A step-by-step guide to screening personal training clients

Screening your personal training clients is vital to the initial sign-up process.

Health screening questionnaires and initial consultations help you determine if there are any health risks to be aware of, and it’s your duty as a PT to ensure your client can proceed before they begin an exercise programme.

Understanding your client’s goals and how you can build a plan for them based on their current health status or any past injuries is also useful and improves your chances of client satisfaction.

Every personal trainer should have a bespoke client consultation form that they ask their new clients to fill out, so here we’ll cover what questions you should ask and why.

The importance of screening your personal training clients

Following the proper process for screening your personal training clients is essential for identifying risk factors and ensuring high-risk clients gain permission from their GP before training them.

It’s also beneficial for protecting yourself from costly third-party claims arising out of gross negligence to your clients, no matter how unintentional this is.

Specialist personal trainer insurance can help cover your legal costs if the worst should happen and is even a requirement across many advertised fitness roles across the UK.

Aside from gaining insight into the health and fitness of your client, the screening process also enables you to learn more about their lifestyle and how it may affect their progress.

Learning this information means you can create a safe and personalised exercise programme for your client, which sets a good foundation for your relationship and keeps the experience positive for everyone.

A step-by-step guide to the client screening process

1. PAR-Q form and screening questions

PAR-Q form

Asking your client to state whether they have any existing or previous medical problems is vital to the personal training client screening process.

Failure to ask clients about this could result in legal action if they are injured in your care.

Aside from legal ramifications, you need to know whether your client has had something like a knee reconstruction and therefore cannot squat as much, or whether they suffer from asthma or heart problems and need to go easy on the cardio.

You must also be aware of whether your client has diabetes and whether they are taking any medication for legal and safety reasons.

Instead of memorising these points, you should familiarise yourself with the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q form).

This form covers all the basic questions you must ask your client before they partake in an exercise programme.

It helps you establish whether clients between the ages of 15-69 require their GP’s permission to train or whether they can make this decision themselves. Clients above this age should always do so as a precaution.

The process is simple—if clients answer YES to any of the questions on the form, ensure they consult their doctor and provide you with a written letter of permission before agreeing to train them.

Want to improve your knowledge and expertise in these areas? You may want to gain a Level 3 qualification in GP Exercise Referral.

Lifestyle questions

Outside of highlighting any pre-existing health conditions, you need to establish just how healthy your client already is by taking into account various aspects—this will help you build a tailored workout plan.

These questions should include the following:

occupation—they may lift heavy objects all day or sit in an office, so you need to create a workout based on these factors
lifestyle—do they have an active or inactive lifestyle?
diet—do they eat healthily, or do they currently have a high-sugar diet?
alcohol consumption —does your client drink alcohol regularly? This may affect their ability to lose or gain weight
stress levels—are they stressed out at work or in their daily life? Do they need a more relaxing workout, or should they work their fury out on the pads with you?
hours of sleep—sleep will affect energy levels and a person’s ability to recover from injuries or workouts. Knowing how much someone sleeps daily will help you craft an appropriate plan, as not everyone gets eight hours a night

Have they ever had a personal trainer before?

It’s good practice to learn as much about your client’s needs as possible. Part of this process is discovering whether they have seen a personal instructor before and why they may have decided not to continue a programme with that trainer.

It could be something as simple as “they moved away” or more complex, like “we didn’t get along” or “I didn’t see any results”.

This information will allow you to create a class and a workout that addresses concerns and helps you determine where the other PT got it wrong.

This will also help you build a rapport with your client as it shows you are genuinely interested in their goals and are committed to not making the same mistakes.

2. Gaining informed consent

While liability waivers cannot completely shield you from third-party claims (they are only applicable if your client is proven to have not experienced gross negligence), gaining informed consent from your client is still useful.

It demonstrates your diligent attitude towards your role as their trainer and establishes a foundation of trust.

Informed consent forms can vary, but they should include information such as:

purpose of gaining consent
benefits and risks of participating in the exercise programme
nature of exercise supervision (close or occasional monitoring)
emergency procedures (notifying a client’s doctor of symptoms, adapting the exercise programme)
a section covering client confidentiality and freedom of consent

You should complete an informed consent form with your clients before physical fitness assessments.

3. Physical fitness assessment

Once you’ve covered all the initial health, fitness, and lifestyle-related questions, you can move on to the physical element of the personal training client screening process.

This involves a full physical assessment of your client’s fitness current fitness levels, covering each of their performance variables:

cardiovascular endurance—measured through the bleep or three-minute step tests
muscular strength—measured through the 1-RM test
power—measured through the medicine ball throw or burpee tests
agility—measured through the arrowhead agility or 10x5m shuttle tests
speed—measured through the 40-yard sprint test

If you need more inspiration, check out this extensive list of assessments for the various components of fitness.

By running these tests, you can identify strengths and weaknesses in your client’s fitness and create their exercise programme accordingly.

You’ll also be able to record this information and refer back to it as they progress to keep them motivated and on track to achieve their goals.

4. Goal setting

Establishing your client’s goals is an important part of the personal training screening process.

You should find out exactly what your clients want to achieve with their personal training regime and stick to SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

You may feel your client needs to lose weight, but their goal may be to build muscle. Build a workout plan based on what they want whilst mixing in certain exercises that you know will help them achieve those goals.

You know that six-pack abs are achieved with cardio as much as weight training, so explain that this is all part of the process.

Screening personal training clients: next steps

So, you’ve completed the screening process, and your new client is ready to begin training. Now what?

This part may not be obvious if you’re new to personal training, especially since it’s not always covered during your course. But the first thing you should do before throwing your questionnaires to one side is securely record that information so you can refer to it down the line.

Personal trainer apps are a great way to store client information for easy access. They create a more visual representation of their progress, so you can easily pull up the fitness stats and goals recorded in their questionnaire and demonstrate how far they’ve come at any point.

Not only is this great for boosting their confidence (and your PT client retention as a result), but it also protects clients with health risks such as injury or exercise-induced aggravation.

This means you’re fulfilling your duty as a personal trainer and avoiding any third-party claims due to negligence or providing incorrect advice.

If an individual’s requirements should change after the personal training client screening process, ensure you update their information and make any necessary changes to their training.

Specialist personal training insurance from Insure4Sport

Training clients is extremely rewarding, but accidents can still happen. You may want to consider specialist personal training insurance to give you peace of mind.

At Insure4Sport, you’ll receive £1m Professional Indemnity cover free of charge when Public Liability is included in your policy. This protects you if you provide a client with incorrect advice that leads to an accident.

You can also opt for Personal Accident and Loss of Earnings cover for financial protection in the worst-case scenarios.

Learn more about how we can help here, or click the button below to get an online quote in minutes.