Our top 5 predictions for Personal Training in 2022

1 Sep 2022

1) The demand for trainers will keep on growing

The general population are now more health conscious than ever before. 3/4 of us put our wellness as our number 1 priority and, in 2022, 50% of people put exercise in their top 5 activities alongside eating, holidays, shopping and watching TV (1)! The future is clearly all about managing our mental wellness and our stress in an ever-demanding world. The concept of people being scared to go to a large, public gym; ‘gym-timidation’ is a concept that has been around for decades. Having a dedicated personal trainer to ensure you are doing the right exercises, monitoring your intensity and progression has huge appeal over making appointments with yourself to go to the gym.

2) Hourly rates for PT will keep increasing

Economic times are clearly tough but from a personal trainer’s perspective you are only selling your time. No materials to buy or ship, energy costs are minimal if travelling locally and you probably don’t have staffing worries. Ensuring you have the right profile of client who values what you offer and are in a position to navigate these key economic issues is vital to having a sustainable and growing business. We hear of people cancelling their gym membership but not cancelling their personal trainer to the same extent. Relationships are stronger than memberships after all!

3) More people will become PTs this decade

A recent IBS PT Industry report suggests there could be close to 50,000 personal trainers in the UK in 2022. The average age is now approaching 40 years old and just 35% are female trainers, in an industry where we typically note that 65% of clients are female too. In the next decade the PT industry is estimated to grow by up to 60,000 PTs for a range of reasons other than to work in gyms (2). Personal trainers tend to be a happy sector and if fitness is your true vocation, it often won’t feel like a regular job and retention rates are high. There are opportunities to set up your own gym, work in the growing boutique studio market or within the NHS physical fitness remit.

4) Technology will make the business of being a PT easier

Word of mouth referrals are thought to be as much as 75% of how personal trainers get their work. Clearly we need to keep using social media, writing blogs and offering workshops to attract potential clients and not just rely on people chatting about us! But the job of scheduling marketing, managing sales, invoices and planning your sessions has allowed us to move away from pen and paper and be in control and more organised. Although nearly 3/4 of personal trainers feel they have an adequate work/life balance (3), sadly after 12 months of qualifying, close to 25% of PTs haven’t used their qualification at all (4). For our courses we’re a big believer in starting with the business of being a personal trainer and working backwards developing the fundamental knowledge and exercise planning; to apply these to real life clients.

5) There will be no alternative to exercise in the Meta-verse

We are very confident with this final one! Even though online training is expanding globally and proved popular during lockdowns, it was the only option for a time. We hear that although it’s time effective and can be cheaper, the majority of people prefer doing their physical exercise in a dedicated facility with people. We will always have to do the actual work of exercising – you can’t get an Avatar to do your squats for you whilst you watch…..not any time soon anyway!!

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