A Typical Day in the Life of an Equinox T3+ Trainer

I was asked by my recruiting team to chart out a typical day in my life so new trainers or those considering a career in personal training can get a glimpse of what to expect. I've been a full time personal trainer for Equinox Pine Street, leaving the shackles of corporate desk life, for almost five years. It took hard work, long hours, education, trial and error and support from Equinox, my mentors and my family. But I can honestly say this is my calling. I've been lucky over the years to expand my work to also include group fitness, massage therapy, corporate wellness, blogging and mentoring. While I recommend new trainers focus 100% on personal training for the first few years, I do encourage them to think about additional ways to expand their work to provide value and expertise to their clients and to keep themselves engaged.

I should note, this a real, typical day in "this" Equinox Tier 3+ Trainer's life. I don't speak for Equinox or other trainers. Just me. And yes, I change my clothes A LOT during the course of a day depending on what I'm doing. Ok, here we go.  

3:30a-3:45a - wake up, feed three screaming cats and flip on the coffee maker.

3:45a-4:15a - respond to client emails, texts and scan the news/social media for relevant headlines related to nutrition, fitness and mental health topics. Invariably clients will ask me about them today and you have to be well read on the latest studies and articles so you can help them navigate the storm of info out there. Scan client programs for the day ahead.

4:15a-4:30a - Shower, dress (in layers, it’s SF afterall and I need clothes for teaching, training clients, working out myself, presenting and massaging today).

4:30a-5:00a - Grab my food for the day (prepped the night before) and my ever growing duffle bag of fitness tools, books and other odds and ends and walk to work while making a Spotify playlist on the way for my 6a class.

5:15a-5:45a - Fasted cardio on the Woodway. I’ve got to reserve this time for cardio for sanity, heart health and to stay lean. It makes me feel good to know I’m taking care of myself before I start taking care of others.

5:45a-6:00a - Prep the main studio for my 6a Body Challenge group fitness class. Talk to new students about their injuries, help folks get set up, get everyone pumped up!

6:00a-6:45a - Teach 20-30 people with different fitness levels and goals making sure everyone gets a solid, appropriate workout without getting hurt. Oh yeah, and that they have fun too!

6:45a-7:00a - Take world’s fastest “trainer shower” (i.e. quick rinse with a eucalyptus towel) and change into my train shirt. Grab iPad and meet first client for the day as he finishes up his mobility/warm up homework.

7:00a -11:00a - Train four clients with a quick 2-3m break in between each to take care of “business” (i.e. dash downstairs to the men’s rooms while dodging 30 members on their iphones and snatching a quick snack in the trainer lounge before getting back on the floor at the top of each hour. Scan iPad for client emails or texts. Do. Not. Be. Late. It’s disrespectful to your clients. This job requires time management skills to say the least.

11:00a-12:30p - WORKOUT TIME! I workout three days/week with my own personal trainer and colleague and three days/week on my own with a rest day on Sunday. In my experience, trainers who sacrifice their own workouts for taking on more clients often make more money in the short term but burnout quickly and end up behind desks.

12:30p-12:45p - Heat up lunch I brought, reply to client texts/emails and work on my blog or latest social media post. Creating content and sharing it with my clients and online communities has been a staple in my career. It’s not only satisfying and helps me remain up on the latest topics, but it makes me better at explaining complex information to my clients and makes me stand out. They see me as an expert in all things related to wellness and that they get so much more from me than just the few hours/week we are together training. It also keeps my new client pipeline rich; I nearly always have a waitlist of clients wanting to work with me as a result of my writing.

12:45p-2:15p - Go with my corporate accounts executive to a lunch and learn seminar to present on the 12 Pillars of Nutrition. Hang out and answer questions and invariably get a few new leads that will become training clients. Trainers who like presenting and educating do well at Equinox and it’s a great way to make extra money AND generate new business. I love it.

2:30p-4:30p - Train two more clients. Last client of the day is finishing his latest 8 week program so it’s time to take him upstairs to reassess, take measurements and discuss his movement, nutrition and regeneration goals for the next 8 week cycle. Reassessing, measuring and getting clients engaged in their program is key to success at Equinox and will keep your clients tracking toward their goals and you a much happier and saner trainer.

5:00p-6:30p - Give my client who is training for her first marathon a 90m sports massage. I’m also a certified massage therapist. I’ve found that becoming an expert in fascia and soft tissue work has made me an infinitely better and happier trainer and my clients are able to achieve their goals much faster while staying mobile and pain free.

6:30p-7:30p - Go home, feed those damn cats again (kidding, I love them), chat with my partner (who god bless him grabbed dinner from Whole Foods on the way home) and prep food for both of us for tomorrow.

7:30p-8:00p - Grab my little boy cat Artie and pretend to watch TV but really I’m falling asleep on the sofa. I don’t reach emails or texts after 7:30p; you’ve got to carve out some time each day (no matter how small) to unplugging.

8:00p - Quit pretending to watch TV and go to bed pretty much wiped out, but grateful and excited to do it all again tomorrow.

If you've made it this far and you still want to learn more, feel free to contact me and let's chat! I'm always happy to help budding trainers and fitness professionals. #communitynotcompetition