BURN Fitness 101: Gym, Home, or Studio Training? What’s Right for YOU?
Obviously when it comes to this question for potential clients… I’m biased, because Lisa and I own a Private Studio. As Trainers, we have plenty of options. We could do in-home training, we could train clients outside at the beach, we could work for a big or small gym, or… we could open our own private facility for training only. As a potential client, looking for a trainer… let me give you some insight into what it means to you, and what you should consider before investing in a trainer.
In-Home/Outdoor Training:
In-home training is a great option for busy work-at-home, work-from-home, or retired individuals. The biggest advantage is absolute privacy. For many clients, this is no issue or they enjoy the social aspect of a bigger gym. For others, the idea of walking into LA Fitness is overwhelming, or at least intimidating. They’re simply not comfortable in that environment, generally until they feel more confident about their own fitness.
The drawbacks of in-home training include very limited equipment options… unless you have a complete home gym, and even so home-gym equipment is a very poor substitute for the real thing, commercial grade equipment. Home treadmills are wobbly, underpowered, and take up a lot of space in your house. Residential grade weight machines have limited adjustability, limited weight, poor quality pulleys, etc. They try to cram five machines into one unit, resulting in one machine that is good for nothing, bad for everything. In-Home Trainers can haul adjustable dumbbells, and balls, and bands into your house, but you spend half of your workout switching around the equipment, as opposed to moving from one exercise to the next. Another draw-back is price. A high-quality trainer will be IN DEMAND. If they are TRULY good at what they do, their time will be valuable. Unfortunately, you will be paying not only for their time while at your home, but also the time it takes to get there… Travel time eats up an in-home trainer’s day. This results in a Trainer who would be demanding $70-80 per hour (going rates for professional trainers in St Petersburg, FL.) in a studio or gym… now has to charge $90-100 per hour to make up for lost travel time. If this increase in cost is off-set by the convenience/privacy of in-home training for client… that’s fine, but in-home training is the MOST expensive training. (Note: If you speak to an in-home trainer who is charging under $80 per hour… it’s likely because they cannot get it somewhere else for a GOOD reason. Even “Newbie” Trainers with two weeks experience are demanding $80/hr PLUS at the big gyms.)
In-home training also unfortunately opens a client up to some significant risks that other forms of training don’t. You’re inviting a stranger into your home for one… In-home trainers have a MUCH lower vetting process, and unfortunately often work as fly-by-night underinsured, underprepared, and unreliable providers. Nobody has done a background check on them… unless you decide to spend the additional money to do so. If you write a check for 20 sessions, and your trainer simply disappears… I’m sorry, you have NOWHERE to turn.
All of the above applies for outdoor training, except you get to add in the complexity of Florida weather… Yay!
“Big-Gym” Training:
Big-Gyms are the multi-location/multi-state franchise and corporate mega-clubs… 15,000-35,000+ square feet, day-care, group classes, dozens of cardio machines… the Super Walmart of the fitness industry. There ARE some really good quality trainers in the big gyms. The problem is the really good trainers don’t last very long at these facilities! Big gyms get big bucks for training. They reason that since they offer everything else in addition to training they can charge a premium. This is a GREAT option if you need the daycare while you work out. OTHERWISE… you need to be very careful buying big-gym personal training. Here’s why…
First, you’re contracted to the gym… not the trainer. Therefore if your favorite trainer who you trust and enjoy decides to move to another gym… your contract for the next four months stays with the gym, with the new trainer they assign you… whom you’ve never met and who knows nothing about you.
