In 2024, Personal Training became the number one trend in the top 5 of fitness in Portugal, according to the Portugal Activo Barometer. More demand means more opportunity, but also more professionals entering the market, and the way you start defines what you earn three years later. The difference between a PT earning 1,200 EUR per month in their third year and one earning 2,500 EUR rarely comes down to training quality; it comes down to the decisions made in the first few months.
This guide is for those who are not yet PTs and need the complete path, from the course to the first client. The regulatory side, in particular the licence and the tax setup, is usually what trips up anyone who relies only on instinct, so we will go in practical order: seven steps, the critical decisions in each one, and where people tend to fail. By the time you reach the last step, you will have answers to "which course?", "where do I get the licence?", "how do I open activity with Finanças?", "how do I get my first clients?" and "where do I work?".
In Portugal there are two legal routes to reach the Cédula TPTEF, the document without which no PT can work legally. Choosing between them defines how long it takes you to start and which doors open later.
The degree in Sports Sciences / Physical Education and Sport lasts 3 years and qualifies you for the Cédula de Técnico de Exercício Físico (physical exercise technician licence) and the Cédula de Diretor Técnico (technical director licence). It is the long route, but it opens the door to technical director roles in gyms, sports clubs and schools. At a public university, tuition fees are around 700 EUR per year, with modules covering physiology, biomechanics, exercise prescription and sports management. It makes sense for anyone who wants to keep the option of management or teaching open.
The CET de Técnico Especialista em Exercício Físico (TEEF) (specialist technician course in physical exercise) lasts 12 months full-time, 14 months part-time in the evenings, and includes a mandatory curricular internship. It qualifies you for the Cédula TPTEF but not for Diretor Técnico. It costs between 2,500 EUR and 4,000 EUR at a certified school (CEFAD, Manz, Bwizer, Fitness Academy and Promofitness are among the names recognised by the IPDJ). It is the most common route for anyone who wants to start operating, especially for career changers who are not prepared to spend three years at university.
When comparing schools, four criteria matter: IPDJ certification verified on the official list, curricular internship included (not optional), teaching staff with a Cédula TPTEF and clinical/sports practice, and a sensible location given your commute. Price only becomes a differentiator once the other three are met.
Equivalences for foreign qualifications
Anyone with Physical Education qualifications from another country (especially Brazil, Spain and Eastern European countries) has two options: apply for foreign qualifications recognition with the Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES, the higher education directorate), a process that can take 6 to 12 months and depends heavily on how equivalent the original training is, or repeat the CET TEEF in Portugal, which is often quicker in practice. It is worth starting with DGES, but expect that many cases end up doing the CET anyway.
Step 2: Get the Cédula TPTEF from the IPDJ
The Cédula TPTEF is an official individual digital document, issued by the IPDJ via the PRODesporto platform. Without it, any training session you charge for is illegal practice of the profession. This is the central regulatory piece of your career.
The application is submitted after completing the recognised course and the curricular internship. You upload to PRODesporto your school certificate, identification document, proof of address and the issuance fee payment. The IPDJ reviews and issues the licence within 2 to 8 weeks, depending on the volume of applications at the time. The licence is valid for 5 years and is renewed with 5 continuing education credits certified by the IPDJ over that period, where each credit corresponds to about 5 hours in person or 10 hours online. Anyone who lets the renewal lapse has to reapply as if it were the first time.
Step 3: AED, CPR and Other Practical Certifications
Even with the licence, virtually every club, gym and professional studio will ask you for additional certifications before letting you train clients on their premises. The two minimums are AED (Automated External Defibrillation) and CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), both delivered as short courses, often combined, with a total cost in the region of 60 EUR to 120 EUR. They are renewed every 2 to 3 years.
The third piece is professional liability insurance. It is not legally required, but practically no professional venue will accept working with a PT without it, and rightly so. The insurance covers client injuries resulting from training and protects you if matters end up in court. It costs between 100 EUR and 180 EUR per year, depending on coverage. There are insurers with PT-specific products (Lusitania, Fidelidade, MAPFRE), and most professional associations negotiate rates for their members.
