Personal Training Employment Models: Employed vs Self-Employed

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As a personal trainer, there are two main categories for how you’ll operate: employed or self-employed. We’ll cover the benefits and disadvantages of each below, and within these 2 categories, there are multiple sub-categories that we will cover.

Employed Personal Trainer

An employed PT role involves you working for a gym in an employed capacity and getting paid by the club to carry out certain duties.

This is similar to any other employed role you may have had in the past, you’ll be registered on the company PAYE system, they will pay you either a fixed monthly wage for a set number of hours, or an hourly wage for a variable number of hours.

For personal trainers there are a few sub-categories within this employment model that we’ll explain but they will predominantly involve you working a certain number of hours for a fixed wage, then delivering personal training services outside your contracted hours and being paid a certain amount for them.

What you are expected to do within your contracted hours 

This will range from club to club, you’ll have a range of duties that cover contributing to the smooth running of the business, fitness & member engagement duties, and lead generation for your own services.

Helping The Business

As the gym is paying you for these hours they may expect all of your time to be spent on these duties, this will vary depending on the gym. As a PT you should view all interactions as potential opportunities to engage with members and present yourself in a way that might lead to them enquiring about personal training.

These Duties May Include:

• Outreach
  • With the growth of digital marketing these activities are becoming less common within gyms, however there may still be an element of it. It may include marketing activities such as handing out leaflets or promotional events at local businesses.
• Cleaning
  • The majority of gyms employ cleaners to clean the facility, however they usually do not include cleaning the gym equipment. So as an employed PT you may be required to spend a few hours a week cleaning or tidying the equipment.
• Admin & Sales
  • Depending on the size and setup of the gym they may require you to help with office or sales duties. The bigger clubs will have sales and office based teams, however smaller independent gyms may ask their coaches to show prospective members round the facility, do some sales calls or admin tasks.

Fitness Duties

These duties will include some things you have learned while getting qualified, plus some new opportunities to get out of your comfort zone.

These Duties May Include:

• Inductions/Free Tasters
  • These are both a service for the gym, and should be viewed as your number one source of potential clients. Unless your gym insists new members have an induction, these will mostly consist of inexperienced or new gym users. These people may require a lot of hand holding, and will likely still be unsure of what they’re doing once the induction is finished. Therefore, they are ideal candidates for personal training, so if you do a great job of the free session/induction, then once they’re ready to pay for a PT you’ll be the first person they ask.
  • That being said, you are being paid by the gym to deliver these as a free service to members, so don’t treat them as a sales pitch. You should ensure the new member gets good value from it and walks away feeling like they received a great service from the gym. If you then want to arrange a consultation with them as a follow up, this conversation can take place once the induction is finished.
• Classes
  • These will vary depending on the type of gym you work at. For some clubs, classes or small group PT will form the majority of your employed work, for example at a Crossfit gym or independent gym specialising in group fitness.
  • At gym chains you may be required to teach some classes such as kettlebells or HITT but they will not be a large part of what you do. These gyms will likely employ outside instructors that specialise in certain types of classes such as Spin or Yoga, so if you want to pick up extra classes it may be worth considering additional CPD or courses in specific class types.
  • Regardless of the setup, classes are another great opportunity for you to get in front of the members and build rapport and relationships so that if they decide to do PT then you’re the person they go to.
• Member Engagement Activities
  • This may include workshops on topics such as squat technique, nutrition for fat loss or marathon running. If you have a specialism that is of value to the members then the club may be happy to pay you to offer workshops.
  • Social activities for members may be part of your hours, this could include things like a 5-a-side football tournament, an obstacle course race or a pub quiz.
  • Again, any opportunity to engage with members is an opportunity for you to build rapport and cement yourself as their go-to PT.
• Walking The Floor
  • This sounds basic, but as an employed PT a lot of your time may be spent just being visible to members in case they need help. You may notice someone performing an exercise wrong so you politely offer them help. Someone may need a spot, or you might just be a welcome distraction for someone wanting to have a chat between sets.

Lead Generation

We’ll get onto the financial set-ups for employed positions shortly, but to put it briefly, the more you earn from PT, the more the club earns. Therefore, they will likely want to help you generate leads and may allow you to spend some of your employed time on lead generation activities for yourself.

Employed Models

As an employed PT there are a few different set-ups you can expect to find. The contracted hours will likely be doing the above activities, then the way you are remunerated for your personal training can vary.

Wage + Rent (Hours in Lieu of Rent)

We’re putting this here because this used to be a self-employed set-up operated by the budget gym chains whereby you don’t receive a basic wage or pay rent, instead you work for 12-15 hours a week for the gym free of charge, which effectively cancels out your rent. The government forced these types of contract to change because they argued that the PT is effectively employed but getting none of the benefits of employment such as paid holiday, sick pay, pension contribution etc. 