Second… Big contracts! Most mega-gyms have a professional salesman selling their training. Often, this sales guy is a GREAT trainer, and really knows his or her stuff, and is very personable, professional, and knowledgeable! Except… I’m sorry… You can’t train with him/her. They only SELL training. They don’t train. The person you end up training with is often half as knowledgeable, and flaky as a bowl of Special K… The contract they get you to sign (after a $100-150 program enrollment fee) is at least 3 months in duration. You can cancel at any time, but the small print requires you to buy out for half the value of the contract for training you don’t use. Your money is taken from your card/account automatically each month… whether you train or not… and if you DO cancel, they WILL charge your account for another two months… until “corporate” can turn off the drafts! If you don’t believe me… just go read the fine print. Even when your first contract package expires… it’ll auto-renew…without your permission. NICE! Assuming you love your big-gym trainer, this is fine… until your trainer quits/moves/gets promoted to sales… etc. Then you get the new-guy! The Trainer with two days experience, who doesn’t know you, your previous injuries, your goals, your favorite style of training, or your schedule… Enjoy…
Also… You’re still paying $35-45/half-hour session, IF your trainer shows up on time. Add in the $150 enrollment fees… and you’re paying $90+ per hour… for a trainer who just started shaving last year, OR… you’re a 50 year old female… and trying to explain to your 115lb 22 year old trainer your issues with diet, after having 3 kids, managing a household, post-menopausal, and running a business… with bad knees.
Finally, understand that even though you are paying $75-90+ per hour… the Trainer you are working with is getting between $16-22! Typically the trainer is making 25%, and the gym is keeping 75% of your money. This is why the best trainers at the big gyms LEAVE. Granted, they get sucky benefits after working for 25% for 90 days! In reality, you can make more money waiting tables or working at a coffee shop that you can as a gym trainer, and the hours are better. So you, the client, are paying $90/hr for a Trainer who is stuck making $20… because they can’t do any better… and you’re entrusting your success, motivation, and health to that trainer. Enjoy.
Studio Training:
There are a LOT of reasons, if you have the option, that you should train with a Trainer in a Private Fitness Studio! And if you’re looking for a studio… look for one like BURN Fitness Training… Here are a few reasons why…
Privacy – At BURN you’re working one-on-one (or as a couple) with your Trainer. There is often NOBODY else training in the facility, or at the most 1-2 other clients. The same clients that work out Mondays and Wednesdays when you do are there every week. They enjoy THEIR privacy too! Often my clients befriend Lisa’s clients and the conversations are fun, but everyone is on a level playing field, and everyone is there to work! We have a shower… with a private locker room, with a lock… enough said. Once you see what strolls around naked in big-gym locker rooms stretching and making conversation with complete strangers... like you… you’ll really appreciate your own private changing room!
Professionalism - Lisa and I own the business. We have a lease in our building for three years… worth over $65,000. We’ll be here next week. We’ll be here next year. We’ll be here 15-20 minutes BEFORE you are, if we haven’t already been here for three hours. If you want to speak to a manager… talk to your Trainer! We’re not coming to your home so you don’t have to worry about your belongings or your investment. We’re not going anywhere with your money!
Facilities – We have all commercial grade equipment, and enough equipment to train 3-5 clients at a time without everyone running into one another. We have 2000 square feet, machines, dumbbells, cables, BOSUs, balls, kettlebells, jump-boxes, TRXs…. We have everything that the big gyms have (almost) and we know how to use what we have, because we CHOSE it based on the way we train.
Experience – Lisa has been doing NOTHING BUT fitness and nutrition for 20 years… I’ve been doing it “only” 19! Neither of us are beginners! The person who does your consultation, and sells you your package, is the person you train with… for as long as you are here at BURN. You won’t be handed off to a junior trainer, or someone who doesn’t know you. I have clients I’ve worked with for YEARS. I know more about their goals… and even their business, their marriage, their dreams than possibly anyone, and it effects how they work out every day, every week. We understand what it’s like to be FIT and well past 40 years old! No 20-something, regardless of education, can offer that. We do keep up with all the latest trends, innovations, and flops in the fitness and nutrition business. Yet I’m not eager to show all the crazy new Olympic lifts I learned last week to my 60-year-old accountant clients. No level of education can supersede 20 years of finding fitness and nutrition solutions for hundreds and hundreds of clients. That said… both of us hold top-tier certifications in the business. In fact, I taught for The National Personal Training Institute for three years… Education in exercise science is important… but experience in dealing with the psychology of exercise and eating with hundreds of clients for 20 years… That’s what results are about.
