Generally no, and this one surprises trainers more than any other rule. Your own gym membership is a personal expense in the eyes of the IRS, even though being fit is obviously part of the job. But the money you pay a gym specifically to train clients there is a different expense entirely, and that one is deductible.
Why your own gym membership is a personal expense
The IRS draws a hard line around expenses that are inherently personal, and staying in shape is on the personal side no matter what you do for a living. Club dues and membership fees for gyms, athletic clubs, and similar facilities are specifically called out as nondeductible. The logic: everyone benefits personally from health and fitness, so the expense is not ordinary and necessary to a business in the way the tax code requires, even when your physique is part of your marketing.
Courts have backed this up in cases involving people whose jobs demanded fitness. Looking the part, staying strong for demos, and filming your own workouts for content do not convert a membership you would plausibly have anyway into a business cost. Deducting a personal membership is one of the more commonly flagged small-business mistakes, so it is a bad hill to fight an audit on.
Gym rental and day passes for training clients are different
Here is what does count. If you pay a facility so you can train clients there, that is rent for business space, and it is deductible on Schedule C. That includes monthly floor fees or trainer rental agreements at a gym, per-session usage fees, day passes you buy in order to run a client session, and hourly rental of studio space to film coaching content or run assessments. If you rent a dedicated space full time, the rent, and business insurance on it, are deductible too.
The distinction is the purpose of the payment. A membership that gives you personal access to work out is personal. A fee that exists because clients are being trained is business. Some trainers hold both at the same gym: a personal membership they do not deduct, and a separate trainer floor fee they do.
Documentation that keeps floor fees deductible
Keep the business arrangement visible on paper. A trainer agreement or facility rental contract that names client training as the purpose is the cleanest support. Pay floor fees and day passes from your business account, and note which client or session a one-off pass was for. If your gym bundles a personal membership with trainer privileges in one price, ask them to split the billing, or at minimum get the trainer fee stated separately in writing, because an unallocated bundle defaults to looking personal.
The good news is that the deductible category is usually the bigger number anyway. Floor fees, studio rental, equipment, liability insurance, certifications, and coaching apps all reduce the profit that gets hit with the 15.3% self-employment tax. Let the membership go, and capture everything on the business side of the line cleanly.