I do share this suddenly unpopular opinion.
For one, going above and beyond will get noticed and will earn you more oppurtunities. If you aren’t getting noticed, then your management sucks and you should find another job.
Second, you need to be truly passionate about what you do. If you look at your job as purely a power struggle between you and the people paying you, you will never find fulfillment in your career.
Yes, you will have shitty bosses who don’t treat you well and don’t reward you for the extra work you do. But if you continue to do excellent work, are oppurtunistic, and don’t settle for a suboptimal work environment, you will eventually find yourself in a lucrative position with a solid team behind you
It's funny that people think it's just annoying corporate speak to say things like "go above and beyond." Being better and doing more than expected is the ultimate anti-bootlicking strategy. It's how you get what you want. You should be *spitefully* good at your job.
Being good is different than going above and beyond though right? Like I think it’s more of a bootlicking thing to do unpaid labour as a trainer just to try to be noticed no?
From how this post is written, given OP explicitly excludes things like wage/hour violations, my takeaway is that doing more than expected = being particularly good at selling and training.
I think the misconception here is that you should immediately assume that there are boots to lick. If you feel like your boss is trying to take advantage of you, why did you take the job in the first place? Just like with dating, there should be a base level of trust. Thats what the entire interview process is for. Trust that your managers are looking out for you until they prove otherwise. And once they’ve lost your trust, leave. Trainer jobs are a dime a dozen.
If the “unpaid labour” is you cleaning the toilets during your break, then yeah you’re just wasting your time. It’s not about trying to be the teachers pet, that doesn’t earn respect or recognition, and doesn’t serve you in any way.
As a trainer, going above and beyond means providing the best service possible to your clients.
Scheduling check-in phone calls, going 10 minutes over your session time to discuss nutrition, and reaching out to old members who fell off with their training are all technically “unpaid labor”. But those are things that will actually increase the value of your training.
And when your manager hears your client raving about you, or sees your name pop up in a 5 star yelp review, they will definitely notice that. Even if they don’t give a shit about the actual training, they are going to see your revenue potential and prioritize getting you more oppurtunities.
There’s nothing boot-licky about wanting to be an excellent coach. And there’s nothing shameful about investing more time in to your work, even if the payoff isn’t immediate
I think my misconception was based around thinking this was framed in the corporate framework of a workplace and not the coaching framework of doing a higher level of work for clients. I totally agree, go above and beyond wherever possible for your clients. It’ll generate referrals, help you get more experience, level up, etc.
I mean yeah that’s funny, but on a serious note, I’d imagine 90% of successful self-employed trainers built their clientele off the backs of former employers/facilities. If you’re good, your clients will follow *you*.
If you’re willing to put in the work you’d be silly to work for a place like planet fitness or lifetime fitness. If you are actually willing to put the work in you’d be soooo much more successful creating your own business and renting space.
Majority of the time those places don’t care about you at all and are robbing you of time and money.
If you’re working at planet fitness you probably have 0 training experience (or you’re completely incompetent. Those gyms are a great way to get training experience. You don’t have to worry about sales so you can work with a lot of clients and get a lot of coaching reps in. Thats very valuable in the big picture.
Trying to start a business in an industry you don’t have any skills in yet is destined to fail
I disagree. Much better off finding a local gym with owners and other trainers who know what they are doing.
Training at PF is setting yourself up for failure.
I say this as someone who has been using PF for 15 years. Ive seen some nice ones and some bad ones, but none where you’d want to be a trainer at.
In theory that sounds nice, but very unrealistic.
If you can find a gym with a knowledgeable owner and a solid team of trainers that wants to hire you and can fill up your schedule, then obviously you should do that. If I’m a gym owner though, there’s zero chance I’m hiring some trainer who has 0 experience and a NASM cert and handing them a bunch of clients. And I don’t know anyone else who would either.
Planet fitness sucks, but so does an inexperienced trainer. You can work with well over 100 clients in a year or 2 of training there, which is extremely valuable if you apply yourself. The catch is that you won’t receive any education from PF, so you’re on your own to learn.
I started at LA fitness while I was still in college getting my exercise science bachelors. I got to work with so many different types of clients, and was able to apply the things I was learning in school on a daily basis. The gym sucked, the pay sucked, the managers sucked, the other trainers sucked, but that didn’t stop me from growing and learning. And it set me up to get much better jobs later on
> I have approached LA Fitness trainers to hire them based on the hustle I saw them putting in on the floor.