If you’re over 60, got two bad knees, degenerative disk disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and esophageal reflux… we’ve seen it before. It’s no big deal. We can handle it, safely, AND get results!
Contracts – Most of our clients only buy 10 to 12 sessions from us when they start! We don’t need to sell long-term contracts to keep clients! The VAST majority re-up happily after their first package. We NEVER draft money from your account or credit card, and never will… We take credit cards, but only for single transactions. If you want to fire us that’s fine, we’re sorry you didn’t get out of it what you expected. Let’s part professionally and amicably. If you want to buy 6 sessions at a time? Fine. If you want to buy 12? Fine. Want to buy 100 at a time? Sure, we’ll talk about a discount! You’ll never see a complaint against BURN Fitness for anything professionally, especially when it comes to billing. We HATE big-gym billing too! Yes… we charge “high-industry” rates for our training, and we don’t apologize for it. We provide WAY above industry-standard service and results. That said… We’ll never raise your rate. As long as you’re a continuous client, your rate will never change at BURN Fitness.
In conclusion… There are some GREAT in-home trainers! A few of the great professionals who have worked at BURN also train a few clients at their homes. There are some GREAT big-gym trainers. All of our trainers at BURN at one time did train in a corporate gym… but we all made it out! High quality fitness professionals are not exclusive to private studio locations… but your best bet is at the private facility. Not all studios are created equally either… We encourage everyone to shop around. We do! If someone else is doing it better… please let us know. I’m not afraid of improving BURN!
EVERYONE get better results with a good trainer, but really good trainers are hard to find. If you’re looking to make improvements in your fitness and nutrition, do yourself a favor, and look to the private studios. And if you’re looking for a studio… do yourself a favor, and come to BURN Fitness Training.
Obviously when it comes to this question for potential clients… I’m biased, because Lisa and I own a Private Studio. As Trainers, we have plenty of options. We could do in-home training, we could train clients outside at the beach, we could work for a big or small gym, or… we could open our own private facility for training only. As a potential client, looking for a trainer… let me give you some insight into what it means to you, and what you should consider before investing in a trainer.
In-Home/Outdoor Training:
In-home training is a great option for busy work-at-home, work-from-home, or retired individuals. The biggest advantage is absolute privacy. For many clients, this is no issue or they enjoy the social aspect of a bigger gym. For others, the idea of walking into LA Fitness is overwhelming, or at least intimidating. They’re simply not comfortable in that environment, generally until they feel more confident about their own fitness.
The drawbacks of in-home training include very limited equipment options… unless you have a complete home gym, and even so home-gym equipment is a very poor substitute for the real thing, commercial grade equipment. Home treadmills are wobbly, underpowered, and take up a lot of space in your house. Residential grade weight machines have limited adjustability, limited weight, poor quality pulleys, etc. They try to cram five machines into one unit, resulting in one machine that is good for nothing, bad for everything. In-Home Trainers can haul adjustable dumbbells, and balls, and bands into your house, but you spend half of your workout switching around the equipment, as opposed to moving from one exercise to the next. Another draw-back is price. A high-quality trainer will be IN DEMAND. If they are TRULY good at what they do, their time will be valuable. Unfortunately, you will be paying not only for their time while at your home, but also the time it takes to get there… Travel time eats up an in-home trainer’s day. This results in a Trainer who would be demanding $70-80 per hour (going rates for professional trainers in St Petersburg, FL.) in a studio or gym… now has to charge $90-100 per hour to make up for lost travel time. If this increase in cost is off-set by the convenience/privacy of in-home training for client… that’s fine, but in-home training is the MOST expensive training. (Note: If you speak to an in-home trainer who is charging under $80 per hour… it’s likely because they cannot get it somewhere else for a GOOD reason. Even “Newbie” Trainers with two weeks experience are demanding $80/hr PLUS at the big gyms.)
