If time is your most valuable asset, can you afford not to have your health & fitness come to you?
Solving For Time Scarcity with Summit Performance
For high-performing individuals, the problem is not simply finding an hour to exercise. The problem is everything that surrounds that hour.
A traditional gym workout or personal training session requires time to pack, commute, park, change, wait, train, shower, and travel home. The workout itself is only one part of the total time commitment.
Then there is the time spent deciding what to do, building a program, choosing the right exercises and weights, and figuring out how to progress.
For someone whose time is their most scarce resource, an hour of training can easily become far more than an hour of their day.
The Question is Not Simply:
Do you have an hour to train?
The Question Is:
Can you afford to spend an hour training—and another hour getting to and from the workout?
How much of our day will this actually consume—and how effectively will that time be used?
The Data
Canadian entrepreneurs work an average of 49.7 hours per week, with more than half working 50+ hours.
58% cite schedule conflicts/time constraints as a major reason for skipping workouts.
97.9% of public gym users spend 45+ minutes per session when travel/preparation time is included.
The Problem
The Cost of Inefficient Training
The Lost Time
Public gym users may spend significant additional time on travel, preparation, and other logistical requirements surrounding their workout. The training session itself is only one part of the total time commitment. Learn more here. In addition to the lost time going to the gym, you also have prep time, packing time, etc. Therefore
If your personal training session is at 7am at the gym. You must:
Get up - 6am
Pack your bag for work - 615am
Pack your gym bag - 630am
Commute to the gym - 630am
Change, logistics of parking - 0650
Session - 7am
Change, shower, parking logistics - 815am
Commute to work - 830am
As an executive, entrepreneur, or busy professional, you need to ask yourself:
“how much does my time cost?”
is the 2 or more hour commitment feasible in pursuit of my long term health?
can I keep this routine up for life?
what is the cost performance of my investment?
If your training session at the gym is $75/hr, and your time is worth $75/hr, is that effort worth your $150, or is there a better way? Could you save all this hassle and have your trainer with internationally recognized credentials and education come to you on your schedule?
All these inefficiencies create frictions and problems for a busy individual: a DIY or less expensive training option might look good on paper but may not be the most time-efficient option if it results in wasted time, ineffective programming, or poor progression.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
When all these friction points add up, many people, even the most dedicated of gym goers tend to drop off in terms of commitment to their health and fitness. Annual surveys regularly show that of the people who start a new fitness routine or sign up for the gym in January - most are gone by march.
This highlights that motivation, or will to change one’s life, or improve their health aren’t the issue, but the countless friction points preventing you from becoming who you know you want to be as a byproduct of the challenges built in to the traditional fitness center business model.
We spell out the implications in our article “The Cost of Doing Nothing” (coming soon!)
All these inefficiencies create frictions and problems for a busy individual: a DIY or less expensive training option might look good on paper but may not be the most time-efficient option if it results in wasted time, ineffective programming, or poor progression.
The Cost of Not Knowing What to Do
The Lost Time
The Cost of “I Don’t know” what to do:
If you’re not using a trainer, there is also the time spent deciding what exercises to perform, creating a program, determining how much weight to use, and figuring out how to progress over time - let alone if it’s the right path to meet your health & fitness goals.
All of this adds friction to your already ample commitment just to show up and make an effort. Do you have the energy, interest, or incentive to build yourself a training program on top of everything else you’re managing? How often should you change this program? Are you ok with just “showing up and winging it? deciding on the spot what to do for the day when you’re finally on the gym floor? Is this the same approach you would take for your work or other parts of your life? is that a reasonable way to approach your health - being one of the greatest gifts and assets you have?
All these inefficiencies create frictions and problems for a busy individual: a DIY or less expensive training option might look good on paper but may not be the most time-efficient option if it results in wasted time, ineffective programming, or poor progression.
The ROI of your Time
Your time is money - let’s run the numbers and you tell us if your time, energy, and effort is worth your trainer coming to you.
Average cost of a gym personal training session $75.
Session length - 1 hour
Commute to gym - 15min/way = 0.5h
parking, changeroom logistics = 15 minutes
waiting for your trainer to show up (if they show up at all!) =0 -10minutes
post session shower, change of clothes, back in your car = 20 minutes
total = 2 hours+
Your personal training session is at 7am at the gym. You must:
Get up - 6am
Pack your bag for work - 615am
Pack your gym bag - 630am
Commute to the gym - 630am
Change, logistics of parking - 0650
Session - 7am
Change, shower, parking logistics - 815am
Commute to work - 830am
As an executive, entrepreneur, or busy professional, you need to ask yourself: “how much does my time cost? is the 2 or more hour commitment feasible in pursuit of my long term health? can I keep this routine up for life? what is the time performance of my investment?
Run the numbers most applicable to you in our Personal Training ROI calculator (coming soon!)
Personal training is not a regulated profession in most parts of the world. This means there is no legally required national standard that every person must meet before calling themselves a personal trainer or fitness coach.
A basic personal-training certification can provide an entry point into the industry, but it does not necessarily represent the same level of education, experience, or expertise as an advanced professional credential.
This creates an important question:
“If you are investing valuable time and money into personal training, what level of expertise are you actually receiving?”
The title “personal trainer” alone does not answer that question.
So while you might see a “reasonable” rate for a personal trainer at your local gym, you should ask yourself (or ask the gym owner!) “who will be showing up when it’s time to train? how were they educated?” and ask yourself “Is a weekend personal training course enough education to justify my $75 per session?”
Not All Personal Trainers Are Equal
Summit's Value Proposition
For someone whose time is highly valuable, the goal is to make every training hour count. That means when we are with you, and when we aren’t.
We recognize that the value of personal training is directly connected to the quality of the professional delivering it and the time the client saves for the other 23 hours of their day. Since personal training is an unregulated industry, the title “personal trainer” alone does not communicate the level of education, experience, or expertise a client is receiving.
The goal is not simply to provide a workout. It is to bring the highest standards of educational and experiential excellence to the process of helping high-performing individuals train more effectively in the scarce time they do have between running a business, managing their family, and being there for those they care about.