TheSquealer

There can be good trainers anywhere. But big chain gyms in the US are more focused on fucking you over than caring about anyone's goals or getting clients results. I'm talking about the big ones in the US Bally, 24hr fitness, LA Fitness etc. They all operate the same, they have sales goals that are very aggressive and no one can afford to actually care about the client, or even whether or not they can even afford the personal training package. That's why there is a contract. That's why its almost impossible to get out of a contract. The point is simply "be careful"... nothing more. It's a very dirty business built largely on fraud and shady business practices and that's why big chains are losing their asses right now and why things like boot camps and small personal training studios and small group studios are killing it.

They almost all force personal trainers to sell personal training. Always a big dissapointment for people who just want to work people out and later find that they have to be rockstar sales people as well or they can't have a job. Most personal trainers are severely disappointed with their career choice before they even really get started training people. But then again, since many personal training certifications are open book tests and just a few week course, most haven't lost anything either. The majority of those that stay, use the gym to poach clients to do their own thing, training people outside the gym.

I am sitting right now next to an LA Fitness. Their monthly overhead is $300,000.00. That means everyone who works in that building is fucked 100% until they hit that number. I think they usually only hit 65% of their goal right now. This means shitty salaries with no bonuses. They need 300-350 new members per month and need to sell $2200-$2500 in personal training everyday (this particular gyms goal). If you think for a second that ANYONE in that $10,000,000.00 building gives a shit who they screw or how they hit their sales goals, you're mistaken. If they don't hit their sales goals.. they all make no money. They are ruthless and they will scam their own grandmother if it means hitting their sales goals and closing a single deal. Their job depends on it. The General Manager of the gym is out all day, everyday sneaking into apartment buildings and putting flyers on doors because he has to. This is a 50 year old guy with a 150K salary, sneaking around like minimum wage grunt because he has no choice. I know every tactic. Every sales trick with fitness. I know exactly who these people are and where their head is at. I know how much pressure they have to hit their goals and I know how quickly people are demoted or fired for having a bad pay period where they didn't hit their goals. At the end of the day, they want your credit card at any cost and they are praying to god you don't show up to use what you paid for... after all, its pretty hard to fit 15,000 paying members in a building that has a 500 max occupancy. I have a gym as well and have tons of clients now who have personal training packages that they've never used. In some cases they've paid $4000-5000 and never used it.

Bally's is much worse than LA Fitness. 24hr has noticeably toned it down (i heard because of a class action lawsuit).

I've been to smaller chain gyms that were much better ran than the large ones where the trainers and staff were very courteous, helpful, friendly and experienced. All i was saying was "be careful" - large chain gyms are a nightmare and out to fuck people. Just because someone happened to not get fucked, doesn't mean that's not the case.

Again, the message was simply "be careful" - the horror stories are many. The success stories are few. Search online for reviews for any major gym and you can see at a glance what I am talking about. When you have 1000 bad reviews on a site and 250 of those are the employees themselves or ex employees slamming the company, there's clearly a problem with the business and how its run.