personal trainer

maintenance technician

member experience specialist

group leader

user experience manager

Vasa Fitness

Personal training is a rewarding and amazing career, unless you work for Vasa. They have a way of draining the enjoyment you once had. It's like getting the most amazingly decorated present for Chrismas, only to realize it is empty. They care little for those they sell training sessions to. Many of whom didn't really want the sessions or were misguided in what they were receiving. 

They use the guise "changing lives" as a way to hide what you are really doing to them, selling them. I absolutely adored those I trained. I have quite a few I still talk to to this day, over a year since I left. Most have gone elsewhere, not because of their trainers, but because of how corporate would try to pinch every penny out of them, and use shady "small print" tactics to continually get them stuck in contracts. 

My coworkers were amazing. Just like my clients, I still keep in touch with a couple of them. Both of whom have also moved on to better places that care about their success, and their client's well-being. 

Due to the rapid turnover, I was given clients of 3 recently departed trainers within the first 2 months I was there. They were awesome people. However, due to that rapid turnover, corporate decided to personally get involved. The individuals from corporate are the epitomy of incompetent.

Due to the influx of new clients I had received, I had blocked out my schedule so I could personally arrange the clients to time slots that fit their needs. This was something that had been done since I joined. Well, without my consent or knowledge, I show up one day, finally having gotten my schedule set with the new clients and to my surprise, everything had been erased. 

They, in my clients place, had put sales sessions or "ptc" as they call it. I was shocked. I was in early morning so I had no one to talk to about it. Sure enough, I started getting calls from my clients asking why I had canceled them. I told them I did not and told them to come in. Well, when the corporate placeholders showed up, I asked them. They told me that I can't block out time, I need to put in the clients immediately, which was impossible as until the night before, I didn't even know who all my clients were.

I asked them why they canceled them, they said they didn't know what I was talking about. It wasn't until one of my clients who was a great client showed up and confronted them, that their story changed. After I trained him, which they reluctantly "allowed", they told me to not do that again and that I need to be a "team player". That PTCs were more important for the company needs at the moment. Since when is sales more important than those who have entrusted you for their well-being? 

Sure enough me and a few others left. By that time, only 3 employees remained in that club, excluding the cleaning staff, from even a month prior.

P.S. if your client fails to show up, you don't get paid, but corporate still charges them the full amount and keeps it all, thus it is beneficial for them to put people they know won't show up on contract. 

Please take this as your fair warning. Do not work here for multiple reasons. 

Upper management will not train you. They might show you how to use their system for scheduling, but they will not show you how to do your job. Lucky, I have experience going into the position and was able to create a system that would allow for my team to hit goals monthly. Upper management likes to incorporate their own plans into your business, which sometimes ruins your goals. Which will effect your pay. And of course, that’s your fault. You are also paid according to your client count and not you experience. So it’s the luck of a draw depending where you are hired. If you hired where there is a lower clientele count, you will have to work three times as hard to make the same wage as someone who may have just started at another location just with a higher clientele count. 

The gyms culture is terrible between staff. They run it off an acronym called UPLIFT (united, passionate, love, integrity, fun, trust). Which I thought was great at first. But, when you hear someone in upper management say he didn’t give himself a pay cut because his life is too expensive to do that; while everyone else gets cut. You tend to not feel so uplifted. The corporate meetings are for gloating and really are a waste of time and do not help you. 

There is a ton of favoritism in the company. History of the company is that most of upper management is there because they were closer to the owner, while everyone else was fired or forced to quit due to massive pay-cuts. 

Overall, the members of the facility are amazing. It is sad to see a company not care about them. You are underpaid, and everyone knows it. You will be stretched thin and never recognized for it. If you take this position on, go in with expectations of being thrown to the wolves. 


There is a serious inability to grow within the company, ESPECIALLY if you are NOT in the good graces of upper management. What's worse: they WILL take FULL advantage of those showing initiative for leadership positions, only to later say that they don't intend to promote internally for positions that are - and have been - open for month(s).

Upper management blatantly plays favoritism with their 'best' sales reps, but will fail to help develop anyone that does not automatically meet their expectation. They will penalize you for this by backlisting you from walk-in tours, by sticking you with all the 'scut' work (i.e., cleaning, taking stock & inventory, doing bathroom checks, etc.), and NEVER explain to you why/what you're doing wrong. They will also NOT rotate appropriately for walk-in tours ever.

Upper management will also penalize you for taking time off work - regardless of the reason - even if you work there part-time (which anyone working MES is). They will also fail to communicate new expectations, and then penalize you for not meeting them.

They ONLY want you to push STUDIO, regardless of who it is (or if you - the rep - KNOWS it won't benefit the person signing up)... and then they will scold you for not making the sale.

It's a bottom-of-the-barrel sales job with little to no progression no matter how good you are.

You will get overworked and underpaid, taken advantage of, and then disregarded the moment you stop doing what they want you to do. Corporate has far too big of an overreach in every menial thing, and as the front desk sales representative: YOU are the punching bag for face-to-face interactions with members. Do NOT expect management to have your back either.

I’ve worked at Vasa for years. 
Good: Love working with my coworkers and clients. Caring about people and watching them change is an incredibly rewarding part of my job.  It’s very fulfilling!