In-home training also unfortunately opens a client up to some significant risks that other forms of training don’t. You’re inviting a stranger into your home for one… In-home trainers have a MUCH lower vetting process, and unfortunately often work as fly-by-night underinsured, underprepared, and unreliable providers. Nobody has done a background check on them… unless you decide to spend the additional money to do so. If you write a check for 20 sessions, and your trainer simply disappears… I’m sorry, you have NOWHERE to turn.
All of the above applies for outdoor training, except you get to add in the complexity of Florida weather… Yay!
“Big-Gym” Training:
Big-Gyms are the multi-location/multi-state franchise and corporate mega-clubs… 15,000-35,000+ square feet, day-care, group classes, dozens of cardio machines… the Super Walmart of the fitness industry. There ARE some really good quality trainers in the big gyms. The problem is the really good trainers don’t last very long at these facilities! Big gyms get big bucks for training. They reason that since they offer everything else in addition to training they can charge a premium. This is a GREAT option if you need the daycare while you work out. OTHERWISE… you need to be very careful buying big-gym personal training. Here’s why…
First, you’re contracted to the gym… not the trainer. Therefore if your favorite trainer who you trust and enjoy decides to move to another gym… your contract for the next four months stays with the gym, with the new trainer they assign you… whom you’ve never met and who knows nothing about you.
Second… Big contracts! Most mega-gyms have a professional salesman selling their training. Often, this sales guy is a GREAT trainer, and really knows his or her stuff, and is very personable, professional, and knowledgeable! Except… I’m sorry… You can’t train with him/her. They only SELL training. They don’t train. The person you end up training with is often half as knowledgeable, and flaky as a bowl of Special K… The contract they get you to sign (after a $100-150 program enrollment fee) is at least 3 months in duration. You can cancel at any time, but the small print requires you to buy out for half the value of the contract for training you don’t use. Your money is taken from your card/account automatically each month… whether you train or not… and if you DO cancel, they WILL charge your account for another two months… until “corporate” can turn off the drafts! If you don’t believe me… just go read the fine print. Even when your first contract package expires… it’ll auto-renew…without your permission. NICE! Assuming you love your big-gym trainer, this is fine… until your trainer quits/moves/gets promoted to sales… etc. Then you get the new-guy! The Trainer with two days experience, who doesn’t know you, your previous injuries, your goals, your favorite style of training, or your schedule… Enjoy…
Also… You’re still paying $35-45/half-hour session, IF your trainer shows up on time. Add in the $150 enrollment fees… and you’re paying $90+ per hour… for a trainer who just started shaving last year, OR… you’re a 50 year old female… and trying to explain to your 115lb 22 year old trainer your issues with diet, after having 3 kids, managing a household, post-menopausal, and running a business… with bad knees.
Finally, understand that even though you are paying $75-90+ per hour… the Trainer you are working with is getting between $16-22! Typically the trainer is making 25%, and the gym is keeping 75% of your money. This is why the best trainers at the big gyms LEAVE. Granted, they get sucky benefits after working for 25% for 90 days! In reality, you can make more money waiting tables or working at a coffee shop that you can as a gym trainer, and the hours are better. So you, the client, are paying $90/hr for a Trainer who is stuck making $20… because they can’t do any better… and you’re entrusting your success, motivation, and health to that trainer. Enjoy.
Studio Training:
There are a LOT of reasons, if you have the option, that you should train with a Trainer in a Private Fitness Studio! And if you’re looking for a studio… look for one like BURN Fitness Training… Here are a few reasons why…
Privacy – At BURN you’re working one-on-one (or as a couple) with your Trainer. There is often NOBODY else training in the facility, or at the most 1-2 other clients. The same clients that work out Mondays and Wednesdays when you do are there every week. They enjoy THEIR privacy too! Often my clients befriend Lisa’s clients and the conversations are fun, but everyone is on a level playing field, and everyone is there to work! We have a shower… with a private locker room, with a lock… enough said. Once you see what strolls around naked in big-gym locker rooms stretching and making conversation with complete strangers... like you… you’ll really appreciate your own private changing room!
