, Nutrition Science, or Health and Wellness. Graduate degrees, like master’s and doctorate, qualify for higher-level positions. These programs might include a master’s in Exercise Science and Wellness or Human Performance, an MBA in Health Care Management, a Ph.D. in Education for Sports Management, or a medical degree in Sports & Athletic Management. While personal training only requires a certification, you can also get an associate’s degree in Exercise Science, giving you a solid foundation to start personal training.

Closing Thoughts on Exercise Science Careers

You should now have a better idea of what you can do in the exciting field that is Exercise Science. For many, a bachelor’s degree at a college or university is the path that they will take to become educated in the many areas of movement and exercise. For others, the bachelor’s is just a stepping stone for a more advanced degree as in the case of physical therapy, physician’s assistant, or doctoral paths. Others may be surprised to learn there are many rewarding careers in Exercise Science that do not require a college degree, and the most popular career in this field, a certified personal trainer, demonstrates that.

When considering your education and career path, keep in mind the following:

The education required
The financial commitment
The time investment
The typical salary
Your passion for the career

With these considerations in mind, you should be able to paint a great picture of where you want your career to take you.

What is your experience with jobs and education in the Exercise Science niche? Is there any tip you wish you knew before you started your studies or career? Let us know in the comments.

career career advice Education Exercise Science New Format Roadmap Popup video

How to Get Your Group Fitness Certification

If you are considering getting your group fitness certification here are a few statistics that backup your decision:

Over 22 million attend group fitness classes each year[*]
85% of group fitness members visit their facility twice a week[*]
Two out of five gym-goers are involved in group exercise[*]

Although you probably don’t need any more convincing about getting a group fitness certification that will allow you to find gainful employment in an exciting industry, you probably are looking for some information on how to get your group fitness certification.

Below, we have provided info on the exact steps as well as some information on the top group fitness certifications out there. There’s even a little bonus about section group fitness certifications versus personal trainer certifications that I think you’ll find quite interesting (hint: you can become a certified personal trainer and train in a group setting (but not vice versa)).

How to Become a Group Fitness
Instructor in 5 Steps

Here are the steps to become a group fitness instructor. There may be some variation on these steps depending on the certification body you go with, but for the most part, these steps are fairly standard no matter which group fitness certification body you go with.

1 Get Your Group Fitness Instructor Prerequisites

Before you can sit for a group fitness instructor exam, most certification bodies require the following:

Be 18 years old or older
Have a high school diploma or equivalent
Have a current CPR/AED certification
Possess a government-issued photo ID

By far, the most popular place to get a CPR/AED certification is through the American Red Cross. It is not the only option, but tends to be the most convenient. You can find a Red Cross CPR/AED class near you on their website.

Worth noting, is that you need not have all of the above prerequisites in place when you begin your group fitness studies, only when you sit for the exam. For example, you can start studying and obtain a CPR/AED certification along the way.

This brings us to our next step, finding a group fitness certification program that is right for you.

2 Choose a Group Fitness Instructor Certification

One of the most important steps in becoming a group fitness instructor is choosing the best certification for you. Now, there really is no such thing as the “best group fitness certification,” as this is a highly subjective decision.

There are a number of factors that may make a group fitness certification more appealing to you such as cost, length of program, CEU requirements, prestige of brand, job requirements, and convenience.

One area of group fitness certifications that is not subjective is the accreditation body. The gold standard in a group fitness certification is a program accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) accreditation is also gaining some clout, and is held by ISSA.

ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor

ACE

ACE offers NCCA accredited group fitness courses ranging from $299 to $599 (at the time of this writing). The final exam takes place at an administered location and the coursework can consist of videos, podcasts and webinars, depending on the program you register for. ACE is one of the largest name’s in fitness and boasts that their trainers benefit from agreements they have made with popular gyms such as 24 Hour Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Orange Theory, Crunch Fitness, and others.

ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor

ACSM

The ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor (ACSM-GEI) course is prided on its educational approach to intentional planning around science-based group sessions as well as motivational and leadership techniques that make training fun and effective. While ACSM claims it is the “gold standard” in group fitness certification, it is not currently an accredited certification option.

AFAA Certified Group Fitness Instructor

AFAA

AFAA has perhaps the most outstanding reputation in the group fitness certification arena. Not only is the cert NCCA certified and been in existence for nearly four decades, but is also a partner of NASM (NASM acquired AFAA in late 2017 which is why you won’t see a standalone NASM group fitness course).

AFAA courses range from $299 for self-study, to $399 for premium self-study, to $499 for an all-inclusive package with a job guarantee. On the NASM website, however, the certification is mentioned as an add-on continuing education course and has a reduced price of $224, $299, and $374 for the options mentioned above, respectively (at the time of this writing).

ISSA Specialist in Group Fitness Certification

ISSA

The ISSA Specialist in Group Fitness certification is an online course that offers a self-paced study regime. As mentioned before, this is the only certification body that is accredited by the DEAC, which is a less prestigious name in the accreditation space, but nonetheless a national accreditation. At $799, it is by far the most expensive group fitness certification on this list.

NCCPT Group Exercise Instructor Certification

NCCPT

The NCCPT Group Exercise Instructor (CGxI) credential is a self-proclaimed “entry level specialization certification” that is likely intended to be an add-on CEU for existing certified personal trainers rather than a standalone certification like many others on this list. It is also amongst the cheapest at $199 for the exam-only package, but ranges up to $299 for additional study and preparation materials.

NESTA Certified Group Exercise Instructor

NESTA

NESTA’s Group Exercise Instructor Course is 100% online and is one of the most affordable options for group fitness certification at $275. While highly convenient and amongst the least expensive group fitness certifications, The NESTA GEI is unaccredited, so many gyms may be a bit more discerning while hiring for this certification.

NETA Group Exercise Certification

NETA

NETA’s Group Fitness certification is amongst the three in the country that have earned NCCA accreditation. While the program doesn’t benefit from the brand power of ACE and AFAA (the other two accredited options), it does have a strong curriculum and multiple study options ranging from $239 to $299. The live workshop study option is popular as it allows students to attend a workshop with an experienced NETA educator.

