Pros
Crunch has very well-kept and maintained facilities, nice equipment, lots of classes and is a very fun environment to be in. I also love my coworkers, most of whom are just as passionate about fitness as I am. Crunch has also convinced me its time to go back to grad school...
Cons
...because the pros end there. Take what I say with a grain of salt, as I have only been a personal trainer for Crunch and not in any other position. Also bear in mind that I came from 24 Hour Fitness and am comparing the two. At 24 I was one of the top-selling trainers there. No exaggeration: I always sold 100,000/year. I made the jump last year and came over to Crunch, being told that I would be able to make more. That's true, assuming that 1) there is anyone to sell training to and 2) you sell the top price (Elite or Master). Even if you sell the top price, Crunch still ends up taking half of what you sell and train. In their defense, they give a lot of opportunities for bonuses, but they are practically unreachable unless you want to be there 14 hours a day. The traffic is slower than 24 and unbearably so during summer and the holidays. The members, though richer, are just flat out not interested in your services. And who can blame them? Crunch needlessly hires more trainers than they need, most of them new to the industry. Which is fine because you gotta start somewhere. But Crunch likes to boast that they are a higher quality than 24 Hour Fitness. In reality, their quality control is far worse and they will hire ANYBODY to be a trainer. Needless to say, the turnover rate here is worse than 24HF. In the year I've been working here, I've had God-knows how many coworkers come and go. I'm on to my fourth fitness manager and third club manager! In the five years I was at 24, I had three FMs and 6 GMs, which is not good but it is still better than Crunch! Even if you are working full time, forget benefits - they don't offer medical, dental and vision anymore (thank you, Covered California) unless you are a Master Trainer and working 30+ hours/week. As stated before, you have to actually get clients and then somehow convince them that, despite not being a doctor, your time is worth $150/hour. Even then, you will only keep half of that money, partly due to your commission only being 10%. At 24 it was 20%. For sick time, having worked there for 8 months, I got three days worth. Three days! As for vacation, I think I have accumulated a day's worth. I even tried to take a leave of absence for a summer class without sick or vacation time and the HR department just flat-out told me "no." At least at 24 all I needed to do was ask and they let me take a month off. Albeit I had to use my sick and vacation time but at least there I actually had ample hours accumulated after being there a couple of years! To make matters worse, despite it being harder to be a trainer at Crunch, your quotas are astronomical. If you don't hit those quotas, the managers will guilt trip you as hard as if you had just murdered an orphan. So just so you're not aware of the implications of how sick and twisted this is, you're working your butt off, your benefits are non-existent, your pay is lousy, the prospects are lacking and management has the audacity to blame you for it. Thanks, Crunch.
