How do you set a personal training rate?
Many trainers copy the price of the trainer down the road, and six months later realise they are working hard for little. The reason is almost always the same: not all working time is billable. Travel, writing programmes, messaging clients, bookkeeping and finding new clients all have to be paid for by your sessions.
This guide gives you the method with a full worked example, then the packages to offer and how to present your prices.
The 4-step method
1. The income you want to keep
Start from your real need: how much do you need each month, after everything, to live properly? That is your starting point, not a number you tweak at the end.
2. Your business costs
Kit and its replacement, insurance, phone, travel, clothing, courses, website and online booking, an accountant if you use one. Add them up for a year and divide by 12.
3. Tax and National Insurance
As a sole trader you pay income tax and National Insurance on your profit. Set aside a share of every payment. If that share is t, the turnover you need is: (income + costs) ÷ (1 − t). Your accountant or HMRC’s guidance will help you set a realistic figure for your situation.
4. Sessions you can really bill
Count the weeks you will actually work (minus holidays, bank holidays, illness, quiet weeks) and the paid sessions per week. For a mobile trainer, 20 to 25 paid sessions a week is already a full week: there is driving between clients.
Free tool, no sign-up
Small business marketing calendar
January, back to school, pre-summer: spot the moments people get back into training and plan your offers ahead.
Worked example: a mobile trainer
Take Sam, a mobile personal trainer working as a sole trader. These are example figures to replace with your own; for the example we set aside 25% for tax and National Insurance.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Income wanted | per month | £1,800 |
| Business costs | £2,400 a year ÷ 12 | £200 |
| Total to cover | 1,800 + 200 | £2,000 |
| Turnover needed | 2,000 ÷ (1 − 0.25) | £2,667 a month, £32,000 a year |
| Weeks worked | 52 − 5 holiday − 2 bank holidays − 1 illness | 44 weeks |
| Sessions billed | 44 × 20 | 880 a year |
| Minimum session price | 32,000 ÷ 880 | £36 |
£36 is a floor. If Sam only fills 15 sessions a week at first, the floor rises to £48 (32,000 ÷ 660). That is the real question when starting out: either a higher price, or a diary that fills quickly.
What about travel?
If a client lives 25 minutes away, a one-hour session really takes almost two hours. Two simple fixes: a service area with a supplement beyond it (for example £5 beyond 6 miles), or sessions grouped by area on set days.
If your turnover ever goes over the VAT threshold (£90,000 over 12 months, according to GOV.UK), you must register and charge VAT: rework your prices before you get there.
Home visits, gym, park, online: should the price change?
| Where | What changes for you | Effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| Client’s home | Travel, carrying kit, convenience for the client | Your full price, plus a supplement outside your area |
| Partner gym | No kit to carry, but often a rent or a percentage to the gym | Add the gym fee to your costs before calculating |
| Park | No rent, but weather and limited kit | Close to the home-visit price if you go to the client |
| Online | No travel, more sessions possible per day | Often a little cheaper, but never below your floor |
A speciality (race preparation, pre- and post-natal training, older adults) can justify a higher price when you hold the matching qualification and your insurance covers it.
Should you start cheaper to get going?
It is the classic temptation: lower your prices to fill the diary. The risk is twofold. Early clients get used to a price that is hard to raise later, and you attract people who choose on price rather than on the quality of your coaching.
Keep your normal price and use other levers, each limited in time:
- One free taster session per person, to get to know each other and assess their starting point
- A launch block at the normal price with one extra session, valid until a set date
- A written fitness assessment for every new client, which shows you take their goals seriously
- A thank-you for clients who refer someone, rather than a discount for everyone
Always state when the offer ends. An offer with no end date quietly becomes your new price.
Corporate clients
Group sessions for a company’s staff are priced differently: a fee per group session or a monthly package that includes your travel and preparation time. Use the same method, starting from a group hourly rate, and ask for a minimum commitment of a few months.
Blocks, memberships, duo and small groups
Offering several formats helps clients commit and gives you steadier income. But every discount has a cost: calculate it.
Blocks of sessions
Example: £45 per session, a block of 10 for £405 (10% off). The client pays upfront, you get cash flow, and they come back. Write down how long the block is valid and what happens with late cancellations.
Monthly membership
Example: 4 sessions a month for £160 instead of £180, paid monthly. It is the most stable format: you know at the start of the month what will come in.
Duo sessions
A simple rule: charge about 1.5 times your individual rate, shared between the two. With a £45 session, a £68 duo is £34 each: cheaper for them, more profitable for you.
Small groups
Example: 8 people at £10 = £80 an hour, against £45 one-to-one. Check your insurance covers that group size.
| Format | Client price (example) | What you earn per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Single session | £45 | £45 |
| Block of 10 | £405 | £40.50 |
| Membership, 4 sessions | £160 a month | £40 |
| Duo | £68 (£34 each) | £68 |
| Group of 8 | £10 each | £80 |
Presenting your prices
Clients decide faster when the price is clear and complete. Put the same price list on your website, your Google profile and a welcome sheet sent before the first session, with the full amount the client will pay and your cancellation rule.
[Your name] — Qualified personal trainer
Single session (1 hour, home visit within [6] miles): £[45]
Block of 10 sessions (valid [6] months): £[405]
Monthly membership, 4 sessions: £[160] a month
Duo session (price for two): £[68]
Group class in the park ([day, time]): £[10] per person
Online session (45 min): £[30]
Travel supplement beyond [6] miles: £[5]
Cancellations less than [24] hours before: session charged.
When and how to raise your rates
- Your diary has been full for months and you turn clients away
- Your costs have gone up (fuel, insurance, kit)
- You have gained a new qualification
- You are working more hours for the same income
Give clients at least a month’s notice, explain simply, and honour blocks already paid at the old price. Our guide to announcing a price increase has ready-made messages.
Hi [name], from [date] a single session will go from £[45] to £[50]. My travel and kit costs have gone up and I want to keep sessions at the standard you expect. Blocks you have already bought stay at the current price, and you can buy one more at the old rate until [date]. Thanks for training with me, see you [day]!
The most common pricing mistakes
- Copying a gym trainer’s price when you travel: your travel time is unpaid.
- Forgetting tax: £45 received is not £45 earned.
- Stacking discounts: free taster, block discount, referral, friends’ rate… nobody pays full price any more.
- No cancellation rule: a session cancelled the night before is an hour you cannot resell.
- Vague prices (“from”, “on request”): clients hesitate and look elsewhere.
- Never raising prices: in three years your costs rise and your income quietly falls.
Online booking with an automatic reminder the day before makes a real difference to no-shows: the client who forgot is reminded, and the one who cannot come frees the slot in time.
The steps at a glance
The method to set a rate that covers costs, tax and unpaid time.
- Set the income you want. The monthly amount you want to keep after everything is paid.
- Add up your costs. Kit, insurance, travel, phone, courses, website and booking, for a year then per month.
- Allow for tax. Divide income + costs by (1 − share set aside for tax and National Insurance).
- Count billable sessions. Weeks really worked × paid sessions per week.
- Divide. Annual turnover needed ÷ sessions billed = your minimum session price.
- Build your price list. Adjust for location and speciality, then offer blocks, membership, duo and groups.
This guide for your trade
All guides · Personal trainer and gym (4)
Go further
Sources
The rules quoted in this guide come from these official pages, checked on October 28, 2026.