Celebrity Trainer Chris Fernandez Talks About Making Money in Personal Training

Many of us who follow the bodybuilding lifestyle choose to make a career out of teaching others how to get in shape. Thus, personal training is a great career choice for those who are passionate about sharing with others how they can use bodybuilding in order to achieve the physique that they want.

However, I have seen way too often how great personal trainers with vast knowledge on the subject make very little money from the profession. One may ask, how could this be? Well, the answer to this question is simple. Like any profession, personal training is a business and has to be run accordingly.

It is because of this that I decided to call one of the most successful personal trainers I personally know, Chris Fernandez, and not only talk about his philosophies about training, supplementation and nutrition, but also, to have him share with us the business tactics that have allowed him to establish a very successful personal training practice training high profile clients for top dollar.

Here is Part I of III of this informative interview. In this part, we cover some of Chris' background as well as his training, nutrition, and supplementation philosophies. In part II and part III we get into the details of his successful personal training practice.

Hugo Rivera: Hello Chris

Chris Fernandez: Hey Hugo.

Hugo: Hey, how are you man?

Chris: I’m doing awesome. How about yourself?

Hugo: Man, great, thank you. I just had a pretty long day over here but all is good and positive. I just finished my cardio and then I just had my Lean Body RTD from Labrada Nutrition, so I’m a happy camper. How was your day?

Chris: Awesome, same thing over here man, busy doing the usual.

Hugo: Well, Chris, let's get this thing started because I want people to get to know you and know what you’re doing. I feel that you have some very specialized knowledge that can help other personal trainers be as successful as yourself.

Chris: I appreciate that. No problem.

Hugo: Awesome. So first, for those who do not know you, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and about your background?

Chris: Sure. Well, I grew up actually in Puerto Rico just like you did and that’s when it all started with me and the health and fitness industry when I joined the soccer team.

It all started in 8th grade and I’ll never forget because I said to myself: “I need to do something to get in shape”, even back then when I was like 14 years old.

In the back of my mind I said to myself: “You know, I’m fat and I need to get in shape”.

I just didn’t know anything about it and I thought: “Well if I join the soccer team, that’s going to get me in shape.”

So things started in that arena with me in this industry and I joined the team and of course I was always the last in all the stuff I did.

Hugo: I can relate.

Chris: Yeah, I was pretty embarrassed about it but again I didn’t have, at the time anyway, the drive or the tools to get to that next level and so things went along – I was living my life doing my thing – and a funny thing happened.

I was into all these sports trying to get in better shape and when I was I think in 10th grade, something clicked in my mind and I said to myself: “I’m sick and tired of this and I don’t ever want to be last again when we do these warm-ups and the three mile run and the perimeter run over there in Fort Buchanan.”

That off-season was the first time that I ever applied myself and learned everything that I needed to learn about what I needed to do to get in better shape and it started with a simple book by Nolan Ryan on how to pitch. And in that book, he had simple exercises for pitchers on how to get in better shape.

That was the first time I got introduced to weight training, the beauty of weight training and pushing my body to the limits.

So from there I’ve just fallen in love with this industry and it’s become my passion. Ever since then I just have taken off and that’s where I am today and why I went into personal training when I graduated from college and I’ve been doing that for the last 10 years.

Hugo: How wonderful it is that that you’re sharing now all of that knowledge that you’ve acquired after all these years with other people out there who may be in the same boat that both you and I were back when we were young teenagers! So my hat off to you. How amazing, we have so many similarities. We both started in Puerto Rico, we both were overweight and it was around the same time that we started lifting. So that’s really cool.

Chris: Yeah, I mean you just know inside right then and there, that there is something better out there, something that you should be doing or something you’re not doing right, and you may not know what it is but you feel it.

Hugo: I’ll tell you what; the first time I picked up that weight, that’s when I experienced the first pump – that’s when I knew – I’m like: “I’m a body builder, this is my gig.” I just absolutely loved it and I knew from that point on that bodybuilding would always be a part of my life.