What to put in a personal training client intake form
Five sections, each one used. Collect what changes the program, and nothing you will not read.
Kelli and Jordan, Co-Founders, AION Sculpts ·
A good intake form covers five things: contact and emergency details, a health screening that tells you when to ask for medical clearance, training history and injuries, goals in the client’s own words, and logistics — schedule, equipment, preferences. Collect only what you will use to build the program, and keep the waiver and the training agreement as separate signed documents.
1. Contact and emergency details
Name, phone, email, and an emergency contact with a phone number that will be answered during your sessions. Boring, and the one section you hope never to need.
2. Health screening
You are screening, not diagnosing. The job of this section is to tell you when someone should be cleared by a clinician before you train them. Rather than writing your own questions, many trainers use a standardized pre-participation questionnaire such as the PAR-Q+, which is built for exactly that. Follow your certifying body’s guidance on which to use and what to do with a yes. When the form says “get clearance,” get it in writing before session one.
3. Training history and injuries
What they have done before, what they have stopped doing and why, and every injury or surgery — including the old ones they think do not count. Ask what movements hurt now, not just what hurt once. This is the section that decides your first program, so give it room on the page.
4. Goals, in their words
Do not offer a checklist of “lose weight / build muscle / tone.” Ask an open question and write down the answer verbatim: “I want to carry my groceries up three flights without stopping” tells you far more than a ticked box. Ask what has stopped them before, too. That answer is the retention plan.
5. Logistics and constraints
When they can train, where, with what equipment at home, and the constraints that will break a plan if nobody writes them down: night shifts, travel weeks, an event date, a dietary restriction. These are easy to collect and easy to lose. In Trainer HQ, the Client Command Center keeps one client’s entire picture in a single view, so the intake does not end up in a folder nobody opens again.
What to leave off, and how to keep what you collect
If you will not use an answer to program, coach or keep someone safe, do not ask for it. Health information is sensitive: store it somewhere secure, limit who can see it, and keep it off your camera roll. What your state requires about keeping and protecting client records is a question for an attorney. Then revisit the form whenever something changes — a new injury, a new goal — so the file describes the person in front of you.
Common questions
- Should I write my own health questionnaire?
- Most trainers are better served by a standardized pre-participation questionnaire, such as the PAR-Q+, than by a homemade one. It is built to flag when someone should get medical clearance before training. Your certifying body's guidance is the right place to start.
- Is the intake form the same as a liability waiver?
- No. The intake form tells you who you are training; the waiver and the training agreement set the terms you train them under. Keep them as separate documents, each signed. What a waiver covers in your state is a question for an attorney.
- How often should a client redo intake?
- Revisit it whenever something changes — a new injury, a pregnancy, a new medication, a new goal — and on a regular schedule otherwise, so the file reflects the person in front of you rather than the person who signed up.