Professionalism - Lisa and I own the business. We have a lease in our building for three years… worth over $65,000. We’ll be here next week. We’ll be here next year. We’ll be here 15-20 minutes BEFORE you are, if we haven’t already been here for three hours. If you want to speak to a manager… talk to your Trainer! We’re not coming to your home so you don’t have to worry about your belongings or your investment. We’re not going anywhere with your money!
Facilities – We have all commercial grade equipment, and enough equipment to train 3-5 clients at a time without everyone running into one another. We have 2000 square feet, machines, dumbbells, cables, BOSUs, balls, kettlebells, jump-boxes, TRXs…. We have everything that the big gyms have (almost) and we know how to use what we have, because we CHOSE it based on the way we train.
Experience – Lisa has been doing NOTHING BUT fitness and nutrition for 20 years… I’ve been doing it “only” 19! Neither of us are beginners! The person who does your consultation, and sells you your package, is the person you train with… for as long as you are here at BURN. You won’t be handed off to a junior trainer, or someone who doesn’t know you. I have clients I’ve worked with for YEARS. I know more about their goals… and even their business, their marriage, their dreams than possibly anyone, and it effects how they work out every day, every week. We understand what it’s like to be FIT and well past 40 years old! No 20-something, regardless of education, can offer that. We do keep up with all the latest trends, innovations, and flops in the fitness and nutrition business. Yet I’m not eager to show all the crazy new Olympic lifts I learned last week to my 60-year-old accountant clients. No level of education can supersede 20 years of finding fitness and nutrition solutions for hundreds and hundreds of clients. That said… both of us hold top-tier certifications in the business. In fact, I taught for The National Personal Training Institute for three years… Education in exercise science is important… but experience in dealing with the psychology of exercise and eating with hundreds of clients for 20 years… That’s what results are about.
If you’re over 60, got two bad knees, degenerative disk disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and esophageal reflux… we’ve seen it before. It’s no big deal. We can handle it, safely, AND get results!
Contracts – Most of our clients only buy 10 to 12 sessions from us when they start! We don’t need to sell long-term contracts to keep clients! The VAST majority re-up happily after their first package. We NEVER draft money from your account or credit card, and never will… We take credit cards, but only for single transactions. If you want to fire us that’s fine, we’re sorry you didn’t get out of it what you expected. Let’s part professionally and amicably. If you want to buy 6 sessions at a time? Fine. If you want to buy 12? Fine. Want to buy 100 at a time? Sure, we’ll talk about a discount! You’ll never see a complaint against BURN Fitness for anything professionally, especially when it comes to billing. We HATE big-gym billing too! Yes… we charge “high-industry” rates for our training, and we don’t apologize for it. We provide WAY above industry-standard service and results. That said… We’ll never raise your rate. As long as you’re a continuous client, your rate will never change at BURN Fitness.
In conclusion… There are some GREAT in-home trainers! A few of the great professionals who have worked at BURN also train a few clients at their homes. There are some GREAT big-gym trainers. All of our trainers at BURN at one time did train in a corporate gym… but we all made it out! High quality fitness professionals are not exclusive to private studio locations… but your best bet is at the private facility. Not all studios are created equally either… We encourage everyone to shop around. We do! If someone else is doing it better… please let us know. I’m not afraid of improving BURN!
EVERYONE get better results with a good trainer, but really good trainers are hard to find. If you’re looking to make improvements in your fitness and nutrition, do yourself a favor, and look to the private studios. And if you’re looking for a studio… do yourself a favor, and come to BURN Fitness Training.