How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Personal Trainer?

The benefits of exercise are well known. It helps you manage health conditions, decrease your stress, and improve your heart health. But keeping up an effective and satisfying fitness routine can be hard.

If you’ve hit a plateau in your current workout program — or if you’re feeling overwhelmed about getting back into the gym at all — a personal trainer may help you get more traction in moving toward your fitness goals.

What does a personal trainer do?

A personal trainer is a fitness expert employed by private clients or by a gym to work directly with members. Trainers may:

• Work with clients to set fitness goals

• Design personalized workout plans

• Educate people about fitness techniques

• Help clients avoid injury during exercise

A personal trainer will meet with you before getting you started on your fitness plan. (Some gyms offer a free introductory session.) In these meetings, you and the trainer can discuss goals and expectations, review your health and fitness history, and check out your current fitness level.

A personal trainer can collaborate on every aspect of your fitness plan, from workout frequency and pace to specific exercises. They help you define your goals and meet them by setting up a personalized workout plan.

A personal trainer also helps you understand gym equipment. They will show you how to use proper form so you can avoid injury.

Personal trainers are prepared to deal with different levels of fitness. They can advise beginners who need direction as well as experienced athletes who want to push themselves and avoid boredom.

Trainers work with people of all ages. According to the most recent data from the Global Health and Fitness Association, about 8.3 million health club members in the U.S. engage in personal training. More than 3 million (39.6%) of them are millennials. About 10% of people over age 55 work with trainers.

How much does a personal trainer cost?

The Personal Trainer Development Center states a typical hourly rate of $60 to $70, while Lessons.com puts the national average at $55 per hour. Costs can range widely, though. Find Your Trainer reports that, across the country, personal trainers charge $29 to $166 per session.  

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What factors affect personal trainer pricing?

The hourly rate of a personal trainer can depend on:

• Location: In expensive metro areas, training sessions will probably be pricier.

• Experience: Expect to pay more for a trainer with many years of expertise.

• Accreditations: Trainers who are certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), or the American Council on Exercise (ACE) are likely to charge more.

• Setting: If you’re working with the trainer at a gym, you’ll probably have to be a paying member. If the workout takes place at your house, outdoors, or virtually, you won’t have that expense.

• Length of session: Sessions typically run 30, 60, or 90 minutes.

You can sometimes get a discounted rate by paying for several sessions upfront.

Online personal training with fitness apps can be more affordable. It’s useful for socially distanced workouts, too, which led the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal to rank online training the top worldwide fitness trend of 2021.

Many of these programs are built around apps that track your exertion level. Most also use streaming video, video calls, and chat messaging for ongoing contact with your trainer. Plans can range from $50 to $150 a month — roughly the same amount you might pay for 1 or 2 individual sessions with an in-person trainer.

However, your online trainer may be less able to identify injuries and improper form, because they aren’t monitoring you as you work out. Also, sticking with the program may be tough for people who get easily frustrated or flustered by tech interfaces.

Will my insurance pay for personal training?

Medicare and Medicaid will not cover personal training fees, and neither will most private health insurance. However, if your plan includes an FSA, HSA, or HRA, you may be able to use funds from one of those accounts for personal training.

For you to get reimbursed for your costs, your physician must prescribe exercise for a health condition you have. The doctor must also write a letter of medical necessity to the benefits administrator for your account.

How much is a personal trainer for group training?

ACE suggests that its trainers charge $12 to $25 per person for each session.

For clients, this makes sharing a personal trainer with a small group an easy way to cut costs. Small-group training has also been shown to help participants stay motivated and get better results.

Where can you find a personal trainer?

Belonging to a gym makes it easy for you to find a personal trainer on staff. Some gyms offer one or more free personal training sessions. For example, Planet Fitness offers free unlimited small-group training sessions.

There are also online resources that will match you with potential trainers:

• U.S. Registry of Exercise Professionals (USREPS) is a one-stop directory of trainers with certifications from ACE, ACSM, NSCA, and the National Council on Strength & Fitness. (You can also use this site to confirm the credentials of a trainer you’re considering.)

• ACE has a tool for matching you with its credentialed professionals in your area. You can sort by distance or number of years certified.

• ACSM ProFinder is another tool for locating certified personal trainers. This one lists people who have been accredited by ACSM.

• Find Your Trainer matches pro trainers with interested customers in more than 50 cities around the country. The company promises that all its trainers have been certified by an accredited fitness organization, have passed background checks, and carry insurance.

Some subscription-based fitness apps, such as Trainiac and Future, have a stable of trainers available to you. You meet them and choose one. Then, the trainer designs a personalized program for you and contacts you daily or weekly to discuss your progress.

Word of mouth is always an option. Ask around among the friends, coworkers, and neighbors you trust to see if they have a trainer they would recommend.

How do you choose a personal trainer?

This decision should center on your goals, needs, and limitations.

Here are some considerations that can help you figure out if a particular trainer will be a good fit for you:

• Look for credentials. Certifications from ACE and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) are both widely respected. Both programs are rigorous and require trainers to go through a guided learning program and online test. The American Council on Exercise website can direct you to an ACE-certified personal or group trainer near you.

• Find out if they know how to accommodate any injuries or health conditions you have. As you interview possible trainers, tell them about any past or current injuries you have and ask if they’re familiar with those conditions.

• Ask for references. Get firsthand accounts or reviews from current and former clients.

If you’re concerned about the cost of one-on-one personal training, consider sharing the expense by working out with a few friends or in a small-group training program. You’ll get better results than if you compromise on a low-cost trainer you don’t feel comfortable with.

Is a personal trainer worth it?

It depends. Not all personal trainers are created equal. But studies have shown that working with a personal trainer you respect can help you with accountability, motivation, and progress toward your fitness goals.

One study found that personal training can be effective for increasing physical activity and changing exercise-related behaviors. Over the 10-week period, 60% of participants moved up at least one level of motivational readiness by working with a personal trainer. Another study found that direct supervision during resistance training builds strength more effectively than unsupervised training.

Working with a personal trainer, or using a routine designed by one, can also help you avoid injury, which is important for long-term health goals.

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Written by:

Laura Bolt

Laura Bolt is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. Until 2015, she was a staff editor at Details magazine, where she worked on the culture, health, and features sections.

Edited by:

Caren Weiner, MSIS

Caren Weiner, MSIS, began her personal finance journalism career in 1986. She worked as a reporter for Money magazine and co-wrote its book-length “Guide to the 1986 Tax Reform Act.” From the beginning, she immersed herself in data on mutual fund total returns and marginal tax rates.

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