Once you familiarize yourself with these brands and choose one that works for you, you can move on to the next step.

3 Schedule Your Exam and
Continue/Begin Studying

With most group fitness certifications you can purchase your study materials (and begin studying) before you schedule the exam. Many programs, however, require that you register for the exam within a specific time period after the purchase of the study materials.

ACE, for example, requires you to register for your exam within six months of the materials purchase date. With AFAA, you have 180 days from your enrollment date to take the certification exam.

These certification bodies require these timelines for a variety of reasons. First, they want to set that psychological goal in your head to start and finish the program in its entirety. Secondly, they make money on the study materials and the exam, so it makes sense that if you were to buy study materials, you would take the exam.

Group Fitness Exam Study Tips

While the exams of each certification body vary in difficulty and materials covered, there are some standard study tips that can help you get through all the studying in time for the final certification exam.

As a former college professor, I recommend the following approach to studying for the group fitness exam:

Use the target test as a marker and work backwards from that date to determine how many chapters you need to cover each week/month.

And here’s a study fast track system that works really well for those who like to knock things out fast:

Read one to two hours per day to maintain a solid flow of comprehension
Create chapter-by-chapter notes from the book to utilize the benefits of writing and reading
Reference study guides for hand-picked topics of reference
Take practice tests after you read each chapter
Quiz yourself on 5-10 chapters of your book every two to three weeks
Reread your chapter notes and build upon them based on your quiz and test results
Document the questions you miss in the quizzes and revisit those sections of the book
Take a quiz every day of the week leading up to the exam
Take an entire practice exam, write down the questions you missed, and revisit them again
Take the final certification exam when you consistently get 85% or above on practice exams

Once you are prepared for the exam, it is time to knock it out!

4 Pass Your Group Fitness Exam

The most obvious step in getting your group fitness certification is passing your exam.

But this necessary step only happens if you put in the time to learn the materials, understand the concepts behind them, and get the certification in your hand.

After you do this, you’ll be ready to start a career as a group fitness trainer!

5 Get a Job as a Group Fitness Trainer

Do you already know where you want to work? Are you going to start your own fitness club or perhaps get a job as a contractor at several?

Related: Check out this post on personal trainer salaries to see which gyms pay the most.

Once you have your certification in hand, you can begin to peruse the web for group fitness trainer openings, check in at your local gym, or visit the websites of gyms to see if they post active positions.

Gyms aren’t the only places that hire group fitness instructors though, so don’t limit your job search to these locations. Spin, yoga, and pilates studios are some of the other well-known locations to get a group fitness job. The rare country club gig or super rare cruise line job may also open up from time-to-time.

In many cases you may have to get an additional certification (ex. Spin instructor) or go through an internal training program at your place of employment.

There are also specialist programs that you may be interested in to truly hone your craft. For example, AFAA has an indoor cycling speciality course, and ACE has a Functional Aging Group Exercise specialty course. The specialization you choose largely has to do with the demographic you enjoy working with.

CEUS: Maintaining Your Group Fitness Certification

In an effort to help trainers maintain their education and the health and safety of their clients, continuing education units (CEUs) are required by every reputable certification body. The amount you need depends on the certification body, but these CEUs are not just a tool to help you maintain your certification, they are also opportunities to expand your knowledge of health and fitness.

Bonus: Group Fitness Certification VS Personal Trainer Certification

A lot of aspiring group fitness trainers will also consider a personal trainer certification and weigh the options between each. There are some important considerations that aspiring trainers from each career option should take into account.

The first, and perhaps most important consideration, is that you are able to train group fitness classes with a personal trainer certification but are generally ineligible to train individuals at most corporate settings with a group fitness certification.

This may sway some trainers towards choosing the certified personal trainer route and considering a group fitness specialization or CEU as they can train groups and individuals.

The other important consideration for aspiring trainers is the potential income from each type of training — personal training or group training. This has a lot to do with your involvement as a trainer with your clientele.

If you are a group fitness instructor, you generally have to showcase the exercises as you teach (i.e. workout with your group), making man’s/woman’s physical limitations a factor in terms of financial gain from multiple group fitness sessions per day.

On the other hand, a personal trainer can provide guidance to multiple clients each day without having to physically exert themselves. For the entrepreneurial trainer, this may make the decision to get a CPT a more decisive one.

Granted, group trainers usually make more than personal trainers on a per session basis, but personal trainers can easily conduct five or more sessions per day whereas a group fitness trainer may be limited to two due to the physical demands of teaching.

Become a Group Fitness Trainer Today

Now you have a good idea of what the steps are to become a group fitness instructor, recognize some of the top certification bodies, and even know that you can become a certified personal trainer and train in a group setting (but not vice versa).

If you are ready to advance your group fitness career, start by knocking out your prerequisites. From there, find a group fitness certification that works for you, study hard, pass your exam, and find your dream job.

ACE CPT ACSM AFAA CEUS ISSA NCCPT NESTA NETA New Format Roadmap Popup

Personal Trainer Salary: Which Gyms Pay the Most?

There are numerous ways to make money as a personal trainer, but unquestionably the most common way is to start working at a gym.

If you are looking to get certified as a personal trainer, check out our blog on the best personal training certification.

Watch Our Video: Personal Trainer Salary – Which Gyms Pay the Most? How Much do Private and Online Trainers Make?

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Launch Quiz

If the most common question I get asked about personal training is what certification to get, the second most common question has to be “how much can I make as a personal trainer?”

There are numerous ways to make money as a personal trainer, but unquestionably the most common way is to start working at a gym. I started my career as a personal trainer by working at Equinox and 24-Hour Fitness.

Also be sure to join the conversation with hundreds of fitness pro’s, six-figure personal trainers, fitness mentors and coaches on our discord here:

When people first consider becoming a trainer they begin to think about the major gyms and how much they pay. And as much as certification bodies like NASM want to tell you that their average trainers make $42k a year, the reality of a personal trainer salary ultimately lies in what the gyms will pay as this is the most common career route.

However, the gym route is not the only one and many existing or aspiring trainers want to venture into the more entrepreneurial routes of private, or online personal training, as higher income levels are more easily achieved.