The gyms thus changed their model to employ you for 12-15 hours per week, paid at a basic hourly wage. They offer employment benefits as part of this, then you pay a monthly rent that is roughly equal to the amount you earn in wages. Therefore as a PT you are better off than you would be under the old hours in lieu of rent set up because you receive employment benefits, but other than that, the deal works out pretty similarly in terms of financials.

You would be expected to carry out duties as above during the 12-15 hours. You are then able to retain 100% of your income from personal training which is the biggest selling point of this model. So if you charge £35 per hour then you keep all £35 of it. 

How Much You Could Earn:

• Wage: 12 hours per week at £12 per hour = £619 per month
• Monthly Rent: £600 per month
• Net Position After Wage & Rent: + £19
• PT: 20 Sessions Per Week at £35 Per Session: £3,031
• Yearly income would be around £36,400 per year before tax from 32 hours per week.

The main downside of this model is that you have no guaranteed income, you’ll have to generate your client base from scratch and will have no basic wage left over after the rent to support you.

The main benefit is that you keep 100% of your income, so if you’re happy with the financial risks of having no guaranteed income then this is a great option.

Clubs that typically offer this model are the budget gym chains such as The Gym Group and Puregym, among others.

Basic Wage + Revenue Share

This model is more like the traditional employment you would be used to. You’ll be employed for a certain number of hours and paid for those hours and receive all the relevant employment benefits to go with it.

Then for any personal training you do, you will receive a share of the revenue, not all of it. With these models, PT will likely be booked through the reception by the client and they will make payment directly to the club, then you’ll receive your share as part of your wage at the end of the month.

As mentioned above, with this model, the more PT you do, the more the club earns, so they are therefore highly motivated to help you build your PT business. You will likely receive bookings with clients you have never spoken to before, you’ll receive help with lead generation and client retention and you’ll generally be well supported by the club to build your business.

The revenue share you receive will vary significantly from club to club, with it being as low as £12 out of a £45 PT session and as high as 80% to you as the PT.

How Much You Could Earn:

• Wage: 30 hours per week at £12 per hour = £1,558 per month
• PT: 40% Share of 20 Sessions Per Week at £35 Per Session: £1,212 per month
• Yearly income would be around £33,240 before tax from 50 hours per week.

As you build your PT business the club may support you by reducing your employed hours, so that you can maintain a healthy work/life balance and over time, reduce the amount the club pays you. This will allow them to bring in new PTs to replace the hours you were working and for you to continue working there with an established client base.

The downside of this model is that your earning potential may be lower in the long run because you share your PT revenue with the club. But the upside is that you have the guaranteed income of the wage and the clubs help with lead generation and business support.

Clubs that tend to offer this type of model are the higher end health clubs such as David Lloyd, Nuffield Health and Virgin Active, among others.

Self-Employed Models

The above hours in lieu of rent model has been included in the employed section because with the government changes, it is effectively an employed role. However you may find some gyms that still operate on a basis of exchanging your time for rent, which effectively makes you self employed. Additionally, although the budget chains above employ their PTs on this model, any PT revenue you bring in is yours, so you’re self-employed in that sense and will need to file your own tax return and operate your own business alongside your paid hours.

>> Also read: 10+ Self-Employed Ideas for 2025

Rent

This is the most common self-employed model for personal trainers. You effectively pay a fixed monthly amount as “rent” to the gym and in exchange you can train your clients at the gym and keep all the income for yourself.

The amount of rent will vary based on the clientele of the club, the location and a number of other factors, but it is likely to range from around £250 – £600 per month outside London, then within London it can reach as high as around £1,200 per month and potentially more at some super exclusive clubs. A lot of clubs will offer an incentive on the first 1-3 months with maybe a rent free month or a gradual increase over 3 months until you reach full rent, to give you a chance to build your client base.

As a newly qualified PT we tend to discourage you from starting off on this model because you’ll have no guaranteed income and you will have the fixed cost of rent from day 1, regardless of how many clients you have. 

The rental model tends to work better for PTs with an established client base, you may build up your client base at a health club with a fixed wage and a % of your PT income. Then after a while, when you reach enough clients, you realise that the income you could be getting by keeping 100% of your PT income would be greater than what you receive as a wage even after the rent. As such, we recommend this type of career path for most PTs, get started somewhere that pays a wage so you’re secure at the start of your career, then as you grow your business, move into a self-employed position.

