4 steps to help personal trainers find the perfect work-life balance

Being a personal trainer can often feel like five or six jobs rolled into one.  

Training clients on the gym floor, marketing yourself on Instagram, looking after your finances. 

The list goes on, and on, and on.  

It’s far from easy aligning all these jobs – and when you do get to the bottom of your to-do list – you look at the clock and its 9pm.  

But it shouldn’t be like that. No job should mean you sacrifice your social life entirely.  

This raises the important question – how do you master your craft and grow your personal training business, while enjoying a healthy social life away from the gym?  

These 4 simple-to-follow strategies show you how… 

Make a weekly plan like this...

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to you (and you’ve probably heard it 100 times before) but if you want to give yourself the best chance of becoming a successful personal trainer, planning your week should be a top priority.  

So, what kind of things do you need to take into account when you’re planning your week to give you the right amount of ‘free’ time:  

• Personal training sessions 
• Designing training programs  
• Creating meal plans  
• Emailing clients 
• Marketing and content creation 
• Invoicing  

It probably seems like there’s a million things to do reading this list. To be clear, we’re not saying ticking off all of these jobs is easy if you have a plan in place. But it’ll almost certainly make your life easier and help you work around a schedule at the very least.  

We’d recommend sitting down for an hour, maybe Sunday evening, and running through all your priorities for the week ahead. Write everything down that you want to achieve and go from there. It’s at this point you can factor in your down time. Always give yourself time to do the things you love, whether that’s training yourself, watching your football team, or spending time with your children.

Learn from a mentor

Having a mentor could be the best investment you ever make. It’s invaluable having someone you trust to hold you accountable, and ideally someone who’s been in your shoes before, making sure you make all the right decisions as you grow your client base. Plenty of mentors exist, but it’s important you choose the right coach for you. So, don’t rush into the decision.  

If you’re new to the personal training industry, it might be difficult to afford. But there are plenty of other ways you can learn, grow, and better yourself without your own mentor. For example: podcasts or books. As always – do you research and make sure the advice you’re taking onboard is from a credible source. Nick Mitchell and Mark Coles are just two examples of trainers who have walked the walk, and now help other trainers like you build happy, successful, and rewarding careers.   

Build your own team

It might be unimaginable now, but you may reach a point where your calendar is jam-packed and you’re unable to take on any more clients. Then what do you do? How can you scale up your business? How will you have any free time? When this happens, plenty of personal trainers will settle for the position that they’re in. And that’s not always a bad thing. You might be earning good money through your personal training service, and you’re in a great position, both financially and mentally.  

But for personal trainers who want grow, while maintaining a thriving social life, hiring your own team is very often the first step. While it’s obviously a huge decision to make, building a team can help you focus your attention on areas of the business that need the most attention. Namely, your time on the gym floor training clients.  

So, what kind of roles could you hire for?  

• Personal assistant 
• Customer services 
• Accountant  
• Web developer 
• Personal trainer  
• Social media and marketing 

All of these positions can take some of the pressure away from you sparing you the stress, while freeing up some much needed ‘you’ time.  

Take time out

Make no mistake about it, all high-earning personal trainers work hard and should never reach a point where they think they ‘know it all’. There’s always more to learn, but that doesn’t mean you can’t kick your feet back and relax when the time is right. A lot of trainers will start working at 5am and not finish until 7pm. Yes, you might be taking home more money than you ever have before, but it’s this approach that can quickly see you burn out. So, how can you avoid this burn out, while securing a healthy income and balancing a good social life on top? These simple steps should help:  

• Take at least one day off a week. 
• Get your holidays booked in (and don’t feel guilty) 
• Go on a walk every day. Aim for 10,000 steps per day if possible.  
• Enjoy yourself on the gym floor. Remember, your job is a great privilege.