Personal Trainer Salary Explained

To understand exactly how much you could earn as a PT, we’re going to discuss the following topics:

• What Is The Average Personal Trainer Salary in the UK?
• How Does Employment Type Affect Your Personal Training Salary?
• How Does Location Affect The Average PT Salary?
• Which Gyms Pay Personal Trainers The Most?
• 5 Ways to Boost Your Salary as a Personal Trainer 

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What Is The Average Personal Trainer Salary In The UK?

According to Glassdoor, the average personal trainer salary in the UK is £27,965 per year.

However, this figure is based on the salaries of jobs advertised on Glassdoor and does not consider self-employed personal trainers, who typically earn more than those in employment. Because of this, it isn't the most accurate representation of what personal trainers actually earn. 

It also doesn't account for the following factors that can influence salary:

Experience - As with all jobs, newly qualified personal trainers usually earn less than those who have been working in the industry for several years and have plenty of personal training work experience. The job ads are more likely to represent starting salaries rather than what a PT earns after a promotion or a few years experience within their role.

Qualifications - As well as making you more employable and putting you in a position to apply for better paying jobs, additional qualifications can also boost your income as a self-employed or freelance PT. How? Gaining additional qualifications, such as an advanced qualification in nutrition, allows you to market yourself as a specialist, enabling you to charge a premium for your expert services.

Location - Those who work in a city centre typically earn more than those in more rural areas. This is especially true for PTs working in major cities, such as London. Want to know how much you can earn in your area? We’ve broken down how PT salaries differ for various locations in our later section!

Commission structures - Many personal training jobs have some kind of commission structure in place, where you can earn more money by hitting targets or training more clients. This means that on top of the basic salary advertised on sites like Glassdoor, you can earn significantly more in commission.

Number of hours worked - The more hours you work, the more you earn. Some of the salaries used to generate the Glassdoor figure may include part-time jobs.

What kind of venue you work at - Higher end or luxury gyms and fitness centers usually pay a higher wage than budget alternatives. We break down exactly what gyms pay the most further on in this article! Alternatively,  check out our blog post comparing the best gyms to work for as a personal trainer.

How Does Employment Type Influence Your Personal Training Pay?  

One of the most appealing things about becoming a personal trainer is that there are multiple career options that you can pursue.

In addition to typical contracted employment, i.e. working as an employee in a gym or fitness centre, personal trainers can also work on a freelance or self-employed basis. 

As you might expect, the answer to ‘how much does a personal trainer make in the UK?’ varies depending on which career option you choose. Let’s explore what each of these options involve, and how they compare to the average wage for a personal trainer.

#1 - How Much Do Personal Trainers Make in Contracted Employment?

Working in contracted employment is likely something you’re already very familiar with. Within this employment type, the personal trainer is an employee working for someone else directly. 

You’ll either have a full-time (usually 35-40 hours) or part-time contract (hours vary between employers), and your working schedule will usually be set by your employer. 

Some of the main benefits of being employed include a stable income (either hourly pay or salary) and fixed hours. Many prefer being employed because it offers a dependable, fixed source of income that they can rely on every month.

In some instances, the employer will also have a commission structure in place, which can see you earning above your basic personal trainer salary!

Compared to freelance or self-employed work, where you’ll be required to acquire and retain your own clients, many full-time positions come with access to an existing client base.

Let’s take this contracted job at ABS. As you can see, this job does not require you to bring or build your own client base. Instead, you’ll get access to their preexisting pool of clients.

Jobs like this are great because they offer a stable income. They're also the perfect option for those who don't have many (if any) clients when they’re first starting out. 

If you're newly qualified or looking to make a career change to personal training, an employed position will allow you to earn a healthy personal trainer wage while you gain industry experience.

All of that said, PTs in employed positions typically earn less than those who are freelance or self-employed, mainly because the latter are free to set their own prices. However, this higher wage does come with additional responsibilities and considerations, all of which we’re about to discuss!

#2  - How Does Working as a Freelance Personal Trainer Affect Salary?

By becoming a freelance personal trainer, you can benefit from having a more flexible role with a higher earning potential.

According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a personal trainer working on a freelance or self-employed basis is £31,577 per year - higher than the average for those in employment.

In this type of role, you’ll be based at a gym or studio but not as an employee. Instead, you’ll work for yourself, and pay rent to the gym or studio owner in exchange for being able to train your clients in their venue.

You’ll be free to set your own prices, train your own clients, and work as many hours as you like. For these reasons, you’ll have much more control over your personal trainer salary and an uncapped earning potential!

It’s easy to see why many experienced PTs choose to work freelance or self-employed instead of getting a contracted job, but earning a six figure salary isn’t as easy as it sounds, at least not when you’re starting out!

Let’s use Cyclone fitness as an example of how this structure actually works.

As you can see in this post, they offer freelance opportunities, however, they have specified that PTs must have an existing, established client base.