So, to help trainers understand what popular gyms pay their trainers and to showcase some insider knowledge on what private and online trainers can make, I’ve put together this post that outlines personal trainer salaries as well as what trainers at the most recognizable gym brands around the country get paid, and how they set up their payment structure. Overall this blog answers the question, “how much can I make as a personal trainer?”.

I’ll also discuss the three pay structures that are common to trainers and provide you with next steps from a seasoned personal trainer who has gone through the experience of getting a gym job first-hand as well as utilized the private and online routes.

Before You Get Paid, You Have to Get Certified

First things first, if you want to work in personal training or at a big box gym like 24-Hour Fitness, Equinox, LA Fitness, or the like, you’ll need a personal training certification from a credentialed fitness organization.

Gyms want their trainers to get, or have, certifications, because they provide a baseline for credibility.

We have written a very comprehensive blog on the best personal trainer certifications where you can take a look at our side-by-side analysis of 10 different, popular personal training certification organizations. If you are unsure the exact steps to become a trainer and the prerequisites — education, age requirements, CPR/AED certifications — then check out this post on the topic.

Keep in mind that many gyms may hire you before you get a certification, and some will even have you go through their internal certification, so if you have a gym in mind for your place of employment it doesn’t hurt to ask what their requirements are first. Note that a true personal training certification will allow for a job at a much wider range of locations than just that one gym, something you’ll want to consider as your career evolves.

But before you enter the personal training employee marketplace, it pays to know some of the various pay structures that are common within the personal training industry so you know what to expect going in.

3 Types of Gym Pay Structures Common to Personal Trainers

When you begin your search for gyms that will provide you gainful employment, you can expect the pay structures to fall into one of these three categories:

1. Commercial gym
2. Independent personal trainer
3. 1099 personal trainer

1. Commercial Gym Pay Structure

In the gym world, the gyms who make you get clients and don’t feed them to you will generally pay the most. The opposite is true too; the gyms that feed you clients will generally pay you the least.

Commercial gyms will typically pay you minimum wage to “work the floor” and try to drum up new clients. Once you are actually training clients, you’ll get a bit more per hour as you are increasing the gyms revenue by performing a training session. If you sell a large personal training package, commercial gyms will often give you a commission.

2. Independent Personal Trainer Gym Pay Structure

Independent pay structures, or those that pertain to the self-employed personal trainer, are much more favorable to the trainer, but the negative is that they are obviously not as exposed to as many potential clients as they would be on the floor of a major gym, and are only getting paid when they train.

When you are self-employed, or an independent personal trainer not on a gym’s payroll, you may be able to develop relationships with smaller, privately-owned gyms that will allow you to bring in your own clients.

The catch is that you have to pay the gym a fee when you use their gym to train your client. For example, I used to pay a privately-owned, non-chain gym $15 a session to bring my client in and train them.

I could ultimately charge my client whatever I wanted, and had no pressure from any boss to sell more training sessions as it was entirely up to me.

Keep in mind that with this independent structure, you are running your own business, which means you are responsible for additional tasks like accounting, taxes, marketing, advertising, sales and lead generation.

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3. 1099 by a Gym Pay Structure

The 1099 model is similar to the self-employed trainer model except the gym has a relationship with the clients. A 1099 is a tax form given to an independent contractor as opposed to a W2 which is given to employees.

In this pay structure, the gym does not actually employ you as a personal trainer, but they contract with you so that they can make money on personal training and alleviate themselves from the costs of having an employee.

The 1099 model is like when you hire a plumber to come fix your broken toilet; they are getting paid for their service but they are not your employee.

In the contractor payment style, the personal trainer and the gym typically get a split, like 50/50, on whatever the gym charges. So, if the gym charges $60 for an hour long session, they’d keep $30 and you’d get paid $30. The gym collects the money from the client and then will pay you, the trainer, for the session performed.

With this type of structure the personal trainer will be responsible for claiming taxes on the money they make, as the gym does not set aside any income since the trainer is not an employee.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “how do I know what kind of payment structure the gym I want to work at has?” Excellent question, let’s address that below.

How Popular Brand Name Gyms Pay Their Personal Trainers

While I could have left you hanging with the above information on the three various pay structures that are common for trainers who work at/with gyms, I wanted to do a deeper dive and get some answers from real trainers who work, or have worked, at some popular gym chains.

The Fitness Mentors team reached out to several gyms chains and their current employees, as well as conducted a survey with our current and previous students on Facebook, to get currently used payment structures and insight on how various gyms pay their trainers. We have provided that information below.

If you have any experience with these gyms or would like to comment on something different, please feel free to let us know in the comments so we can update this post.

Equinox Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Floor hours at minimum wage – typically 20 hours a week until your client base grows.

Payment structure:

Less than 42 sessions per pay period (2 week pay period):

Tier 1: $26 per one hour session
Tier 2: $30.50 per one hour session
Tier 3: $36.50 per one hour session
Tier 3+: $45.50 per one hour session
Tier X: $64 per one hour session

More than 42 sessions per pay period (2 week pay period):

Tier 1: $31 per one hour session
Tier 2: $42.50 per one hour session
Tier 3: $53 per one hour session
Tier 3+: $61 per one hour session
Tier X: $74.50 per one hour session

The average full-time trainer at Equinox performs 25-30 training sessions per week.

Equinox Income Potential

24-Hour Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Minimum wage for non-training hours.

Payment structure:

20% Commission on all individual personal training package sales paid up front.
10% Commission on all TC24 group training package sales.

Also, a 5% bonus commission is added to total salary when 60 training sessions or more are performed in one pay period.