On further continuing education, there is a common trap: spending 2,000 EUR on specialisation courses (functional training, sports nutrition, postpartum training, maximal strength) before having your first 50 clients. Do the opposite: start as a generalist, find out what your first clients ask for, and only then invest in specialisation. The first useful specialisation usually emerges between 6 and 12 months of practice, and it is rarely the one you would have chosen theoretically at the start.
Step 4: Open Activity with Finanças
To charge legally, you need to open activity as a self-employed worker, before you receive your first payment. It is done on the Portal das Finanças (tax office portal) or in person at a tax office branch. There are four main decisions.
The first is the CAE (business activity code). The most common among PTs is 93130 ("physical fitness activities, provided by gyms"), but 85510 ("sports, recreational and leisure activities") is also valid depending on your activity. You can register more than one if relevant.
The second is the tax regime. For IRS (income tax) you fall under Category B (professional income), normally on the simplified regime, which treats 35% of income as presumed expenses. For IVA (VAT), you benefit from the exemption under Article 53 of the CIVA while annual income stays below 14,500 EUR (limit updated in 2025, kept for 2026). Above that, you start charging clients IVA at 23%, which changes how competitive your price looks.
The third is Segurança Social (Social Security). The general rule for self-employed workers is 21.4% on 70% of the relevant income, but the first year of activity is fully exempt, which helps a lot with landing. From the second year onwards you pay monthly, based on the quarterly declaration.
The fourth is electronic invoicing: issuing recibos verdes (green receipts, the standard self-employed invoice) through the Portal das Finanças (free) or via certified software (Toconline, Moloni, FacturaCloud, all with plans starting at 5-10 EUR per month). Recibos verdes must be issued at the moment of receipt, with the client's NIF (tax ID number), and are automatically recorded with Finanças.
Step 5: Choose the Operating Model
There are three practical models for the first year of a career in Portugal. Each has a different trade-off between security and earnings ceiling.
Working as a salaried employee at a gym with a CLT-equivalent contract exists in theory but is rare today: most chains hire on recibos verdes even when the PT works there on a fixed schedule. If you find the rare formal-contract role, you earn a fixed salary (close to the national minimum, around 870 EUR net in 2026) and the typical benefits of an employee, but with a low ceiling.
Recibos verdes tied to a gym is the most common model for junior PTs. You show up at the chain's premises, run group classes included in the membership price and sell PT sessions separately. The chain keeps 30% to 50% of the value you charge the client for PT, and you keep the rest. The advantage is starting with a ready pipeline (the gym's members see you working) and space included. The disadvantage is the ceiling: your PT rate is set by the chain, and the slice kept is not up for negotiation.
Self-employed from day one, on recibos verdes with no tie, is the model for those who bring their own client list from the course or have another source of income to cushion the first few months. You charge 100% of what you invoice, you pay for the space where you train (per session or by monthly fee), and the ceiling is limited only by time and your rate card. The downside is the risk: in the first 3 to 6 months, if you have no list, there is no gym feeding you clients.
A realistic recommendation for anyone starting from zero: the first year at a chain is often the safe route to build a list and gain technical practice, the second year is usually when the PT switches to self-employed with the list already consolidated. Anyone who jumps straight into self-employment makes the transition faster but with more financial stress.
Step 6: Get Your First Clients
The part they do not teach you on the course. There is a consistent pattern between the PTs who scale well and those who stagnate after two years, and it has more to do with acquisition than with technique.
Your personal network almost always brings the first 3 to 5 clients. Friends, former co-workers, extended family, people you used to train with informally before the licence. Charge from the start, even at an entry-level price (20 EUR to 25 EUR per session is reasonable in the first six months). Training for free devalues the service and creates a bad dynamic for raising the price later.
If you are at a chain as a floor instructor, the clients who see you correcting someone on a machine and explaining sets are your first paid-PT leads. The gym keeps the commission, but you build practice, a contact list and referrals. Use the "dead" time between clients to chat with members who seem open to investing in a PT.
Instagram with technical reels is the first relevant digital source in 2026. Short posts of 15 to 30 seconds correcting common mistakes (squat posture, bar position on the bench press, knee angle on the leg press) with English subtitles and a clearly defined location in the bio. A direct WhatsApp link in the description. Results appear between month 3 and month 6 of consistent posting.