This is because as a freelance PT, it is your responsibility to source, train, and retain clients. If you already have a good reputation in the industry and a decent client base, going freelance can be extremely lucrative.

Let’s say you join the team at Cyclone fitness and run 20 PT sessions a week at £35 a session. That’ll see you taking home £700 a week or over £36,000 a year!

Of course this is only an example, and you could easily earn even more by doing more hours or by charging a higher rate per session!

Since we’re focusing on how much you can earn, it’s important to touch on rent fees as these do impact the take home salary of a freelance personal trainer.

As a freelancer, you’ll pay rent in exchange for being able to train your clients at the venue. The exact cost depends on a variety of factors, but to give you a general idea, some chain gyms charge upto £550 a month! On the other hand, smaller venues, such as Cyclone fitness, charge as little as £250 a month.

In terms of salary, you just need to remember that this cost does come out of your own money and therefore should be accounted for when working out your true personal trainer pay.

#3 - What is a Typical Self-Employed Personal Trainer Salary?

People often view self-employed and freelance personal training as entirely different entities. 

They see ‘freelance personal trainers’ as those working in a gym on the typical rent model, and ‘self-employed personal trainers’ as those with independent businesses - for example those who go one to become an online personal trainer.

The truth is, a freelance personal trainer is self-employed. For this reason, the benefits of the freelance model referenced above apply to ‘self-employed PTs’ - including the higher salary!

Once again, the earning potential for this kind of role is completely uncapped. As an online PT, for example, you’re free to take on as many clients as you can handle and charge as much as you like (within reason of course!). 

The same goes for other independent PTs, such as those who work as a mobile personal trainer or run their own bootcamp business. 

Of course, with this higher personal trainer salary and increased flexibility comes additional responsibility and business costs.   

To accurately answer ‘how much does a pt make when self-employed?’,  factors such as the cost of equipment, venue hire, marketing to new clients, and travel should all be considered as opposed to the profit generated from training clients.

How Does Location Affect The Average PT Salary?

Location can influence the salary of a personal trainer on both a local and national level. In the table below, you will be able to see how the average wage varies between the 10 largest cities in the UK:

As you might expect, the typical personal trainer salary in London and the south is significantly higher compared to many other cities. The same goes for built-up vs rural areas, the busier a city is (and therefore the higher the demand for PTs) the more you can expect to earn.

That said, these are only averages and there is no guarantee that every trainer in London will earn more than PTs in Liverpool (for example). 

Equally, there are plenty of personal trainers working in rural areas that earn just as much as those in the city using strategies such as targeting affluent clients or becoming a master personal trainer.

While location can and does influence how much employers pay personal trainers, as well as how PTs charge for your services, these stats alone can not be used to answer ‘how much do PTs make?’.

Which Gyms Pay Personal Trainers The Most?

Typically, high-end gyms pay their personal trainers a higher salary compared to budget-friendly alternatives. For self-employed PTs, clients at these higher-end venues are more likely to be willing to pay more for services, allowing PTs to charge a premium rate for their services.

To understand this, take a look at the following statistics we gathered comparing a personal trainer’s annual salary at 3 different types of gyms:

• Budget Friendly PureGym Personal Trainer Salary - £26k per year (average)
• Mid-Tiered Virgin Active Salary - £34k per year (average)
• High-End Nuffield Health Personal Trainer Salary - £51k per year (average)

This increased PT salary is justifiable as the high-end gyms bring in significantly more money than their budget-friendly counterparts.

In addition to this, employers in these high-end facilities will also likely require personal trainers to hold a specialism in areas such as Lower Back Pain Management to offer their clients something they can’t get elsewhere.

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5 Ways to Boost Your Salary as a Personal Trainer 

#1 - Earn a Level 4 Sports Nutrition Qualification

An effective way to boost your personal trainer salary is by adding nutrition services to your business. But in order to do this, you will first need to complete a Level 4 Sports Nutrition qualification. 

Through completing this qualification you will be able to advertise yourself as both a personal trainer and sports nutritionist. 

Your salary will increase with these additional services, as you will be able to provide your clients with nutritional advice that compliments their bespoke fitness programmes and helps them advance towards their goals.

For example, Scott Laidler offers 12 week training packages, providing options both with and without meal plans. As you can see below, he charges more for packages which include meal plans, providing him with a higher personal trainer salary when people pick this option:

This additional service acts as an incentive to the client to purchase the more expensive package, they may be paying more but they’re getting more for their money!

Alternatively, you could even sell meal plan services completely separately from your personal training packages. This can help attract an entirely new demographic of clients who aren’t necessarily interested in workout plans but do require nutritional advice.

One example of a personal trainer doing just this can be seen below, as Forge Fitness & Nutrition offers the chance for potential clients to purchase bespoke meal plans that are tailored for their specific needs/goals:

He advertises these services by stating he can help with the likes of protein intake and calorie monitoring, with bespoke meal plans and detailed shopping lists. He then asks interested parties to submit an enquiry form detailing what they need help with.