24-Hour Personal Trainer Salary 24-Hour PT Tier Structure and Associated Pay per Session:

24-Hour Bonus Structure per Training Session:

24-Hour Fitness Commission for Package Sales:

24-Hour Fitness Tiers:

24-Hour Fitness Salary Example for Entry-level Personal Trainer

An example monthly salary of a new PT 1 trainer that is building up their business at 24-Hour Fitness is shown below:

Example minimum wage is $10/hour
120 hours worked in the month at $10/hour = $1,200
60 training sessions performed in the month x $7 = $420
$2,500 in training package sales x 20% commission = $500
Total Monthly Salary = $2120

24-Hour Fitness Salary Example of a Master Trainer

An example monthly salary of a full-time Master Trainer:

Example minimum wage is $10/hour.
160 hours worked in the month at $10/hour = $1,600
120 training sessions performed in the month x $17 = 2,040
$5000 in Training package sales x 20% commission = $1,000
Monthly Salary = $4,640
5% commission added to the monthly salary of $4,640 since more than 60 sessions per pay period were performed = $232
Total Monthly Salary after 5% bonus commission= $4,872

LA Fitness Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Minimum wage for non-training hours.

Payment structure:
$6 – $7.50 per 30 minute session
$12 – $15 per 1 hour session

$7.50 – $15 is for larger cities with higher cost of living like in Los Angeles.
$6 – $12 is for less populated, lower cost of living areas like Arizona.

Other findings:

No findable bonus structure. Trainer turnover is very high.

Every person in the Facebook group concurred that LA Fitness is a less than ideal place to work as a trainer, but a few people mentioned they pay their group exercise instructors significantly better.

Anytime Fitness Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Varies

Payment structure:

Varies, these are franchised gyms and each one has a different pay structure.

Answers varied on payment structure for the trainers we surveyed:

50/50 split
Minimum wage plus bonuses to sign people on to monthly training packages
Trainers can increase income by teaching group exercise classes

Other findings:

Collective agreement that Anytime Fitness is an enjoyable place to work. They are 3,000-5,000 sq ft gyms with only 5-10 trainers per location.

Crunch Fitness Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

None

Payment structure:

These are franchised gyms and each location may have a different pay structure.

Here are some quotes from Crunch Fitness trainers concerning their salary. Answers varied on payment structure:

I’m only paid for hours trained and commission on sales. I’m not paid while trying to get clients.”

“I work at Crunch. Mine is a level 3 gym but because I just started I’m at level 2 for a few months. If I charge a la carte the client pays $80/hour or $50/30 minute session. Depending on my sales volume I can make between 40% and 65% of what I sell. I’m given “potential clients” but I have to sell them the personal training sessions. There’s not a sales force like at LA Fitness but the income potential is much better. I set my own hours and can work whenever I like. They encourage me to sell package deals which requires a 3 month commitment from the client. They are not allowed to cancel. Money is debited from their account either monthly or biweekly. They can also get a discount if they pay in full. For level 2, if you wanted to be trained 2x week, it would cost $504. For 3x week $697. Those are monthly rates for hour long sessions. Level 3, of course, is higher and most of the trainers at my gym are level 3. We have about 17 trainers. It’s a great place to work! Just takes time to build your clientele.”

YMCA Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Minimum wage is paid when not training.

Payment structure:

Basically, YMCA trainers make $15 – $28 per session/hour depending on their tier.

We were able to find some training salary data for YMCA but it is just for the Charlotte, NC area. I assume that cities with higher costs of living would be accounted for in pay (and vice versa for smaller cities), but we were unable to find any other data on that.

The information for YMCA trainers and their tiers can be found below, respectively:

Tier 1 Trainer– Pay Rate: $15.89 – $19.86; Responsible for training a minimum of 2 sessions per week; Responsible for working the fitness floor 4-8 hours per week for initial 3 months
Tier 2 Trainer– Pay Rate: $17.48 – $21.85; Responsible for training a minimum of 5 sessions per week; Responsible for working the fitness floor 4-8 hours per week for initial 3 months
Tier 3 Trainer– Pay Rate: $21.00 – $26.24; Responsible for training a minimum of 10 sessions per week; Responsible for working the fitness floor 4-8 hours per week for initial 3 months
Tier 4 Trainer– Pay rate: $22.89 – $28.61; Responsible for training a minimum of 20 sessions per week; Responsible for working the fitness floor 4-8 hours per week for initial 3 months; Serve as a Continuing Education Provider for YMCA of Greater Charlotte teaching at least 1 workshop per year; Serve as a mentor to Tier 1-3 trainers

Other benefits include:

YMCA pays for all the trainers CEUs
The “Y” also pays the trainers’ recertification fee – approximately $100 every two years

Planet Fitness Personal Trainer Salary

Non-training payment:

Full-time minimum wage positions.

Payment structure:

Typically no higher pay for trainers, but it is an easy job that requires no sales and just training. Decent for beginners looking to gain training experience but not really career-worthy. No commissions. No bonuses.

Personal Trainer Salary FAQ

Can I make good money as a personal trainer?

Yes, making good money as a personal trainer is very viable. Even entry-level personal trainers can make upwards of $25 an hour, and easily up to $100 an hour if they are experienced.

How much do personal trainers make an hour?

Our research indicates that personal trainers make anywhere from minimum wage up to $75 an hour, at more prestigious gyms. Private personal trainers can make even more per hour, charging up top $100 an hour.

What does a beginner personal trainer salary look like?

The typical beginner personal trainer starts off their career in a gym as opposed to training private clients. On average, personal trainers make around $42,000 per year but the salary can vary by city, with more urban areas commanding higher salaries.

Is a personal training career a good choice?

Personal training is a great career choice because it is constantly ranked highly for providing an excellent quality of life, flexible work hours, and a solid work-life balance.

Can I make six figures as a personal trainer?

Yes, many trainers that put in hard work can make $100,000 or more a year as a personal trainer. Personal trainers that take their businesses online also benefit from higher incomes as they can sell services while they sleep and are not limited to the available hours in a day as are in-person trainers.

Is it difficult to get a personal training job?

No, it is not difficult to get a personal training job once you have a personal trainer certification. Many gyms are actively hiring personal trainers and the health and wellness industry as a whole is forecasted to continue its growth trend.

Private Personal Trainer Salary

It is a well known fact that private personal trainers have the potential to make far more than gym trainers.

Why? Because private personal trainers can set their own rates.

There is a catch for private personal trainers, however, and that is that they have to drum up enough business to write their own paycheck. But before we get into a sample private personal trainer salary let’s define exactly what a private personal trainer is.

