I wanna be fit!

May 8, 2008 6:55 PM

How much does a personal trainer from Bally Total Fitness cost?

I have a membership to Bally's and I want to hire a personal trainer for once or twice a week. Has anyone here had experience with a gym personal trainer and know the cost?

posted by AsRuinsAreToRome to health (10 comments total)

I would imagine it depends on the market you're in. I was paying $75/hour for my Bally's trainer in Cambridge, MA, back in the day (2005). They also have different tiers of trainers and different methods of training - alone, in small groups, etc. - so you may just want to ask what they're currently offering or see if they have any deals. (Look online first, as many gyms have Web specials that you don't get as a walk-in.)
posted by mykescipark at 7:51 PM on May 8

If you have a membership, why don't you call them?
posted by schroedinger at 7:53 PM on May 8 [5 favorites]

Where I live, most trainers are independent contractors, so you have to ask them individually. The range is huge -- like $35-85/hour depending on the person.
posted by desuetude at 8:08 PM on May 8

I used one of their trainers when I first joined. My recollection matches mykescipark - about $60 - $75 in 2005 (this was in Long Beach, CA). I was just getting my tax return, and so the cost didn't bother me much, and I signed up for a package and got a bit of a discount (8 or 10 sessions). It worked out well, because it got me on a schedule of getting in to the gym and got me comfortable with all the equipment.
Since you're already a member, keep an eye out for the trainers and see if there's one you'd be interested working with - you can watch them interact with their current clients. Make sure you think they'd work ok with someone like you (whatever that is, in your case).
posted by Horselover Fat at 8:30 PM on May 8

At the Bally's I used to go to, the personal trainers charged anything from $40-80 an hour. The actual cost-per-hour was difficult to figure out, because they tried very hard (and made it significantly cheaper) to get you to buy time in large blocks, like 3 or 6 months worth at a time.

I worked with a guy for a while and he mentioned in passing that they don't get a whole lot as take-home pay; Bally's absorbs most of the rate in profit+overhead. They make more than the regular staff but it's nothing close to what you get charged. (So it's like every other consulting gig in the world...)

Although they are for obvious reasons strongly discouraged, I've heard from friends that some of the trainers ran sidelines if you didn't want to work out at Bally's. E.g., if you wanted outdoor or track workouts, they'd meet you somewhere after hours and you'd just pay them directly, under the table. I suspect this would probably get them fired if discovered, but if they're willing it cuts Bally's (the Microsoft of fitness clubs, as far as I'm concerned, and just as detestable) out as a middleman and saves you a lot of money, while netting them more.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:56 PM on May 8

Why in the world would you ask people on the internet this, instead of just calling Bally's? We don't even know where you are, and I guarantee what they're charging in NYC (if they have Bally's here) isn't what they're charging in Boulder, CO.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 9:35 PM on May 8 [5 favorites]

Follow up question: Does anyone have any experiences with non-Bally's certified personal trainers in the Los Angeles area?
posted by AsRuinsAreToRome at 9:42 AM on May 9

in santa monica : www.petranekfitness.com

This basically a cross between a personal trainer and a regular gym, there are set classes for 1 hour each with 6-8 people in them. Cost is about $20 a class. You will get fit.
posted by outsider at 2:06 PM on May 9

I'm in NYC at Bally's and I got a package of 24 sessions for about $1400 which works out to like $71/session. BTW, totally worth it....even though I was deeply opposed to it before I started the sessions. Email me if you have any questions.
posted by kenzi23 at 10:21 AM on May 10

thanks everyone!

For those of you who asked why i didn't just go in, is because i wanted to see if i should go in or not.

Anyway, I get a personal trainer. 2x a week for 4 months, $1908, which comes out to $53 a session. Not too bad.
posted by AsRuinsAreToRome at 6:21 PM on May 12