If you followed a similar process, you could greatly increase your salary as a personal trainer, earning additional income from nutrition as a side hustle. 

#2 - Add Sports Massage Therapy Services to Your Business

Similar to the point above, you can increase your PT salary by undergoing further training on courses such as a Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage. 

In doing so, you can begin to offer your clients sports massage services alongside their bespoke workout programmes. This is incredibly beneficial, as not only do these treatments aid in injury prevention but they can also improve athletic performance. 

To boost your personal training salary you should lean into this aspect, promoting it as a beneficial service that will improve your client’s workout experience. 

If you’re wondering ‘how much can a personal trainer make with SMT’ check out LMC Physio & Fitness who’s pricing structure is listed below: 

One way to integrate this into your business is to offer SMT services at the end of every session. Let’s say you charged £30 and met your clients 2 times a week for training, that will equate to an additional £240 every month from just this one client! 

In addition to this, having this additional service can save you money! A client could become injured and unable to train for prolonged periods, rather than losing this source of income you could cross-refer them to your SMT services and maintain that source of income. 

Much like meal plans, these additional services can also increase a personal trainer's income by simply attracting a new demographic of clients who are solely looking for SMT. 

This is just one of many additional services that you can incorporate into your business, for more information and guidance check out our article dedicated to exploring personal trainers career options.

#3 - Become a Specialist With a Level 4 Qualification

Once you complete your Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification, your education doesn’t have to stop there. As proven in the two points above, you can enrol on specialist courses to develop your practical skills and theoretical knowledge. 

The Level 4 personal training courses we provide at OriGym include:

• Level 4 Lower Back Pain Course
• Level 4 Obesity & Weight Management Control Course
• Level 4 Diabetes Management Control Course
• Level 4 Advanced Nutrition Course

By acquiring these qualifications you can advertise yourself as an elite personal trainer and attract a wider range of clients, especially those who need more specialised training. For example, you could work with diabetic clients, creating workout programmes that help to manage their condition.

That’s just what The Diabetic Health Coach did, as PT Vanessa launched her own business with the specific aim of helping others with diabetes to manage their condition through health and lifestyle choices:

Having a niche such as this, is an ideal way to target a specific demographic and earn more money! If you’d like more information about how to do this to advance your career, check out ‘How to Become a Master Personal Trainer’.

#4 - Offer Online Personal Training Services

If you’re looking for a surefire way to increase your personal training salary, then you should take your services online. 

Whilst in this position, you can fulfil the same responsibilities as in-personal PTs, providing your clients with services such as:

• Tailored workout programmes
• Custom meal plans
• Pre-recorded workout videos

But how can becoming an online personal trainer help to boost your salary as a PT? Well, for starters you will be able to attract clients from all over the world rather than being confined to those in your local area. 

On top of this, as an online personal trainer you won’t be restricted for time either. Rather than allocating space to work with each individual client in person, you can work with multiple different online clients at once, doubling your productivity and income! 

Ultimate Performance is the perfect example of online personal training done right, below you can see how their pricing packages are displayed below:

If you followed a similar pricing package to those above, you could earn a significant amount of money, even if you just enrolled as a handful of clients. 

#5 - Develop Your Sales & Marketing Skills

To be a successful personal trainer, it’s important to sell and market your services effectively as this is crucial for gaining new clients. Establishing a USP and knowing your target audience is vital to ensure you are attracting those who are most likely to use your services.

To understand what your USP is, you should ask yourself questions such as:

• What are my specialist services?
• Who is my target audience?
• What are my brand values?

For example, your USP may be offering personal training to pregnant or elderly clients. Once you’ve decided on this, it’ll be easier to advertise your services as you can focus on the one aspect of your business which sets you apart from others.

This relates back to your personal training skills and how well you are able to market this USP to your chosen niche. For example, you could establish a presence for your business online by: 

• Setting up ads on Google 
• Creating a strong website
• Establishing a Google Business page 
• Utilising social media through ads and posts 
• Starting an email marketing campaign 

With Google Ads for example, you can bid on certain ‘keywords’ that your chose demographic are likely to serve e.g. ‘personal trainer for pregnancy’. Should this be successful, your business will appear first for that specific search term on Google.

The more money you bid for the ‘keyword’ the higher your ad will appear on Google. This can financially benefit your business in the long run as recent research found that 65% of consumers clicked on an ad during their search. 

Just think of the number of potential clients you will attract, simply by investing in your business’ online presence. 

Before You Go!

Now that you have a better understanding of the average personal training salary in the UK, nothing is stopping you from increasing your earning potential!

Remember, earning a Personal Training Diploma can help you earn a lucrative salary. Once qualified you can earn a fixed salary in a contracted position, or become self-employed and set your prices!