A private personal trainer is a trainer that is self-employed, creates their own work schedule, and is free to choose the clients that they work with. For many personal trainers, this is the end goal of their personal training careers and is what sees some trainers working with celebrities and making big bucks.

Unlike gym trainers, private personal trainers don’t get help from the gym or get funneled clients from fitness organizations. They utilize their own networking, sales, and marketing skill sets to drive leads and ultimately generate new clients.

For that reason, many private personal trainers struggle to make a decent income. You can’t simply get a personal trainer certification and expect leads to come your way. (Check out this course to learn how to build your business and get clients). This is also why so many trainers start out in the gym, get experience, make relationships, begin taking on private clients on the side, and eventually leave the corporate gym environment behind.

How Much Do Private Personal Trainers Make?

A respectable private personal trainer can make upwards of $70,000 per year.

Compare this to the full time salary of a respectable personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness which would likely fall in the low $40,000 range. And by respectable I mean one with a couple thousand hours of sessions under their belt and training 20-30 sessions per week. This low $40,000 range is also commensurate with what NASM says their average trainer makes.

For example, a 24-Hour Fitness trainer in their middle tier (PT3) makes $13 an hour when training. If you compare a potential salary of an entry-level trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, $22,440/year, to that of a Master Trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, $58,464, and split it down the middle (which is more or less where a PT3 would be), you’d get $40,452.

Now, let’s compare the above salary of a gym trainer to that of a private personal trainer.

The average private personal trainer in the U.S. charges around $50 session. Let’s say this trainer works a total of 30 hours per week and making $1,500 in that time. Multiple this time the weeks in a year, 52, and you have a respectable private trainer who is making $78,000 a year.

Potential Salary of Private Personal Trainer

Charges $50/session
Works 30 hours per week (sessions)
Makes $1,500/week
Makes $78,000/year

That same trainer can charge $100 a session, work 15 hours a week, and make the same salary.

Gym trainers typically have to work a lot more hours than private personal trainers for a fraction of the salary which is why private training is often the more desirable route. But as we’ll learn, private personal training is not the only way to make money as a trainer outside the gym.

Interested in getting a CPT with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and business development? Check out the FM-CPT for more info.

Next Steps for Aspiring Personal Trainers

Now you know what you can potentially make when you become a personal trainer at a gym. With this information, you may understand the gyms you want to work at and those you potentially want to stay away from.

One thing that should be clear with this information is that personal growth equates to more money as revealed by the tier systems many of these gyms have. The goal of continually developing yourself as a personal trainer is so you can build your book of business and generate a better income for yourself.

If you are interested in becoming an all-around better personal trainer and business-savvy individual, check out my book and online course I’ve made specifically for hungry self-starters looking to earn the income they deserve: Business and Sales: The Guide to Success as a Personal Trainer.

In addition to understanding which gym to kickstart your career, you’ll still want to have an understanding of which personal trainer certification is right for you. Amongst the three most popular certifications are Fitness Mentors, NASM and ACE, of which we cover side-by-side in this in-depth blog post.

If you liked this post or want us to try and find additional information, please let me know in the comments. If you have experience at other big brand gyms and want to share the salary information, please help us educate other personal trainers by sharing your thoughts below.

Instructor

Eddie Lester

CEO of fitnessmentors.com – Teaching 30,000+ students how to become CPT’s

NASM CPT Review: Costs, Exam, Salary, How to Become a CPT & More

NASM Certification and NASM Personal Training Review

As an aspiring personal trainer, there is a good chance you’ve considered a NASM certification to add to your list of professional accolades. There’s good reason too, NASM is considered to be a global leader in credentialing fitness professionals, and their wealth of certifications will prepare you for a promising career in personal training or one of their other areas of specializations.

Below is a NASM certification review from an actual certified NASM CPT (me), and an overview of the NASM company, the NASM CPT and other certifications, some notes on the ever popular NASM OPT model, and lots of other important information on costs, reviews, salaries, and your next steps should you choose to pursue a career with NASM.

If you are interested in becoming an Online Personal Trainer check out our How to Become an Online Personal Trainer blog.

BONUS!

If you want our NASM CPT Study Course completely free click here.

Why I am qualified to recommend top personal trainer certifications

Hi, I’m Eddie Lester, the founder and CEO of Fitness Mentors. I’ve been a personal trainer for nearly two decades and have eight personal training certifications. In addition, I teach the NASM at a local college and helped develop NASM’s 900 credit hour university curriculum, making me highly familiar with the educational materials and learning styles NASM provides.

Myself and the team at Fitness Mentors have focused our careers on educating students to pass the NASM CPT Exam so I hope this blog helps you make the best decision for your career.

NASM Certification- A Review of Costs, Programs, Salary, How to Get Your CPT & More

What is NASM?

NASM stands for the National Academy of Sports Medicine, a 30-year old company best-known for their Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) program. Within the last 10 years, NASM has certified and recertified more personal trainers than any other personal training company, helping nearly 200,000 obtain, or maintain, their CPTs all across the globe.

NASM is also NCCA-accredited, meaning they have the National Commission for Certifying Agencies credentials, the first standards ever developed to ensure a fitness certification body has the essential elements of a high-quality program.

As a personal trainer, the global recognition and the NCCA-certification are important factors in choosing NASM as a potential candidate for your fitness education, along with utilizing the best NASM Study Tools.

NASM Programs

Like other fitness certification bodies, NASM is best-known for its Certified Personal Trainer program. However, they also provide a number of other specializations that are worth mentioning.

Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)

The NASM CPT is based on an evidence-based training model preparing students for real-life situations. In addition to learning and understanding complex scientific principles, students will use NASM’s proprietary Optimum Performance Training™ (OPT™) model, a systematic system that helps you train in various areas including: Flexibility, Cardiorespiratory, Core, Balance, Power, and Strength.

Cost: $849 (Fitness Mentors Exclusive for the cheapest coursework)

Certified Nutrition Coach (CNC)

The Certified Nutrition Coach Certification is their newest program that helps trainers explain to clients the true nutritional content of what they are eating and help them understand why they should, or shouldn’t, be eating it. This course will allow your clients to understand how to interpret food labels, select appropriate portion sizes, and eat healthy. This course also goes into detail around effective strategies to create and help your clients adhere to a nutrition program.

