Post: #1

In the park near my house, I have seen people out exercising with their personal trainers. The guy holds some girls feet as she does situps. He encourages hert o do more even when she is tired. They jog together. They do tricep dips together. He has her stretch.

Seems easy and frankly a nice way to spend an hour of your time. I have just put out a craigslist ad offering my services doing as much.

Anyone with any experience here who has tips about how to make this profitable? I am imagining that most girls who are out of shape really are NOT looking for someone who is going to give them a hard time about pushing themselves too hard, and really are just paying to feel good about themselves. I can easily fill this role, having a girl do stuff that will tire her out without being too difficult really.

I am sure there are real fitness freaks out there who need a truly dedicated trainer to help them reach specific goals. Thats not me. I am just thinking of doing mountain climbers, burpees, dips, squat-jumps, planks, situps, sprints, jumprope etc with some girls and making them sweat a little when they would normally watch tv.

Post: #2

Get a PT cert & Charge them.

People want to pay for services like PT.

Obviously, be professional about it.

Post: #3

Yea of course I would charge. Do not currently have the cert but of course, good idea. Do you have experience with this? Wondering if not having the cert would be a dealbreaker

Post: #4

Good plan. But stop wondering about certs. It might break the deal for the first 99 people who see your ad, but if the 100th doesn't mind you will be in business. If you stay worrying about certs you won't be.

Put your ad up, in the ad emphasise the fun, the fat loss and muscle tone they'll gain, the health benefits, the value proposition. Make it too good of an offer by writing a generic meal or supplement plan for their goals (something that should take all of 15 minutes per client). Better then a cert would be investing $100 in a few gym mats and calisthenics equipment.

Write that you are experienced (if you've ever held someone's feet while they do a sit up or spotted someone on weights this would be true), start taking clients then worry about a cert, do a course from an online institute or college to learn a few things and get the cert.

Before you know it you've got your rent paid from a few hours per week side hustle, you can hit on any hot client you may gain and you can also hit on other hotties working out in the park.

Post: #5

Typical craig's list ad.

Do it in the park.
No cert mentioned.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/lss/4598303153.html

My boy used to do this.

You can make some decent money, but a PT's life is hard.

WIA

Post: #6

This was a handy little side hustle for me a few years ago. It was good for a couple of hundred a week with little effort, but if you want to make it more than that, you will need to work consistently hard. I'll list a few points that I found applicable in my situation.

I can't really comment on how to get clients in the first place. Long story short, I was a generic, boring PT working out a generic, boring gym. Had a falling out with the owner, and clients wanted to continue training with me rather than staying there doing boring, generic routines. I only took a few clients with me, but you only need a few to make a couple of hundred bucks a week. And those few people talk - Word of mouth is your best friend. A decent craigslist should get you started.

I'd found a park near each clients house and travel there for their session. Ideally pick one with cover/shade available because if it's raining or too hot, there's a high chance of flaking. It cost a little bit in fuel when you travel between a few areas, but you've got to make it convenient for these people. It's often their laziness that makes them need a PT at all, so you've got to accept and cater to that.

My only equipment was a box of martial arts gear I had accumulated through my own training. A couple of skipping ropes, gloves, focus mitts, thai pads. A pole and some ropes for plyometrics, a couple of foam knives and batons for a bit of fun in the warmdown and that was about all. Only a couple of hundred dollars worth all up. If there is any equipment or facilities at the location, you can utilise that. For example a childrens playground can let you do chin ups, and a steep incline can let you do hill sprints.

Note that my list of equipment was tied into my expertise and my niche. If you're not competent and confident in MA, you'll need to assess what niche you want to appeal to, bearing in mind that if it's no different to what the gyms are offering, there's no reason they'd use you. Also, it's tough to lug around enough iron to make a weights based routine worthwhile.

I did actually have a certificate in fitness, but I never mentioned it and nobody ever asked to see it. It was more my martial arts than mainstream fitness knowledge that I was accentuating anyway. So long as you know what you're talking about, or at least sound like you do, you could safely skip it.

Post: #7

Vroom, thanks, +1 from me.

I'm not looking to make this a full time thing, really just a way to make a little extra a night or two a week and get some fresh air.

Do you live in a climate with winters? I'm in NY so parks in the winter are not gonna happen. I'm thinking once that happens probably best to find a public rec-center.

Post: #8

Nah I live in a city where a day below 20 degrees C is considered "freezing". Rain and cold is rarely a problem - The 40+ degree days in summer can be more of a problem, though most sessions are early morning or evening so you miss the worst of it.

Problems with using a rec centre here is that

- Hire of a room is costly, significantly increasing the base number of clients you need to break even.
- Require you to have certificates, peak-body accreditation and public liability insurance, again significantly increasing your break even.
- Often have their own gyms and trainers on site, and won't allow direct competition.

Don't know about there, but schools here often have a large undercover area that you can use. It's probably not strictly allowed, but so long as you're not in anyones way and are not there all the time, you should be fine.