This model is popular for both parties for a few reasons. For gyms, they have none of the hassle of employing the PTs such as PAYE, calculating revenue share, motivating and supporting the PTs, etc. Instead, they leave the PT to run their own business, keep themselves to themselves and the gym knows exactly how much revenue they’ll receive from PT in the form of rent each month.

For the PT, this model is popular for similar reasons. You’re left to your own devices, which at the outset can be daunting as you’ll receive no training or support, but once you’re established, many PTs prefer to be left alone to run their own business. Additionally, you know exactly how much you’ll have to pay each month so you can safely project your finances. And once your client base exceeds around 20 sessions per week, you’ll likely be better off financially if you pay rent, this obviously varies depending on the amount of rent, the hourly rate, and the wage.

How Much Could You Earn:

• Monthly Rent: £600 per month
• PT: 20 Sessions Per Week at £35 Per Session: £3,031
• Monthly Income After Rent: £2,431
• Yearly income would be around £29,172 before tax from 20 hours work per week.

The main downside of this model is the lack of support. As above, this may be a positive for some PTs who want to be left to their own devices, but you’ll be expected to generate your own leads with no help from the club and you’ll receive no training. You’ll also have a fixed amount of rent to pay regardless of the number of clients you have or if you go on holiday. 

And lastly, the obvious thing is, you’ll receive no employment benefits. So if you go on holiday or you’re off sick, then you won’t receive any financial support, you’ll also be responsible for filing your own tax return and making the relevant contributions yourself.

Clubs that offer this setup include Gymbox in London, a lot of council owned leisure centres and independent gyms, and most franchise owned gyms such as Anytime Fitness or Snap Fitness.

Revenue Share

This model is much less common, however it is worth discussing. From an employment perspective you would be in the same position as the rent model above, however you would pay no rent, but would agree to paying a % of your PT income to the club.

This can get messy for both parties trying to keep track of it, hence why it is not very popular but there are some clubs that operate this way.

It is good for less experienced PTs and those without a client base because you’ll be better off financially up to the point of around 12 sessions per week depending on the % revenue share. However once you exceed this number, you’ll likely end up paying more to the club than if you paid a fixed rent.

It helps as well because you’re only paying a percentage of how much you earn, so if you have a slow month or you go away, then you pay less to the club, however the flip side is, if you have a really good month, then you’ll be paying significantly more.

The gyms tend not to like this due to the reason above that it is hard to keep track of. 

However it also means they have no control of or ability to predict how much they’ll receive each month from PT revenue.

How Much Could You Earn:

• Revenue Share: 80% (to you)
• PT: 20 Sessions Per Week at £35 Per Session: £3,031
• Monthly Income After Revenue Share: £2,424.80
• Yearly income would be around £29,097 before tax from 20 hours work per month.

We are not aware of any of the gym chains that offer this model but you may find a number of independent gyms and studios that work in this way.

Comparison Table

The below table shows your financial position for each of the above models based on 20 hours per week of PT, plus it takes into account the hours worked for the employed roles.

	Employed				Self-Employed
	Wage + rent		Wage + revenue share		Rent		Revenue share
Employed hours (week)	12		30		0		0
PT Hours	20		20		20		20
Total Hours	32		50		20		20
Hourly PT rate	£35		£35		£35		£35
Hourly wage rate	£12		£12		0		0
Costs
Rent	£600		0		£600		0
Revenue share % (to gym)	0		60%		0		20%
Revenue share £ (to gym)	0		£1818.60		0		£606.20
Income
PT income (monthly)	£3031		£3031		£3031		£3031
Wage income (monthly)	£623.52		£1558.80		0		0
Total income (monthly)	£3054.52		£2771.20		£2431		£2424.80
Total income (annual pre-tax)	£36654.24		£33254.40		£29172		£29097.60
Total hours worked (weekly)	32		50		20		20
Effective hourly rate (pre-tax)	£22		£12.79		£28.05		£27.98

As you can see, the wage + rent model that is adopted at the budget gyms would pay you the highest yearly amount, however when you calculate the hourly rate taking into account the hours worked for the club, the rental model is the narrow winner.

There are obviously lots of variables, for example if we increased the % the club takes on the self-employed revenue share model from 20% to 30%, the yearly income reduces to £25,460.40 and the hourly rate comes down to £24.48.

Similarly, if the employed wage + revenue share model paid £14 per hour instead of £12, and kept 50% instead of 60%, then the yearly income would increase to £40,009.20 and the hourly rate would go up to £15.39.

Feel free to do your own calculations to work out which option is best for you, but remember to take into account all the pros and cons discussed above.
We have an income calculator that will calculate your income before and after tax based on the number of sessions, classes and online coaching you plan to do.