Course Cost: $899

Corrective Exercise Specialization (CES)

The NASM CES is a specialization that can be applied to reduce muscular dysfunction and help you correct common movement issues. The corrective exercise continuum includes four areas, including: Inhibit, Lengthen, Activate, and Integrate.

Exam Cost: $449 (includes course materials)

Performance Enhancement Specialization (PES)

The NASM PES is designed to make athletes stronger, faster, and tougher. It uses approaches that are common in professional sports as well as exercise techniques and programs that are designed to maximize performance and minimize sports-related injury.

Exam Cost: $449

Behavior Change Specialization (BCS)

The Behavior Change Specialization goes beyond the training elements and takes a deeper dive into motivational strategies. After completing this program, you’ll have the skill sets needed to determine your clients’ barriers to change, and design programs around their specific personalities.

Course Cost: $499 (Includes course materials and exam)

Group Personal Training Specialization (GPTS)

The Group Personal Training Specialization is a course that helps trainers design, develop, and deliver successful group fitness training programs. In addition to the physical fitness elements of this course, trainers will also learn how to develop strategic business plans around group fitness.

Course Cost: $499

Weight Loss Specialization (WLS)

The Weight Loss Specialization uses NASM’s OPT Model to help you design weight loss programs and develop strategies to assist clients in implementing a healthier lifestyle.

Course Cost: $499

Women's Fitness Specialization (WFS)

The Women’s Fitness Specialization helps trainers become more effective at training women of all body types and ages. In addition to specific nutrition recommendations, it also involves exercise and small group training coursework.

Course Cost: $299

Youth Exercise Specialization (YES)

For trainers who want to capitalize on the growing exercise demand for people aged 6 to 19, the Youth Exercise Specialization helps kids focus on sports, increase their physical fitness levels, and lose weight.

Senior Fitness Specialization (SFS)

The Senior Fitness Specialization is designed to help trainers focus their exercise programs on the specific needs of seniors. This coursework includes helping seniors reduce risk, preserve independence, helps you to understand the aging process, and helps you understand the limitations of an older group of clients.

Course Cost: $199

Golf Fitness Specialization (GFS)

The Golf Fitness Specialization is designed for the trainer who wants to help golfers be fit with corrective exercise strategies. While much of the focus is on injury-prevention, it also involves helping clients improve driving distance, how to increase head speed, and how to lower scores from a fitness perspective.

Course Cost: $199

MMA Conditioning Specialization (MMA)

The MMA Conditioning Specialization caters to the growing group of mixed martial artists who want to better condition their bodies to the rigors of MMA. It involves system design around individuals as well as group courses, and also includes nutritional and supplement guidance.

Course Cost: $299

If you want to learn more about the various specializations and my personal thoughts on them, refer to this guide on NASM Personal Trainer Certifications.

NASM OPT Model

NASM has pioneered what is called the Optimum Performance Training (OPT™) model, a comprehensive training system that is heavily versed in scientific, evidence-based research. According to NASM, the emphasis on science makes OPT ideal for program design and delivering consistent results.

Through the improvement of functional abilities including strength, balance, power, flexibility, core stabilization, and cardio endurance, this program helps clients from a wide variety of body types and ages increase muscle mass, reduce body fat, and improve overall health.

OPT takes into account the individual and their needs, but also the environment in which they are performing. The program is not just for athletes, but also for seniors, the clinically obese, or those populations with special needs.

It starts with an assessment of goals, needs and abilities, and takes a look at a client from the front, back, and side to evaluate the kinetic chain to make sure they are moving how they should be moving. With this information, trainers can then determine what exercises they should be doing to help clients’ reach their goals.

The program is made of five phases split into three levels — stabilization, strength, and power:

Phase 1: Stabilization Endurance
Phase 2: Strength Endurance
Phase 3: Hypertrophy
Phase 4: Maximal Strength
Phase 5: Power

Trainers should know that they don’t need a background in kinesiology or exercise science; they will learn all of this in their CPT and touch on it in additional certifications.

NASM Certification Cost

NASM has multiple study options for aspiring trainers and they really boil down to choosing the one that is right for you. The main NASM certification that people want to know about is the NASM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) certification. For the others, you can see the costs above.

NASM, at the time of this writing, has four study options to choose from:

Self-Study $849 (Click here for 30% Off)
Premium Self-Study $1149 (Click here for 30% Off)
All-Inclusive $1799 (Click here for 30% Off)

Each option offers progressively more study assistance and assets that will help you pass the test. If you want the best NASM study materials, created by college level NASM instructors who take the exam every year, check out our Free NASM CPT Study Course

These guides are the best on the internet and will help you save a considerable amount of time compared to NASM’s study packages. Our students boast a 99% pass rate, making the choice to utilize Fitness Mentors’ study materials a no-brainer!

Wondering how the NASM CPT stacks up against other CPTs in terms of cost? We put together an in-depth look at the best personal trainer certifications and did cost comparisons. Here’s how it compares to the other major personal trainer certification bodies:

As you can see, the NASM CPT is the most expensive (considering exam and study materials) of all the major certification bodies. NASM is also considered to be the most popular of these brands, and there is a certain amount of prestige that goes along with their certification.

At the same time, there are other options you should be weighing in addition to cost. For example, you should also take into consideration CEU requirements, the primary focus of education, and perhaps most importantly, if the place you want to work accepts the certification you are leaning towards.

NASM Certification Reviews

The NASM Facebook page shows that NASM has an average review rating of 8.2 out of 10. While this is a generally favorable average, I’d encourage you to speak with some NASM trainers to gauge their experience with the test, their studies, and how a NASM CPT played into their careers.

NASM CPT Salary

In the aforementioned blog post we did on the Best Personal Trainer Certification, we evaluated the average income of NASM, ACE, ACSM, NSCA, AFAA, and NCSF personal trainers. This data was pulled from reputable websites where registered users self-report their income.

