Personal Training Health History Questionnaire
New client, first session Monday. The program you write between now and then gets built from exactly two sources: what the client tells you and what you remember to ask. This questionnaire is how a coach replaces hoping with asking — a short intake completed on their phone before you ever meet, returning the raw material of good programming: what’s injured, what’s trained, what the schedule allows, and what the whole thing is for.
It’s a working document, not a filing-cabinet one. Every answer has a job: shaping loads, ruling out movements, sizing expectations.
What the Client Gets Asked — and Why
- Where the body has history. Body regions on a picture choice — taps instead of medical vocabulary — followed by a long text invitation to describe old injuries, surgeries, and the movements that don’t agree with them.
- Honest training age. A number question for days per week actually available, plus a rating for how experienced the client really is. Programs fail in the gap between those two numbers.
- Current state. A yes/no on whether a doctor has ever flagged exercise as a concern — set as required so it can’t be scrolled past.
- Readiness for change. An opinion scale on how much of their routine they’re prepared to rebuild. Ambitious answer, exhausted lifestyle: a useful contradiction to open the first conversation with.
Around that core sits whatever else you need — goals in their words, sleep, occupation — gathered in one sitting instead of extracted across three sessions.
Getting It Finished Before Session One
Clients answer more honestly from their couch than across your desk. Send the link over WhatsApp the moment they book; the progress bar shows them it takes minutes, and the thank-you screen confirms it landed. A self notification pings you the moment a new intake is in.
Reading It Like a Coach
Open the submission in the response view and program with it beside you: concerning answers become referral conversations, injury notes become movement exclusions, the availability number becomes the session structure. Ten minutes of reading replaces the awkward first-session interrogation and lets hour one start with a barbell — or a band — instead of a clipboard.
For neighboring intake documents, see the healthcare forms sub-category and the consultation sub-category; for the surrounding journey, the member onboarding use case.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should this take a client to finish?
Around ten minutes — long enough to surface what matters, short enough that nobody abandons it on the sofa. If a question has no programming consequence, cut it; you can always ask later.
Should goals live here or in the consult call?
Both, briefly. One short section here captures their own words for what they want, so the call can spend its time on approach and expectations instead of discovery. Skip the written version and you’ll spend the first paid hour on questions a form answers for free.
What should I do with a concerning answer?
Pause the plan, not the person. Answers suggesting an unresolved medical issue get a clearance conversation before any loading begins — and the questionnaire’s record of what was disclosed, and when, is exactly what you want on hand if that judgment is ever questioned.
Will clients actually share medical details through a form?
More readily than out loud, in practice. A private screen with nobody watching beats an admission across a desk — you learn about the shoulder surgery on question three instead of in week six, after three sessions of programming around a problem nobody named.