Personal Training in Europe
edelhelfer / Europe Active “Personal Training in Europe"
Together with EuropeActive, the european association of the health- and fitness-sector, the edelhelfer realized an international research project on the state of Personal Training in 15 european countries. An online survey was set up as the core part of the research to explore the characteristics of Personal Trainers their offerings and prices, their clients and marketing activities, as well as their assessment of threats and opportunities. In each of the analyzed countries at least 71 % expect that the competition will increase in the years ahead. At the same time the demographic change as well as Lifestyle- and Prevention-Programs are seen as opportunities for growth. A majority of the Personal Trainers is self-employed, whereas full-time and part-time employment of Personal Trainers seem to be relatively evenly distributed in the industry. 89.1% of the participating trainers offer muscle development training and 78.7% cardio training, which can obviously be seen as the core services of a Personal Trainer. As expected, the "traditional" 1-on-1 training has the greatest importance in the work of Personal Trainers.
A total of 4,370 fitness professionals participated in the online survey. 3,944 of them are located in the focused 15 European markets, and 2,819 of these are Personal Trainers. To get at least an initial picture of the market size of Personal Training in different countries, we have applied the numbers of the business- and employment-oriented social networking service LinkedIn. Even though the individual figures have to be interpreted carefully, they do allow a basic comparison between the different countries and an initial assessment of the European Personal Training market.
Taking the respective calculations as a basis, the total number of Personal Trainers in all countries sums-up to 70,700. The highest number of Personal Trainers by far is thereby seen in the United Kingdom with a total of more than 26,000. In relation to the overall population the highest market penetration was identified in Ireland and, again, in the United Kingdom. In Germany there are about 8,800 Personal Trainer, in Switzerland and Austria there are 1,100 each. In relation to the market potential Austria and the Switzerland are very similar with 7,200 respectively 7,600 inhabitants per Personal Trainer. Germany exhibits a slightly higher market potential with 9,300 inhabitants per Personal Trainer.
In thirteen countries the portion of male trainers is higher than the share of female Personal Trainers. Finland and Norway are the only exceptions to this rule in our sample. Personal Trainers are a rather young group of professionals. Two major factors might influence this distribution. On the one hand, Personal Training itself is a rather "young" offering that is still developing. On the other hand, Personal Training is mostly related to doing sports and being active within the role of a trainer.
Most of our respondents are generally satisfied with their decision and their work as a Personal Trainer. The "happiest" trainers are based in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. The most important reason for this generally high satisfaction level is seen in the possibility to help people, followed by fun of working in the field of sports, and the potential for development.
Based on our survey, full-time and part-time employment of Personal Trainers seem to be relatively evenly distributed in the industry. The huge majority of them works self-employed. On average, the participating Personal Trainers have a maximum availability of 21.4 hours for Personal Training sessions per week. The portion of the effective Personal Training session at the total work to be done varies between the individual countries from almost 30% to more than 50%.
It is generally accepted that a good education is the essential prerequisite for a successful Personal Trainer. Especially in a service-based offering like Personal Training, an adequate education is a strong selling proposition and also a requirement for customer retention. The official educational requirements, however, differ strongly from country to country. While a Personal Trainer does not need any formal education at all to call himself a "Personal Trainer" in some countries, in others specific minimum requirements have to be fulfilled. At the same time, the educational offerings of the individual national training providers also vary greatly.
If you are interested in the complete publication "Personal Training in Europe", you are welcome to approach us. We are happy to provide you with further information.
Authors: Niels Gronau, Gregor Titze
Publisher: edelhelfer GmbH, EuropeActive, BlackBoxPublishers
Publication date: 11.04.2018
Pages: 234
For further information: kontakt@edelhelfer.eu