The top tier of these incomes was with NASM, at $41,598 annually. It was followed closely by ACE at $41,546. The others were below the $40k a year annual salary. The important thing to note is that these are just averages; your ability to be successful greatly depends on your business acumen and less about the words after your name. Regardless, it is interesting to note that on average, NASM trainers make the most.

How to Get a NASM Certification

The NASM website claims that you can get your NASM CPT in as little as 10 to 12 weeks. To be eligible, you need to meet the following criteria:

Be at least 18 years of age
Hold a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and an automated external defibrillator (AED) certification

From there, you simply sign up for one the aforementioned study programs on the NASM website and begin studying, then schedule a time to take the exam once you feel prepared. How do you know if you’ll be prepared? The Fitness Mentors Online Course for the NASM CPT Exam comes with a pass guarantee, so that is a good place to start.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below and I will get to them as soon as possible.

NASM NASM 5 Secrets Popup NASM CPT NASM OPT New Format

Personal Trainer Stats 2020

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Personal Trainer Stats 2020

2019 is a great year to get into personal training in the United States. Many personal trainers enjoy the profession because they get to help people transform their lives everyday as well as work in a relaxed environment that promotes health and fitness.

With the right amount of training and a notable personal training certification under your belt, you can capitalize on the job growth of this market, attractive pay, great quality of life and need for health and fitness professionals in this amazing field.

Let’s check out some of the personal training stats mentioned in the infographic to show why now is the right time to get your personal training certification and start your personal training career.

330,000 Personal Training Jobs Forecasted by 2026

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the number of personal training jobs in the United States is slated to grow about 10 percent until 2026. The government also reports that many of these trainers work in health clubs, fitness or recreation centers, gyms, country clubs, hospitals, group fitness studies, resorts and at clients’ homes.

The median pay mentioned on the Bureau’s website ($38,160) is a bit dated and varies from the pay mentioned on the following stat which is significantly more than the income listed from 2016.

$58,318 Median Annual Income of Personal Trainers

Salary.com reports that the national average for full-time personal trainers in the United States is $58,318. This means that half of the people who become personal trainers can expect to make $58,318 per year, with the upper echelon reaching as much as $83,770 per year. This website allows you to sort more specific salary data by zip code and is a good resource for determining what you may be able to make in your local city. We also performed our own research on personal trainer salaries, check it out.

It is worth noting that personal trainers with over three years of experience tend to make between $53,472-$61,698 a year, meaning that the more time you put in the more you are likely to make. Fitness Mentors recommends progressing your personal training career by getting additional personal training certifications such as the Pain Management Specialist certification or the Special Populations Exercies Specialist certification. These additional certifications will provide you with more knowledge and make you more valuable to clients.

Personal Trainer Quality of Life

An older but still relevant assessment of personal trainers revealed that it was regarded as the 18^th best job in America. The variety of settings in which personal trainers can work was attributed to one of the most important factors for ranking it so high on the list. In addition to the diversity of work, CNN gave high grades to personal trainers in the areas of Personal Satisfaction (B), Low Stress (A), Benefit to Society (A) and Flexibility (B).

What better ways to represent these fields than with Kayne, the Dalai Lama, Einstein and Gumby?

Obesity in America: Sad but True

Personal trainers are in a unique situation to lend themselves to the increasing obese population in America. At more than one-third, this group of people will likely contain a large segment that is interested in improving their health and fitness. As personal trainers are knowledgeable in fitness and increasingly nutrition, they can be a great resource for obese American’s looking for change.

Get Your Personal Training Certification

Fitness Mentors specializes in helping personal trainers get certified and prepare for the FM-CPT, NASM-CPT or ACE-CPT Exams. The previous certifications are the biggest and most highly recognized personal training certification bodies in the country. Once you make the decision to become a personal trainer, utilize all of our free and premium resources to help you start the career of your dreams!

jobs New Format personal training stats salary

Online Personal Trainer Certification: 5 Tips to Get Certified in 2 Months

You’d probably agree with me when I say:

There are no shortcuts to fast and credible personal trainer certifications.

Or, are there?

As it turns out, there are some great ways to get a personal trainer certification, fast. And I’m not talking about those crappy, fake certifications you may have come across from the vast stretches of the interwebs.

I’m talking about a real, accredited, personal trainer certification that will get you a job at most gyms and into a personal training career that you love.

1 Get Your Prerequisites in Order

Before you can tap into the personal training field you’ll need to get some things in order that most online personal trainer certification bodies require. For most of these agencies, you’ll need to check off the following three things:

18 years or older
High school diploma or GED
CPR/AED certification

More companies are requiring the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Certification along with the Emergency Cardiac Care (CPR), but these certifications are usually given together. American Red Cross is one of the primary providers of these courses and you can find a CPR/AED class near you to satisfy this necessary requirement.

Note that you don’t always have to have CPR/AED certifications to purchase most online personal trainer packages (to start your studies), you’ll just need it to become official once you do sit for the final exam.

2 Choose the Best Online Personal Trainer Certification for You

In a previous post of mine on the “best personal trainer certification” I conclude the blog post with a note that the decision is very subjective and there are certain certifications that may be better-suited for certain individuals. The major factors I find that influence which online personal training certification you go with includes:

Accreditation
Price
CEU requirements
Pass rate
Average income of trainers

At the time I wrote that post, there was one option that I did not include because it did not yet exist. That option is the Fitness Mentors’ Online Personal Trainer Certification. As you’ll learn, it is actually the only truly and fully online, accredited online personal trainer cert. More on why this is important in tip three.

3 Choose a Course that is Truly Available Online from Start to Finish

If you have begun to look at your available options for a CPT, you probably understand that you can begin to order study materials and start gaining the knowledge you need to pass the final exam with the swipe of your credit card.

What you may not be aware of, however, is that once you are ready to schedule the exam, you have to take the following, sometimes inconvenient, steps:

Register for an exam
Wait for the next available exam slot
Drive to the physical exam location

This is not even taking into consideration what happens if you try to reschedule an exam, if you are an international student, or if you fail the exam.

The long and short of understanding all the above is this:

You want the fastest, most convenient route to becoming a certified personal trainer.

