[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

http://www.anytimefitness.com/

There is one opening near me in Hermitage, PA. They say they are hiring personal trainers, but I wonder what the split will be.

Not a new concept, Turnkey 24 hour access. Which means no free weights and only machines. Which is fine, sorta. There are several "Mom & Pop" gyms that are like this already in New CAstle, PA. but they don't look 1/2 as nice.

If you have worked for them, still are working for them or know some more info on them I'd be glad to hear it.

All the best,

Dave

[Christina]

Hey Dave,

You could certainly go talk to them. Last year when I was in WV taking my little cousin around to look for a job she went into an Anytime Fitness and asked them if they were hiring for front desk. They said, "No, but we are looking for personal trainers. Do you know anything about the machines?" LOL!!!! Not exactly high standards for their personal trainers. On the flip side, Anytime Fitness is a franchise so different owners will have different standards. Best just to talk to them.

Christina

[Christina]

Hey Dave! Have you made a decision about this gym? Just wondering...



Christina

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

HI Christina & Everyone,

Okay I sat down with the owners of this fitness center on friday. It's going to be a great fitness center with a great location. However, they are still not finish building it out from the space alloted to them in the strip mall.

A few things concerned me during the interview:
1) The owners hadn't formed a specific policy about personal training other than the personal trainers would be subcontractors and not under the owners rule other than providing a monthly rental fee.
2) The owners hadn't figured out how much this monthly rental fee would be.
3) The owners would allow the trainers to charge whatever they wanted for training rather than having a set rate schedule.
4) The "Training Agreement" states that trainers would have to be available a certain number of hours for "Fitness Center Orientations" which would be conducted FOR FREE. (I.E. No pay for the trainers unless they can get the new members they are orientating to sign up for personal training).

The center is 20 miles away from my house which would cut my daily commuting costs by 60%! However, I told the owners that I will not be leaving my full time job until the number of clients and the money I"m making is at or above my current level.

I also told the owners that I'd like to meet with the other 2 trainers they plan on hiring so we can discuss marketing tactics and standardize the rates for training. The last thing I want is to be competiting with someone who is charging 1/2 of what I charge for training. LOL

ANyhoo, if anyone has had a similar experience or works in a similar situation I'd love to hear your story and get your input!

Thanks,

Dave

[Christina]

Hey Dave,

Sounds as if things went better than you expected, am I right?

The one thing that puzzles me is how can they expect you to be available for fitness center orientations for FREE. Is this even legal? I think something similar to this came up on the NSCA forum not too long ago. I am going to go back and see if I can find the post for you. Whatever the person's situation was on the NSCA forum, there were people on the forum telling them it was illegal for their employer not to pay them. (I could have it all confused but I will look it up just in case.)

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

hey Dave
I found your post intersting. Anytime fitness is a franchise if I understand it. normally when you buy a franchise, you get the master plan on how the franchise works -which usually includes pay rates etc. I found it interesting that the owners had not decided what to charge trainers etc yet. I like the idea of talking to the other trainers for marketing purposes. it will also let you scope them out and find their weaknesses etc which will help you.

I agree with Christina on the doing orientations for free. if your a subcontractor they cant force you to do them. There is an article in this months Fitness Management about a trainer who was hurt while working out at his place of employment. because he could prove that the club encouraged him to work out to get clients, when he was hurt, he was eligable for workers comp. I doubt very much if the owners of anytime fitness have given any thought to what would happen if you were injured while doing an orientation. Bring this up to them and I think they may change their tune.

How many of your current clients would you be able to train at this anytime fitness facility?

I would imagine that you would also have to have liability insurance also when working there. I go through IDEA.org for mine. its 272/ which includes the IDEA membership.

Ive heard about these 24 hr workout places and while I don't know much about them, I honestly have reservations. from a security standpoint what happens when someone tries to work out at 2am and finds themselves working out with a psycho?

Joe

[Christina]

Dave... Check out this post on the NSCA forum. You will have to log in.
http://www.nsca-lift.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2386&PN=8

[Christina]

Dave,

Did that thread on the NSCA forum pertain to you?

Christina

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

Christina, thats actually a pretty good idea about giving the local cops a free membership! many police stations Ive heard have out dated gyms so this might be a good opportunity for the club.
Joe

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

Hey Guys,

I've decided to bail on this opportunity for 2 reasons.

1) It doesn't solve my "Travel Less/Make More $$" problem

and

2) I'm not willing to agree to do the "Free Orientations", not so much because I don't believe I can convert them in to PT Clients, but because I cannot afford the extra travel on my car and constraints on my time. (When I could be growing my current PT Business).

As far as security goes. The owner assures me that there will be 6 video cameras recording everything that goes on in the center with no blind spots. (I'm guessing the tanning booths and the bathrooms may be the exceptions.)

Also, they said during non-staffed hours, members are required to wear a device around their neck that can summons emergency services if they get hurt or have a medical emergency.

Overall, I do like the concept of the Anytime Fitness model. They are going to have great equipment and if I lived close by I'd probably belong to the club. But as far as being a personal trainer there, I think the owners need to have a formal personal trainer policy, rather than just a "Trainer Agreement" that forces trainers to work for free. (Maybe pay the trainers $8 - $10 an hour during orientations, rather than nothing).

This franchise has grown almost as fast as Curves in the past year, so I'm expecting some more input from other trainers on this board who have worked for them or are still working for them.

All the best,

Dave

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

hey Dave
probably for the best. the security issue still sounds problematic for me. cameras wont stop a crime from occurring and those neck-worn devices are not foolproof. I just saw on tv where someone can even buy a cell phone jammer online which makes me wonder if the same can be true for those as well?
also what happens if you are working out all by yourself and get pinned under a barbell?
you can always readdress it later after any bugs are ironed out so don't lose any sleep over it.
Joe

[Christina]

Joe, you probably have one of these on your steering wheel, don't you?

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

yes but mine isn't as pretty
Hey I live near philly what do expect LOL
JC