Bad: Vertical communication in this company is atrocious. Nonexistent. We never see nor hear from anyone above our general manager, and often they don’t have the information they need to be successful. This leaves employees confused with new policy changes. 
 There are few advancement opportunities and even less incentive to try for them. 
The company preaches changing lives, but pushes sales. Again, they preach client care and retention but push for positive client net gain through sales. 
Over the last few months I’ve watched Vasa cut pay, cut employees, cut hours, then cut pay again. They ask all team members to help out but won’t compensate according for the jobs they’re asking you to help with. These are decisions of a company that is floundering in 2020 and disconnected with the employees. My personal favorite is that Vasa decided to change their dress code policy recently, but did not provide any shirts, not even one, for current employees, forcing them to buy directly from Vasa or they would be violating dress code policy. 
Vasa is moving towards micromanagement instead of autonomy. 
 Vasa is struggling more than they let on (Covid sucks for everyone) but until they can fix their culture, communication and compensation, I would not recommend them. 

**Company Review**

My experience with this company highlights significant challenges that potential employees should consider.

The success of your role may heavily depend on location and management dynamics. If you are a new coach starting your career, I would advise you to look elsewhere.

When I was hired as a Personal Trainer, my initial lead assured me of support and accountability. However, after the manager was replaced, the new leadership prioritized their own interests. They began taking clients from departing trainers while pressuring me to acquire new clients—a difficult task, especially in a shifting environment.

Moreover, there were instances where my lead publicly criticized my performance for issues that had not been properly communicated or explained to me. This created a negative atmosphere, as it seemed that accountability was not consistently enforced across the team.

While not all employees were unhelpful, the overall environment felt toxic. Managers often exhibited a lack of engagement and support, which further compounded the difficulties I faced.

In four months, I struggled to secure clients, ultimately gaining only about four. The sole positive aspect of my experience was my initial lead, who provided valuable guidance. Unfortunately, the new management did not uphold these standards.


I really liked my boss and the people I worked with in the club — they were supportive, kind, and genuinely cared about the members. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for upper management. There was very little support or leadership from the district manager, and we were constantly pushed to use sales tactics that felt unethical and manipulative.

Basic tools to do the job weren’t provided — several of us had to bring in our own laptops just to check email or complete payroll. My paychecks were almost always incorrect, and getting them fixed was a constant struggle. “Leadership training” was really just sales training disguised as development, focused on upgrading memberships rather than helping employees grow as leaders.

The culture made it feel like no matter how hard you worked, it was never enough. I loved working with the members, but the company’s approach to problem-solving was frustrating — everything was pushed off to “call customer support,” which was often impossible to reach.

There are some great people working in the clubs, but the company’s priorities and lack of real leadership make it a tough place to stay motivated or feel valued.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Being able to take and assess group fitness and studio classes, as well as meeting and developing relationships with the members and instructors

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There is no leadership training or structure in place for the managers, which means most of them are leading from a place of fear and lack. Turnover is sky high and it never feels like you’re doing enough. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
This was a truly terrible company to work for. The “uplift values” are a complete farce. They do not care about anything except profit. I do not recommend this company to anyone, particularly if you genuinely care about helping people lead healthier lives. You will not get the experience to do so because you will be too exhausted managing unfilled roles in other departments, and meeting excessive metrics to fuel the pockets of those at the top. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I was stretched into other departments constantly due to lack of retention. They cannot retain employees with the way they lead. I was not able to devote myself to my job title as much as I could have due to the poor leadership and severe understaffing.

In the beginning, VASA seemed like a decent place to work. Was very excited about the opportunity at first but the gym went down hill once opening. The job training taught us nothing we needed to know. Within the first week of opening, we lost two of our managers and still having constant turnover.
Communication at this job is pretty much non existent and you're constantly micromanaged by the sales manager who blames others for his team not making sales. This makes a tense environment as it seems sales people are placed at higher value than other employees. 
Professionalism and confidentiality at this job is not respected and neither are you. Lots of employees here seem to lack integrity and not trustworthy. The hardest part about this job is dealing with the lack of communication from the management team and you having no clue to what direct policies and expectations are. 
The pay is low and you will more than likely not get a decent amount of hours. 
If you are needing some money and flexible scheduling, this job may be for you- but do not expect much as you'll be hurt in the end.

I loved the people I worked with, we would hangout outside of work and I felt like I made lots of friends. That was the only things I enjoyed about working at VASA. 

When I was selling memberships, I felt like I was scamming people and would sometimes just feel so bad that I didn't want to continue. VASA puts all the fees at the very end, so people don't know upfront what they are signing up for. Often time, if you don't come in and sign up, you would have no idea! I had to take a lot of phonecalls and face to face conversations about this, and had to find reasons to make it make sense even thought I disagreed with all the hidden fees.

Members didn't care about the front desk employees, we would be yelled at and sworn at daily for things we had no control over. It was very draining. 

Management didn't communicate very well with the whole team. We would all do things differently because we were told different things and this caused issues with members and between coworkers.

Greet members and assist with basic membership issues
Keep club clean by completely routine checks and replacing empty items
Management pushes hard for sales and up sale in all departments sometimes creating unrealistic expectations for employees. 

They demand you work a certain number of hours each week, while not allowing you to request more, or less. 
Little to no support with illness or personal matters and constant threats of termination or probation.

The hardest part is that the work environment is toxic with a "walk on eggshells" kind of setting. There is excessive micromanaging, threats, demeaning & targeting behavior towards employees and sometimes members. Not confident in the support from HR. 

The most enjoyable part about the job would be the co-workers working along side you and the members and they make the environment very uplifting and happy. 


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Personal trainer 3 salaries reported	$14.83 per hour
Maintenance technician 9 salaries reported	$18.94 per hour
Member experience specialist 5 salaries reported	$12.53 per hour
Group leader 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
User experience manager 1 salary reported	$19.30 per hour

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