Press & Media · Press Release
A compensation model that took effect July 1 pays Orange County coaches more as their clients stay and reach their goals — and the company says it has made it the highest-paying personal-training company in America by average trainer compensation.
ORANGE, CA — July 27, 2026
Most personal trainers are paid to sell packages and fill hours. Train With Dave has spent 2026 dismantling that arrangement inside its own company. On July 1 it moved every coach onto a rebuilt compensation model in which earnings rise with two things the industry rarely pays for directly: whether a client stays, and whether a client gets results.
Compensation is reviewed each quarter. The placements that took effect July 1 were set by second-quarter performance. The company declined to publish its specific pay bands and bonus mechanics, which it treats as internal.
The effect on earnings is the part the company is willing to quantify. Total compensation for an established Train With Dave coach — one who has completed onboarding — now runs at an annualized rate of roughly $92,000: about $85,800 in cash, plus a 401(k) match and a company contribution covering half of medical premiums.
For context, federal data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the typical American personal trainer's pay near $46,000, and the highest-paying national gym chains top out in the mid-$70,000s. Train With Dave's cash figure alone clears that range before any benefits are counted. The company expects average total compensation for its established coaches to pass six figures by the end of 2026, citing continued growth in client volume and the quarterly reviews built into the new model.
"Most gyms pay trainers to sell packages and fill hours, and clients feel it when their coach quits every six months. We changed it so a coach earns more when their clients stay and actually get results. That's the whole job. When a coach earns a real living on a sustainable schedule, they stay, they keep getting better, and they're still standing next to the client three years later." — Dave Cozzens, Founder and CEO
Notably, coaches reach that level without working a traditional 40-hour week. Train With Dave says it deliberately holds training loads below the 40-plus-session schedules common in the industry, and credits both the schedule and the retention-linked pay model for coach turnover that runs below the industry norm — a figure that matters to clients as much as to staff, since a departing trainer is one of the most common points at which a client's progress stalls.
The company measures pay as the annualized run rate of total compensation for each coach who has completed onboarding, rather than dividing total payroll by every employee — a method it says understates earnings at a company that is actively adding staff. The full methodology, and the sources behind the comparison, are posted on the company's careers page.
Train With Dave operates three Orange County studios, in Orange, Irvine and Laguna Hills, and has completed more than 150,000 training sessions since 2016.
Founded in 2016 by David Cozzens, Train With Dave provides customized personal training and nutrition coaching at three Orange County studios in Orange, Irvine, and Laguna Hills. Every coach holds a college degree, several at the master's level. The company has completed more than 150,000 training sessions and holds over 1,000 five-star reviews. Learn more at trainwithdaveoc.com or call (714) 904-2036.
Kelsey Kennedy · Train With Dave
kelsey@trainwithdaveoc.com · (949) 402-2117
This release was distributed via EIN Presswire on July 27, 2026.