I've already talked about why you might want to use a personal trainer (click here). This is going to be about how you're getting a Personal Trainer for a lot less than you think or, to flip the coin, how much more you're getting for the cost.
Let's take for example, the Iron Package offered by Armoured Muscle. That will set you back approximately £228 (at time of writing) for 6 weeks worth of Personal Training. Included is 6 face-to-face sessions, unlimited PT advice and guidance, nutrition coaching, full programme planning including for the sessions that you're not with the PT and exclusive access to the Ludus Training Area containing a library of resources at your finger tips from meal ideas, exercise video reminders, a jargon busting glossary and a few deals and extras Armoured Muscle has managed to arrange just for you.
Yes, the above package works out at £38 per hour of face contact not £9.50. We need to break this down a little.
The going rate in the areas that Armoured Muscle works is £40/hr. On that base figure, a 6 weeks training package for just the face-to-face element is £240 alone. For reasons, this is how the industry sets the prices based on the face contact time. For the proof of commitment that you are going to show by purchasing a 6 week package there is a 5% discount applied. This is a reward for you and a way of a thank you from the PT for a little peace of mind that they have an income for 6 weeks. Thus we have the £38/hr.
You get a whole lot more than 6 hours in-front of a fully qualified professional. Before the package even starts you will need a consultation to fully discuss what your goals and aspirations are. To help mould the workout into what is suited for you and what will get you best results. The PT needs to know some more about you and the way you work plus there's the legal and safety bits to cover too. The consult usually takes about an hour on average. That puts us at 7 hours total, so far, for the package price bringing us down a touch to £32.57/hr.
Great, we've covered the in person elements but there's so much more to the package. For starters there's the custom programme build. Now if this were a 'cookie cutter' plan loosely selected for you it would take around 5 - 10 mins to build and change the name. With Armoured Muscle the programme is built for you from scratch, attuned to your goals and fitness level to get you on a realistic and healthy journey using exercises and workout formats that fit you best. All vitally learned from the consult, making the consultation probably the most important aspect of the entire package. To draft out a full 6 weeks customised plan, enter in the selected exercises, set, reps, comments, warm up, cool downs, progressions, regressions and tips takes about 4 hours. Plug in the numbers and that takes us to £20.72/hr.
During the course of the 6 weeks there will be a few check-ins AKA catch ups. These are simply a few text messages or phone calls asking how you're doing, getting feedback on what is going right and what is going wrong in order to make any necessary adjustments as well as give you that motivation and reminders that the PT is there if you need them. Over the course of the Iron package these times can vary depending on your response but could easily hit 2 hours with regular communication. Math = £17.54/hr
Everybody is individual and a PT doesn't know everything. Like Doctors know a lot but have to specialise in certain fields, some research is needed to help learn about your needs and how they can align to your goals. Lets take for example a previous knee surgery. Some time will be spent looking at how the procedure took place, what it's for and what limitations needed to be taken into account for your exercises. This research task isn't taken lightly and is performed thoroughly. A knee surgery is only one example, it could be a previous injury, dietary requirement or just personal preference to avoid a particular style of fitness. We are talking circa 3 hours totting up to 16 hours total so far. This makes the hourly rate now around £14.
The research and check-ins will likely incur some programme edits. Perhaps you're progressing a little faster than expected so the programme needs intensifying. This higher level won't need building from scratch but can have a domino effect on later exercises which will also need altering. In a month and a half a few edits can be expected and can take around an hour in total. You're now at £13.41/hr.
Alongside research there is an ongoing endeavour to learn and develop more. Be it for qualifications, interpersonal skills, development or business fluency, all of which help deliver the best and most up to date content to you in the best way we know how. Alongside adherence to a code of conduct to help standardise and protect clients from rouge PT's, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement of professional registration to prove that we are staying current and up to date. The time invested here is completely personal and dependant on the PT's availability. As a representative of Armoured Muscle, I personally put in AT LEAST 1 hour a week, preferably more. So far you're getting all this behind the scenes and, front and centre stage knowledge for £9.91/hr.
None of this content, gets to you magically and requires some necessary administration. Emails, filing, converting programmes into readable downloads etc. Say an hour for this and we have our £9.50.
Like with any trade you get a lot more for your money than what you see upfront. A great example is a builder (not cowboys). They seem like a lot but when you take into account their training, tooling, start time, waste disposal and get the job done without you having to take time off work or lift a finger the price seems more reasonable. Granted, 6 weeks of personal training. requires effort on your part but that effort is made as easily available and efficient as possible for you.
It's not over yet. Here is a summary of the time dedicated to you.
6 hours face-to-face PT
1 hr consult
4 hr programme build
2 hrs checkin/catchups
3 hrs research
1 hr programme edits
6 hrs personal development
1 hr admin
Total = 24 hours
This doesn't take into account any additional questions that pop up from a client or the time taken to build the Ludus Training Area videos, recipes, glossary, assessment guides, workout plans and social media management. At the time of writing minimum wage in the UK is £8.91 as of April 21 for over 23's. You're only paying 60 pence more than the minimal wage defined by law for a fellow human beings services. Would you work for any less to support your family and lifestyle?
As a professional delivering quality content the PT also has the following overheads; website fees, domain fee, insurance, qualifications, professional registration, transaction fees, CPD course costs, software costs, hardware costs, unpaid content generation, advertising fees, travel costs (insurance, tax, MOT, servicing, fuel), gym floor rent, referral discounts, merchandise and uniform costs.
Thus £228 might sound like a large amount but actually works out at incredible value to get the best knowledge, advice and results to you in a manner befitting an ever developing quality professional! To think of this another way, take the base rate advertised and apply it the 24 hours of time dedicated to you and that should be just shy of £1000!
If you're still not convinced and would like to learn more about what personal training can do for you it might be worth visiting the Armoured Muscle "About" tab on the website www.armouredmuscle.com.
Now try and find a PT that charges £25/hr that offers you the same quality and content as we've just been through. Do you really think they are doing all that for just a bit more than half the base rate cost?