Pros
- Extensive education system - Free membership chain-wide - Had excellent personal training managers at my location - Very positive, friendly interview process - Good spot for a trainer to learn the ropes - Excellent sales training - Willing to work around my outside commitments - Allows you to maintain outside clients, as long as they are not Equinox members - Friendly co-workers - Some people really love that soap in the showers - Culture exists where gym-goers are responsive to the concept of working with trainers.
Cons
- Pay scale is very low for such a high-priced establishment - The system is set up such that you have to work yourself to the bone in order to make quotas. If you're one short of a quota, there's a severe pay difference. You have to live there to make it work. - Too many trainers at the location makes it difficult to get clients (everyone already has a trainer). This seems to be "by design". - Floor shifts are miserable and unfruitful. If I have to pass out one more eucalyptus-scented towel... - You have to do things "their way" as far as workouts are concerned - No pay for most prep hours. - The company uniforms are uncomfortable, and the blue shirts for floor shifts are terribly unflattering. - Almost no pay for an employee's first several months. You need a second job. But you can't take a second job because you need so many hours there to succeed. - The kool-aid was not to my taste. If it was, I would have likely done well there. It simply wasn't a match. Fitness as a boutique style experience ain't my game. It's a sales job that happens to have you also training people. Essentially, it's a crucible for finding people with that intense money-hungry work-hard-play-hard drive-to-succeed lifestyle, and you have to stay on your toes at all times to make it work. If that's what you're about, Equinox may be a good place for you. I'm more motivated by quality of life and the satisfaction of a job well done, so this was not for me.