what should I charge as a group fitness instructor
As a personal trainer, my rate goes by a sliding scale of $75/hour. My clientele is wealthy and highly educated. As a kinesiotherapist, gerokinesiologist, exercise physiologist, and personal trainer, I also hold various certifications and have a 20+ year background in classical ballet. I have a given rate with institutions hiring me, such as a fitness center and a retirement residence, but wonder what to charge a company with 450 tenants wishing to offer fitness classes as an additional service to its tenants.
All great answers, especially Joanne’s. Charge what you think is fair and what you determine that your time is worth. The greater the number of students, the lower the per student cost. I like Jabez’s suggestion of an intro class to show your prospective clients the value of your instruction.
Good luck.
One area where you might be able to charge top dollar for group exercise is in a ballet-based class. Classes like balletone and the like are well like and can be charged a higher rate for as they are a specialty.
If you’re going to try and teach a common form of group-exercise, be prepared to be paid the “going rate” for instructors of that format for your area.
My experience is the opposite of yours. I have 22 years in group-exercise and 4 in personal training. I’m highly experienced at group-ex so I’m on the top end of the pay scale at places where I teach it. But where I make the most money is small-group personal training (CrossCore and ViPR). It leverages my greatest skills (group), but in a more profitable setting. I’m an average-paid personal trainer, but I do very well in small group.
That’s why I suggested maybe leveraging off of your ballet skills. For generic classes, unless you’re so good that you’re bringing in clients (get commissions written into your contract!), group exercise is only worth so much to an employer / owner.
HI Didi. I offer a lot of small group and even large group classes/clinics/workshops to Country Clubs, private HOA’s, companies, and even medical facilities. In my opinion you calculate your charge working backwards. By this, I determine how much I want to make in total for the particular class/clinic, then calculate the amount per person based on the expected number of participants. There ARE other considerations that you (I) could take into account such as what competitors (not in terms of your experience in the field, but in terms of similar types of classes) are charging. If you are offering a ‘special class’ that others cannot/do not offer based on your special knowledge then you can/should charge more. For example I have specialty skills and knowledge in certain injury prevention for athletes and so will charge more for this specialty clinic. Another consideration may (could be) who the ultimate payor is (is it the organization or the individual). These are just some of the factors you may wish to consider in arriving at your ultimate charge.
Good luck!
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecffitness.com
[email protected]
