It’s finally happening, gyms are slowly opening back up. It’s been well over a year, lots of uncertainties and frustrations, but people are seeing some light. Both Gym owners and goers are hopeful. Owners can open and operate their businesses without worrying about legal repercussions. Fitness enthusiasts can get back to their favourite spots as more of the population is vaccinated. And personal trainers and coaches can get back to training clients.
However, something has been on my mind since the first lockdown went into effect. And I really began to think more about it when my previous employer, The Cambridge Group of Clubs, filed for bankruptcy protection and terminated many positions. I began thinking, what’s this going to look like for trainers and coaches when gyms and clubs open up again?
Personal Trainers and Coaches: Pre-Pandemic
When I worked at the Toronto Athletic Club (TAC), which is part of the Cambridge Group of Clubs, I had some great relationships with both coworkers and clients. Most of the trainers did. Our clients loved working with us. We provided a great service in terms health and fitness. The trainers also provided an awesome respite from the long days and stress of work, that many of our clients dealt with.
Club and gym owners ,to a large extent, depend on the quality of the relationships between trainers and clients. I remember the general manager of the TAC telling me once “The more time a person spends in a place, the longer they are likely to stay”. And that totally makes sense. Developing positive, quality relationships with our clients works to everyone’s benefit.
But the trainers didn’t put in the work to develop good relationships with clients for financial reasons only. We genuinely enjoy our time with our clients. Most of us anyway, sure there are exceptions but I don’t care about those. We love helping people, teaching them how to move, how to get strong. And the clients love it as well because they not only get value for their money, but they genuinely care about spending time with their trainer.
That said, many of us where hit hard, financially, emotionally, and physically, when everything shut down. The club scrambled to find a way to keep operating, generating some kind of revenue, while trying to figure out next steps.
Intra-Pandemic: Part 1
I remember management suggesting that trainers start offering virtual training sessions and trying to get clients and members on board. It was difficult for many of us to say the least. Trying to convince people of the benefits, when we ourselves were still trying to navigate around it. Understanding the platforms, accommodating each client and their space and resources at home, freaking out about generating income, paying rent and other bills.
I also remember suggesting to management that they just let trainers keep 100% of whatever we made from virtual training. Needless to say they didn’t like that at all. And I knew they wouldn’t. I MEANT for it to be an extreme starting point to negotiating. But management came back with the following: Charge your regular rate, feel free to give a set discount, and the split between club and employee stays the same.
Specifically, one of the GMs told me “if you’re training anyone you got through the TAC then it’s only fair the TAC gets a cut.” Which is 100% understandable! All the trainers agreed that the club SHOULD get a cut. But why did it have to be the same cut if both trainers and members/clients weren’t using the facilities? Trainers are using their own resources at home, from electricity, internet, computers, phones etc. clients using their own homes/equipments. But the club wants the same cut…?
Jackassery.
Many clients immediately refused, because they just couldn’t not see the same value for the price. And management shot down and refused any further negotiations from the trainers. Furthermore, the owners, management, and HR, threatened any trainers who did not comply, with dismissal, lay off, and termination.
And even though some of us tried hard to sell clients and members on virtual training, not many were interested. The club took that as us not trying hard enough, and decided to go through with lay offs and terminations. The trainers who stayed on board were doing a fraction of the hours they did pre-pandemic.
Intra-Pandemic: Part 2
So what did the trainers do? Well, the only thing that we could do. We went off on our own. We started prospecting, online, referrals, past clients etc. And as time went on, some clients and former members realized they needed guidance and began to reach out to trainers.
The trainers adapted. We juggled around family responsibilities and learned new platforms, and began building our own client base. We quickly quashed any and all B.S. about not wanting to work, and just wanting handouts.
As a side note, it is a specially kind of sleaze, when any company, with an HR department, payroll, advertising etc. helping it exist and grow, accuses employees who essentially operate as their own business, that they don’t want to work. We want to work. We just don’t want to work for your bogus demands.
Back to my point. Trainers quickly learned that it was more profitable, and less stressful, to work for themselves during this time. If anything, we learned and felt how much the club needed us more than we needed it. I’ll come back to this point later.
Granted, any trainer who was employed throughout all of this, was receiving governmental assistance in the form of CEWS, that the club was responsible for paying. And while that may help in the short term, no one could say for sure what was going to happen. The Canadian government had put a cap on how much money it will put into CEWS.
Management explained that the club was in survival mode, and was “fighting for its life”. As if all the employees weren’t fighting for our own lives and survival. While the club was worried about closing its doors and going out of business, trainers had our own worries. Namely, that were going to get kicked out of our doors.
Post Pandemic:
No one really knows what things are going to look like for trainers as gyms begin to open up and hire them again. But we can speculate.
There will be limits on member capacity in a given space at a given time. As such there will naturally be a limit on how much profit both the club and the trainers will make. This means that trainers may be required to sign new contracts with different pay structures. Trainers might have to work different hours in order to make it more fair and equitable for other trainers to prospect and train clients.
So the trainer that used to do 35 sessions/week may have to cut down on in person training, to allow other trainers a fair shot. Who knows? Clubs and gyms may require a minimum number of hours from some trainers. All this to say is that the fallout, the recovery, is going to be ANYTHING but easy for the trainers, never mind the club.
I spoke to friends and former coworkers who were now as well off financially on their own, as pre-pandemic. They are working less hours, but also providing a much higher quality of service to their clients. And I for one, am all for that, and I know many clients and former members of the club also felt right about supporting their trainers.
There will still be hesitation on the part of many people who don’t feel ready to come into the gym. As places of employment try and figure out whether or not to mandate PPE, require employees to be vaccinated etc. We may see this hesitation linger for a while.
One thing I am absolutely certain about though: Virtual Training is here to stay. And trainers that can’t cover all their hours training in person can make up for them in virtual sessions.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I made a point earlier that I want to come back to. Namely, that clubs and gyms need trainers more than trainers need them. What I hope more than anything is that trainers and coaches have realized this. Social media has played a central role in allowing health and fitness specialists to advertise our business, talents, and operations to an unprecedented degree.
The relationships that we develop with our clients are our own. The club or gym may be the place where we met, but cultivating that quality and positive aspect of every single relationship with our client is all us. We put in the time and effort, reached out, asked about their days, their families and friends. Trainers are the ones who listened to them telling us about their parents passing. We listened to them when they had rough days at work. When they told us about their struggles, injuries, highs and lows.
All the intellectual and emotional labour that trainers and coaches put into building a positive relationship with our clients, is our own. It doesn’t belong to the club, gym, box whatever. And they should not be profiting off it.
So my message to the trainers is this: we now hold all the bargaining chips. clubs and gyms need us more than we need them. I hope that your efforts and hard work this past year and a half has allowed you to realize the potential and passion that you have. It is that potential and passion that these clubs and gyms want to exploit. So why be profitable for them, when you can be much more profitable for yourself?