Anything that detracts from that — such as having to attend anything away from the comfort of your home — can significantly delay how quickly you are able to become certified. This is partly why the Fitness Mentors Online CPT was created; the fitness industry needed an accredited, purely online option for aspiring trainers to get certified with.

4 Ensure You are Fully Prepared with Appropriate Study Guides, Practice Exams, and other Study Aids

If you are going to go through the trouble of getting a CPR/AED and buying personal trainer certification books or study materials, you might as well ensure that you pass the exam the first time around (some personal training certs charge as much as $435 to retake an exam).

For example, Fitness Mentors has created a wealth of study materials ranging from free study guides, premium study guides, audio lectures, and even practice tests to help students prepare themselves the best way possible for their exams.

Study materials that are created by previous exam takers are always helpful. There are usually a wealth of blogs online that feature stories of how people prepared for their personal trainer exam and what questions threw them into a frenzy. I encourage you to read up on these types of blogs and to look into some premium study materials that make studying and learning the material easier, and most importantly, quicker to digest.

5 Set Up a Study Schedule to Retain as Much Information as Possible as Quickly as Possible

If you are setting out to study, take, and pass your online personal trainer certification course in two months, be honest with yourself in terms of how much time you can actually give yourself to studying each day.

Personal trainer certs are not made to be walks in the park; there is a lot of complex biological, programming, and business application information to learn. Truth be told, it can be pretty hard but only if you don’t study and prepare yourself the right way.

But you’re not going to have that problem are you?

As a former college professor who helped students study and prepare for their CPT, I’ve found that a dedicated student can begin studying and be prepared to take (and pass) the CPT in as little as two months.

Here is a basic outline of the strategy you can use to accomplish the same.

How to get a CPT in 2 months:

Dedicate yourself to reading 1-2 hours per day
Create your own chapter-by-chapter notes from the book/coursework
Use study guides to review hand-picked topics for reference
Use audio lectures to review the information (while driving/working out/during down time)
Take practice tests of each chapter
Quiz yourself on 5-10 chapters of the book at a time every few weeks
Reread study guides as you get deeper into the book
Quiz yourself and document the questions you miss; revisit the sections of the book of the topics you’ve missed
Quiz yourself lots leading up to the final week of study
Take a entire practice exam and write down questions you missed; revisit topics you’ve missed
Take official certification exam once you consistently get 85% passing score on practice exams

Get Your Online Personal Trainer Certification Started Today

There is no better time than now to get started on your personal training career. Personal trainers are consistently marked as professionals with exceptional work/life balance, with jobs that have flexible working hours, have growth potential of 13% by 2022, and just generally are more fun careers to begin with.

If you have any questions about the best online personal trainer certification option for you, your experience studying online, or anything else related to online CPTs, please let me know in the comments.

New Format online personal trainer Personal Trainer Certification Review

Up to 40% off certification courses!

How to Become a Yoga Instructor

Requirements to Become a Certified Yoga Instructor

Best Online Yoga Instructor Training Certifications

A Final Word From a Fitness Professional

Group Fitness Certifications we Analyzed:

Why Trust My Opinions?

Best Group Fitness Instructor Certifications

Primary Focus of Education In More Detail

Group Fitness Instructor Takeaway

Accreditation

Group Fitness Instructor Takeaway

Choosing the Best Group Fitness Certification for You

Best Group Fitness Certification FAQs

What Cert is Best for You?

What is an Online Personal Trainer?

4 Steps to Become an Online Personal Trainer (the right way)

1. Transition Your First Client Over to Online Training

What Cert is Best for You?

2. Get an Online Personal Training Certification to Help Structure and Scale Your Online Business

3. Start Building Additional Online Training Revenue Streams

4. Get More Clients Online

Online Personal Trainer Business Models: The 6 Different Types of Online Personal Trainers

1. Private Personalized Online Training

2. Non-Personalized PDF Fitness Programs

3. Non-Personalized Video Fitness Programs

4. Hybrid Online and In-Person Personal Training

5. Live Video Chat Workouts Online

6. Online Group Personal Training

Considerations for Online Personal Trainer Software

FAQs for How to Become an Online Personal Trainer

How to Get Hands-on Training to Build Your Online Personal Training Business

Types of Personal Training Businesses You Can Start

Train at a Private a Gym that Allows You to Pay Per Session

In-home Personal Training: You Train at Clients’ Homes/Facilities

In-home Personal Training: You Train at Your Own Home

Start a Personal Training Business Online

How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer

Start Your Personal Training Business Today

What is Exercise Science?

What can You Do with an Exercise Science Degree?

Top 5 Exercise Science Careers

Personal Trainer

Top 5 Reasons Personal Training is a Popular Exercise Science Career

Top 3 Personal Training Certifications

What Cert is Best for You?

Physical Therapist

Athletic Trainer

Exercise Physiologist

PE Teacher

Boot Camp Instructor

Exercise Science Degrees and Educational Considerations

FAQs for Exercise Science Careers and The Best Education Paths

Closing Thoughts on Exercise Science Careers

How to Become a Group Fitness Instructor in 5 Steps

1

Get Your Group Fitness Instructor Prerequisites

2

Choose a Group Fitness Instructor Certification

ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor

ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor

AFAA Certified Group Fitness Instructor

ISSA Specialist in Group Fitness Certification

NCCPT Group Exercise Instructor Certification

NESTA Certified Group Exercise Instructor

NETA Group Exercise Certification

3

Schedule Your Exam and Continue/Begin Studying

Group Fitness Exam Study Tips

4

Pass Your Group Fitness Exam

5

Get a Job as a Group Fitness Trainer

CEUS: Maintaining Your Group Fitness Certification

Bonus: Group Fitness Certification VS Personal Trainer Certification

Become a Group Fitness Trainer Today

80% OFF

What Cert is Best for You?

Before You Get Paid, You Have to Get Certified

3 Types of Gym Pay Structures Common to Personal Trainers

Requirements to Become a Certified
Yoga Instructor

Types of Personal Training Businesses
You Can Start

How to Become a Successful
Personal Trainer

Start Your Personal Training
Business Today

How to Become a Group Fitness
Instructor in 5 Steps

Schedule Your Exam and
Continue/Begin Studying