Marketplaces (Zaask, Superprof, Fixando) are useful for the first 3 to 6 months, but the commissions bite (10% to 25% of the value of the first sessions) and clients tend to compare prices, not relationships. Drop them from the mix as soon as you have your own list.
Referrals are the real engine after the first year. Each satisfied client brings, on average, 1 to 2 new clients per year, and this is the number that separates the PTs who scale from the ones who plateau. Always ask for a referral at the end of each 3-month training cycle, and offer something concrete (a free session for whoever refers, or a discount on the next pack).
Step 7: Choose Where to Work
There are four types of space for the starting PT, each with different economics. The choice is not final; most PTs change format 2 or 3 times in the first few years.
Commercial chains (Holmes Place, Fitness Hut, Solinca, Vivagym, Fitness UP) operate on a "space included, commission retained" arrangement. Easy to get into, low flexibility, earnings ceiling set by the contract.
Boutique studios (functional, CrossFit, pilates, boxing) charge by the hour or on commission, with a specialised environment and a different typical clientele to that of a chain. A good option if your specialisation overlaps with that of the studio.
Private pay-per-use studios (the MySelf model) charge only for the studio time actually used, with no monthly rent and no commission on sessions. They suit those just starting out who do not yet have predictable volume, and those transitioning from a chain to self-employed. In Lisbon, a one-hour session ranges between 11 EUR and 20 EUR depending on the pack purchased.
At home or outdoors removes the space cost but adds travel time and logistics that, in practice, cap volume at 3 to 4 sessions per day. Good to get started, bad for scaling.
For most PTs in Lisbon, the combination that scales best is: 6 to 12 months at a chain to build a list, then transition to pay-per-use while the list grows, and only later (usually in the third year) consider your own studio if the list settles above 80 sessions per month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Via the CET TEEF route, around 12 to 14 months of course plus internship, followed by 2 to 8 weeks for the IPDJ to issue the Cédula TPTEF. Via the degree route, 3 years. In both cases, you then need to add AED, CPR and opening activity with Finanças.
No. The CET de Técnico Especialista em Exercício Físico (specialist technician in physical exercise) is enough to obtain the Cédula TPTEF and practise legally. The degree is required only if you also want to be Technical Director of a gym or sports club.
The CET TEEF costs between 2,500 EUR and 4,000 EUR at recognised schools, spread across 12 to 14 months. A Physical Education degree at a public university comes to around 700 EUR per year in tuition fees.
It is the Título Profissional de Técnico de Exercício Físico (professional title for physical exercise technician), issued by the IPDJ and valid for 5 years. You apply via the PRODesporto platform after completing the recognised course. Without the licence you cannot legally practise.
Yes, it is the most common setup. You open activity with Finanças under CAE 93130 or 85510, benefit from the IVA (VAT) exemption up to 14,500 EUR per year (Article 53 of the CIVA), and pay Social Security at 21.4% on 70% of the relevant income (with partial exemption in the first year).
Between 1,000 EUR and 1,500 EUR gross per month working in a gym with a PT commission split. By the second year, with your own client list growing, it is realistic to climb to 1,500 EUR to 2,000 EUR net as a self-employed trainer.
It depends on the model you choose. Working for a chain, you use the chain's space. As a self-employed trainer, you can rent time at a studio (pay-per-use model), train outdoors, or at the client's home. Each option has trade-offs between cost, convenience and perceived professionalism.
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TLDR: Key Points
In Portugal you need the IPDJ's Cédula TPTEF (professional licence); without it you cannot work legally.
There are two routes: a degree in Physical Education (3 years) or the CET TEEF (12 to 14 months plus internship).
AED, CPR and professional liability insurance are required by virtually every venue.
Open activity with the tax office (Finanças) as a self-employed worker (CAE 93130 or 85510), with VAT (IVA) exemption up to 14,500 EUR per year.
The first 6 to 12 months pay between 1,000 EUR and 1,500 EUR per month; building your own client list takes 2 to 3 years.
Tomás Jorge
