A Brief Introduction About Personal Training Contract
A personal trainer contract is an official agreement between the client and the personal training professional. It clearly states the rights and responsibilities of both parties to the agreement. Whether you are a personal trainer who assists others in achieving their fitness goals or needs the help of a personal trainer to stay in shape, a contract is important to protect the interests of both parties. It is important to understand the requirements of the customer in terms of the training location, equipment, timings, and related issues before the agreement is signed.
There are different types of personal trainers you can choose from. Depending on your needs, you could opt for a mobile personal trainer, group exercise instructor, gym instructor or boot camp instructor. The different types of personal training forms are the PAR-Q, Waiver of liability, Client agreement contract, medical history form, goal-setting form, client referrals, privacy policy and fitness assessment informed consent form.
Who Takes Personal Training Contract – People Involved
A personal training service agreement is entered into by the client and a personal trainer. The client is interested in achieving certain goals about his or her fitness within a given timeframe, and the personal trainer offers his or her professional services to help the client achieve those goals.
Purpose of the Personal Training Contract – Why Do You Need It
When you want to hire a personal trainer, there is a certain goal or objective that you want to achieve. It could be losing weight in general or getting a certain physique. There is a difference between what you want and what you will eventually achieve because you need to understand factors like your age, medical condition, and so on.
A personal trainer responsibility includes:
- Demonstrating how the exercises need to be done
- Assisting client while they exercise to minimize the incidence of injury
- Ensuring the exercises are modified to suit the client
- Keeping a tab on the progress of the client
- Providing regular updates on general fitness and health
- Providing the client with emergency first aid when required
The benefits of a personal trainer are as follows:
- Train more efficiently and get better results
- Prevention of injury
- Gaining more muscle and losing fat
- You will be able to move beyond a plateau
- Develop exercise habits which will stay lifelong
- Variety in the type of exercises
After considering the results which the trainer can help you achieve and the fee being charged by the trainer, you can decide whether you want to agree or not. The trainer will also be protected as they will not be accused by the client of non-performance and be assured of getting their fee.
Contents of Personal Training Contract – Inclusions
This contract should include the rights and responsibilities of both parties so that before signing the agreement, both are aware of what they need to follow once the agreement is signed.
The contents of a personal training agreement are as under:
- Parties to the contract: The contract should include the name of the client and the personal trainer
- The effective date of the contract: The day from which the contract is entered into by both parties
- Purpose of the contract: Providing personal training services to the client
- Session: The total number of sessions to be held during the tenure of the contract, the duration of each session in minutes, the days on which the sessions will be held
- Exercise program: The trainer will create a customized exercise program for the client to help them achieve their fitness goals. The exercise program will be designed after taking into consideration the client’s fitness level and previous experience
- Change of trainer: If the client has engaged a company for personal training, then the client may request a change of trainer if he or she is not satisfied and the company will try to accommodate the client
- Informed consent and assumption of risk: The client will need to sign these forms as part of the agreement
- Past medical history: The client needs to disclose all medical conditions and medications as part of this contract
- Training sessions: The details of the training session to include testing of fitness, stretching, cardiovascular training or aerobic conditioning
- Payment per session: The payment details to be provided including several sessions being paid for, frequency of payment, discounts being provided and the date within which the entire training program needs to be completed. A personal training cancellation policy form must be signed by the client, so they are aware of any penalties that may be levied
How to Draft Personal Training Contract – Points to Consider While Preparing the Agreement
A personal training contract template can be referred to while preparing a contract for personal training.
While drafting the contract, the following points need to be kept in mind:
- Who are the parties involved in this agreement: This would be the client and the personal trainer?
- The services being provided by the personal trainer: The personal trainer will design an exercise program for the client based on his or her fitness levels
- Payment to the trainer: What will be the basis of payments to the trainer? Will it be a flat fee for the entire period, or will it be based on a per-session basis? Has the trainer offered any discount for payment of the session fee in advance?
- What kind of training session is being provided for the client: The present level of fitness and any existing diseases need to be communicated to the trainer, and this needs to be documented in the contract. This is important as it will protect the trainer if the client has any medical emergency for an illness not disclosed in the contract
- Indemnity: The trainer needs to be indemnified against any charges by the client for any illness or injury caused during the training sessions
- Termination: The number of days of notice to be served by either party if they want to terminate the agreement
Negotiation Strategy
In a personal training contract, you can approach different personal training companies to find out the kind of services they provide and ask for references for their quality. Based on this you can shortlist a few companies and finally choose one. You should negotiate the fee to be paid by understanding the various offers being given to clients.
Benefits & Drawbacks of Personal Training Contract
The benefits of a personal training contract are as under:
- Protection of interest of both parties: The interest of both the client and the trainer are protected by the agreement. The client is assured of the training sessions as well as professional supervision while training and the personal trainer is assured of a fee either for the entire training period or per session as stipulated in the agreement
- Flexibility: The client can change the trainer if he or she is not satisfied with the results achieved
- The trainer is indemnified of any injury or illness suffered by the client during the training session
The drawbacks of a personal training contract are as under:
- Limitations for the client: The goals which the client desire may not be met due to their present medical condition. The contract prevents the client from taking any legal action against the trainer as all medical conditions need to be stated in the contract
- Termination of services: The client may decide to terminate the services of the trainer due to the non-achievement of the desired results even though there has been no fault on the part of the trainer. This will result in a sudden loss of income for the trainer and in more severe cases risk of adversely affecting their reputation
What Happens in Case of Violation of Personal Training Contract?
In such contracts, the client needs to attend the sessions with the personal trainer on the dates mentioned in the contract. The client, as part of the agreement, needs to sign a cancellation policy. The cancellation policy mentions that the client must give advance notice for cancellation and it should be considered for exceptions like emergencies and not a habit as this would cause financial problems for the personal trainer.
If the client cancels the training sessions regularly, it will be a violation of the cancellation clause. The trainer needs to inform the client that such cancellations cannot happen regularly as the dates have been set in consultation with the client. If after this the client still repeats the same offense, then a letter needs to be sent to the client to end these cancellations or face legal consequences. If the client does not respond to the notice, then the personal trainer should take legal action.
If there is any deficiency of service in the quality of training provided by the personal trainer like not supervising the client while he or she is exercising, that amounts to a violation of the contract. The client needs to document this and send an official mail either to the trainer or the training company. If there is no response within the notice period, then legal action should be taken against the trainer.
When it comes to helping a client achieve fitness goals or hiring a personal trainer, a personal training contract is essential. A personal training contract provides all the required information regarding the past medical problem of the client and the credentials of the trainer.
This ensures that the training program would be designed in such a way so that the current medical problems of the client don’t get aggravated. If the client does suffer due to the training program for an illness that was not disclosed in the contract, then the trainer is protected by the agreement.
To ensure that the client does not cancel the sessions at his or her will, there is a cancellation policy. This ensures that the client cannot misuse the cancellation option and cause financial losses to the trainer as the days and dates of the training sessions are decided based on the convenience of the trainer.