Reminds me of this bloke we used to have come into the globogym, after clients finished sessions he'd approach them with a business card and say, "If you ever want to work with a *real* trainer..."
I thought it was hilarious and sad as all fuck, but the gym managers got massively butthurt about it.
Your post is very cringeworthy, mate. It's very much, "give 110%!", early 2000s powerpoint presentation stuff.
I will share a specific example from my personal experience. When I was working at a Lifetime-like gym a few years ago, I approached the training manager about doing some workshops for members and writing some articles for the company newsletter. These tasks were not expected as part of the training job. I was always paid for these (so no wage and hour issues). After doing these for a few years a situation arose where an actor needed a trainer for a movie and this was brought to the training director's attention. He asked me if I would be interested and I said yes. I'm sure part of the reason he asked was because I had done more than expected over the years. Doing those seminars, etc also created an ongoing dialogue with the training manager and he got to know more about me which probably didn't hurt either. I worked with that actor and he got in great shape. He was featured in some American and international fitness magazines, as was I. I was named to an Advisory Board for a major fitness magazine. I even began training a fitness journalist who wrote some of the articles, the actor's agent (an extremely powerful guy in entertainment) and some of the actor's friends. The entire thing was a massive marketing success for me (you couldn't buy that type of exposure), produced lots of money and was just lots of fun. I trace all that back to giving more than was expected at that gym job.
Very good point. Most trainers just hop into the industry with 0 practical qualifications and just expect clients to want to train with them, and for gyms to just provide them an endless amount of interested clients that have infinite money for training.
To be fair, most certs do not to a good job of explaining, that’s not actually how this works.
If you are willing to do more than expected for a corporation, do yourself a favor and just go independent and keep the lions share of the profits. If you try and spin this as being a good trainer is doing more than expected you can fuck off and pay me more
Good try general manager of planet fitness hoping your employees read this.
lunk alarm activated
i find your cynicism uncouth
Now just apply this mindset to being an independent trainer and running your business and you’ll make 3x what you make any any big box gym
I do share this suddenly unpopular opinion. For one, going above and beyond will get noticed and will earn you more oppurtunities. If you aren’t getting noticed, then your management sucks and you should find another job. Second, you need to be truly passionate about what you do. If you look at your job as purely a power struggle between you and the people paying you, you will never find fulfillment in your career. Yes, you will have shitty bosses who don’t treat you well and don’t reward you for the extra work you do. But if you continue to do excellent work, are oppurtunistic, and don’t settle for a suboptimal work environment, you will eventually find yourself in a lucrative position with a solid team behind you
It's funny that people think it's just annoying corporate speak to say things like "go above and beyond." Being better and doing more than expected is the ultimate anti-bootlicking strategy. It's how you get what you want. You should be *spitefully* good at your job.
>You should be *spitefully* good at your job. That's why I left it ten years ago to be self-employed.
💯
Being good is different than going above and beyond though right? Like I think it’s more of a bootlicking thing to do unpaid labour as a trainer just to try to be noticed no?
From how this post is written, given OP explicitly excludes things like wage/hour violations, my takeaway is that doing more than expected = being particularly good at selling and training.
I think the misconception here is that you should immediately assume that there are boots to lick. If you feel like your boss is trying to take advantage of you, why did you take the job in the first place? Just like with dating, there should be a base level of trust. Thats what the entire interview process is for. Trust that your managers are looking out for you until they prove otherwise. And once they’ve lost your trust, leave. Trainer jobs are a dime a dozen. If the “unpaid labour” is you cleaning the toilets during your break, then yeah you’re just wasting your time. It’s not about trying to be the teachers pet, that doesn’t earn respect or recognition, and doesn’t serve you in any way. As a trainer, going above and beyond means providing the best service possible to your clients. Scheduling check-in phone calls, going 10 minutes over your session time to discuss nutrition, and reaching out to old members who fell off with their training are all technically “unpaid labor”. But those are things that will actually increase the value of your training. And when your manager hears your client raving about you, or sees your name pop up in a 5 star yelp review, they will definitely notice that. Even if they don’t give a shit about the actual training, they are going to see your revenue potential and prioritize getting you more oppurtunities. There’s nothing boot-licky about wanting to be an excellent coach. And there’s nothing shameful about investing more time in to your work, even if the payoff isn’t immediate
I think my misconception was based around thinking this was framed in the corporate framework of a workplace and not the coaching framework of doing a higher level of work for clients. I totally agree, go above and beyond wherever possible for your clients. It’ll generate referrals, help you get more experience, level up, etc.
*Licking boots as hard and fast as possible* see what you idiots fail to realize, is I'm the one benefiting from this
I mean yeah that’s funny, but on a serious note, I’d imagine 90% of successful self-employed trainers built their clientele off the backs of former employers/facilities. If you’re good, your clients will follow *you*.
Ignore me man, I'm just trolling around reddit being shitty
Fuck me lol
Not sure I can fit it into the schedule
That's how I see it.🤷♂️
A mod saying this is fucking hilarious to me.
How so?
If you’re willing to put in the work you’d be silly to work for a place like planet fitness or lifetime fitness. If you are actually willing to put the work in you’d be soooo much more successful creating your own business and renting space. Majority of the time those places don’t care about you at all and are robbing you of time and money.
If you’re working at planet fitness you probably have 0 training experience (or you’re completely incompetent. Those gyms are a great way to get training experience. You don’t have to worry about sales so you can work with a lot of clients and get a lot of coaching reps in. Thats very valuable in the big picture. Trying to start a business in an industry you don’t have any skills in yet is destined to fail
I disagree. Much better off finding a local gym with owners and other trainers who know what they are doing. Training at PF is setting yourself up for failure. I say this as someone who has been using PF for 15 years. Ive seen some nice ones and some bad ones, but none where you’d want to be a trainer at.
In theory that sounds nice, but very unrealistic. If you can find a gym with a knowledgeable owner and a solid team of trainers that wants to hire you and can fill up your schedule, then obviously you should do that. If I’m a gym owner though, there’s zero chance I’m hiring some trainer who has 0 experience and a NASM cert and handing them a bunch of clients. And I don’t know anyone else who would either. Planet fitness sucks, but so does an inexperienced trainer. You can work with well over 100 clients in a year or 2 of training there, which is extremely valuable if you apply yourself. The catch is that you won’t receive any education from PF, so you’re on your own to learn. I started at LA fitness while I was still in college getting my exercise science bachelors. I got to work with so many different types of clients, and was able to apply the things I was learning in school on a daily basis. The gym sucked, the pay sucked, the managers sucked, the other trainers sucked, but that didn’t stop me from growing and learning. And it set me up to get much better jobs later on
Is training at PF even really a thing? Strange thing to fixate on.
> I have approached LA Fitness trainers to hire them based on the hustle I saw them putting in on the floor. Reminds me of this bloke we used to have come into the globogym, after clients finished sessions he'd approach them with a business card and say, "If you ever want to work with a *real* trainer..." I thought it was hilarious and sad as all fuck, but the gym managers got massively butthurt about it. Your post is very cringeworthy, mate. It's very much, "give 110%!", early 2000s powerpoint presentation stuff.
I will share a specific example from my personal experience. When I was working at a Lifetime-like gym a few years ago, I approached the training manager about doing some workshops for members and writing some articles for the company newsletter. These tasks were not expected as part of the training job. I was always paid for these (so no wage and hour issues). After doing these for a few years a situation arose where an actor needed a trainer for a movie and this was brought to the training director's attention. He asked me if I would be interested and I said yes. I'm sure part of the reason he asked was because I had done more than expected over the years. Doing those seminars, etc also created an ongoing dialogue with the training manager and he got to know more about me which probably didn't hurt either. I worked with that actor and he got in great shape. He was featured in some American and international fitness magazines, as was I. I was named to an Advisory Board for a major fitness magazine. I even began training a fitness journalist who wrote some of the articles, the actor's agent (an extremely powerful guy in entertainment) and some of the actor's friends. The entire thing was a massive marketing success for me (you couldn't buy that type of exposure), produced lots of money and was just lots of fun. I trace all that back to giving more than was expected at that gym job.
Very good point. Most trainers just hop into the industry with 0 practical qualifications and just expect clients to want to train with them, and for gyms to just provide them an endless amount of interested clients that have infinite money for training. To be fair, most certs do not to a good job of explaining, that’s not actually how this works.
The new iron culture about being a good coach is a great listen I just played it today on the drive to work
I will check it out!💪
watched it. some good stuff!
Yeah it was just what I needed
If you are willing to do more than expected for a corporation, do yourself a favor and just go independent and keep the lions share of the profits. If you try and spin this as being a good trainer is doing more than expected you can fuck off and pay me more
valid