A fitness client intake questionnaire is a short form a coach sends before writing a program. It collects training level, goals, schedule, equipment, exercise likes and dislikes, and health flags. A good one takes a client 5 to 10 minutes, covers seven sections, and includes a health screen such as the PAR-Q+. A copy-ready template is below.
Why do online coaches need a client intake form?
In person, the first session shows you how someone squats, breathes and moves. Online, you get none of that. The intake form is your first assessment, and the program can only be as good as the answers.
A weak intake costs you in three ways:
- Wrong plan. You write a 5-day gym split for someone who has 3 evenings a week and a pair of dumbbells at home.
- Back-and-forth. You spend two days in DMs asking questions you could have asked up front.
- Drop-off. The client gets a plan with exercises they hate or cannot do, does it twice, and disappears.
The fix is boring and effective: ask the same structured questions every time, in the same order, and read every answer before you write a single set.
What should a personal training client questionnaire include?
Here is the template I would hand to any online coach. Every question has a reason; if you cannot explain why you are asking something, cut it.
| Section | Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fitness profile | What is your training level: beginner, intermediate or advanced? | Sets starting volume, exercise complexity and how much coaching cue detail you write. |
| 1. Fitness profile | What is your age bracket? | Affects recovery expectations and warm-up length; a bracket is enough, you do not need a birth date. |
| 1. Fitness profile | What is your sex at birth? | Useful context for some goals and health questions; keep it optional if your audience prefers. |
| 1. Fitness profile | How active are you outside training (desk job, on your feet, physical work)? | Daily activity changes how much extra conditioning work makes sense. |
| 2. Goals | What is your main goal for the next 8 to 12 weeks? | One primary goal keeps the plan focused: fat loss, strength, muscle, endurance, mobility or general health. |
| 2. Goals | What training have you done before, and for how long? | Someone returning after years off is not a true beginner, and progresses faster. |
| 3. Schedule | How many days per week can you realistically train? | The single biggest driver of plan structure: full body, upper/lower or a split. |
| 3. Schedule | How long can each session be? | A 30-minute session needs supersets and fewer exercises; 75 minutes allows more volume. |
| 3. Schedule | What time of day do you usually train? | Early morning sessions need a longer warm-up; late sessions may need lower intensity near bedtime. |
| 4. Preferences | Are there exercises you dislike or will not do? | Adherence beats the "perfect" exercise. Swap burpees for something they will actually do. |
| 4. Preferences | Where will you train: home, gym or outdoors? | Decides exercise selection completely. |
| 4. Preferences | What equipment do you have access to? | A rack and barbell, two dumbbells and a band, or only bodyweight are three different programs. |
| 5. Health | Have you completed the PAR-Q+ (below)? Did you answer yes to any question? | Flags people who should get medical clearance before starting. |
| 5. Health | Any injuries, pain, surgeries or conditions I should know about? | Lets you avoid aggravating movements and choose safer variations. |
| 5. Health | Anything else that affects training: medication, pregnancy, sleep, stress? | Context that rarely fits a checkbox but changes the plan. |
| 6. Communication | Which language do you prefer for the plan and messages? | Exercise cues in a second language are easy to misread. |
| 7. Logistics | Budget, start date, and how you want to check in | Sets expectations before anyone pays. |
Two tips on the wording. First, use multiple choice wherever you can (days per week, session length, location) and keep free text for injuries and dislikes. Second, ask for the reason behind the goal. "Lose 5 kg" and "lose 5 kg because my knees hurt on stairs" lead to different programs.
How do you screen client health with the PAR-Q+?
The PAR-Q+ (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone) is the most widely used pre-exercise screening form. According to its official site, eparmedx.com, page 1 contains seven general health questions. If a person answers no to all of them, they are cleared for physical activity. A yes sends them to follow-up questions about specific chronic conditions, and if any of those are also yes, they are directed to the ePARmed-X+ or to a qualified exercise professional, and higher-risk people may need clearance from a healthcare provider.
The American College of Sports Medicine updated its screening recommendations in 2015 so that fewer healthy people are sent to a doctor before exercising. The ACSM paper by Riebe et al. in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise bases screening on three factors: how active the person is now, whether they have signs or symptoms or known cardiovascular, metabolic or renal disease, and how hard they intend to exercise.
How to use this in practice:
- Link the official PAR-Q+ form from your intake rather than retyping it, since the official version gets updated.
- Ask the client to confirm whether they answered yes to any question.
- If they did, ask them to get clearance from a doctor before you start, and write a note of it in their file.
- Re-check whenever their health changes, not only at the start.
An important limit: a fitness coach is not a substitute for medical advice. Screening helps you spot who needs a doctor. It does not let you diagnose, treat, or decide that a symptom is "probably fine". If a client reports chest pain, dizziness, or unexplained shortness of breath, the answer is to stop and see a doctor, not a modified workout.
How long should a fitness intake form be?
Long enough to write the plan, short enough that people finish it. In practice that means 15 to 20 questions, most of them taps rather than typing. A few rules I follow:
- Group questions into steps. Seven short screens feel easier than one long page, and clients can see progress.
- Ask only what changes the plan. Body measurements, photos and food diaries can come later if your service needs them.
- Make health questions easy to answer honestly. A neutral free-text field gets more useful answers than a list of scary diagnoses.
How to turn intake answers into a training program
Once the answers are in, I read them in a fixed order and make one decision per section:
- Health first. Any PAR-Q+ yes or an injury note? Resolve that before anything else.
- Schedule sets the frame. 2 to 3 days per week usually means full body; 4 days, upper/lower; 5 or more, a split.
- Location and equipment pick the exercises. Choose movements they can actually do with what they have.
- Level sets the dose. Beginners get fewer exercises, simpler variations and conservative volume.
- Goal sets the emphasis. Strength, rep ranges and rest times follow from it.
- Preferences make the final edit. Remove the exercises they said they dislike and offer an alternative.
For general health clients, the WHO physical activity fact sheet recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week for adults.
How Fitexchange's 7-step intake maps to this template
If you coach through Telegram, you do not have to build this form yourself. In Fitexchange, a Telegram mini app for coaches and clients, a client sends a custom workout request through a 7-step intake that follows the same structure:
| Template section | Fitexchange intake step |
|---|---|
| Fitness profile | Step 1: level, age bracket, sex at birth, activity level |
| Goals | Step 2: fitness goal, exercise history |
| Schedule | Step 3: days per week, session length, best time |
| Preferences | Step 4: disliked exercises, location (home, gym, outdoor), equipment |
| Health | Step 5: health issues, notes |
| Communication | Step 6: languages |
| Logistics | Step 7: coach and price |
The app does not run a PAR-Q+ for you, so I would still link the official form in your coach profile or first chat message and ask for the result. Each request has its own chat between coach and client, which is where you ask follow-up questions or confirm medical clearance.
The coach sets their own price per request (it can be free), and the client pays in Telegram Stars inside Telegram. The payment is held until the client starts the first workout, or released automatically after 7 days; rejected or expired requests are refunded. The finished plan is delivered in the app as structured workouts built from an exercise library of 314 exercises. If you are working out what to charge, see how to price online workout plans, and for the bigger picture, how fitness creators sell workout plans in Telegram.
When a Google Form is the better choice
A built-in intake is not the right fit for everyone. If you need custom questions (nutrition logs, body measurements, signed waivers), or your clients are not on Telegram, a general form builder gives you full control over every field. Many coaches combine both: a short structured intake for the plan, and a separate form for anything specialist. For a side-by-side look, read Fitexchange vs Tribute, Boosty and Google Forms.
Whatever the tool, ask the same questions in the same order, and take health screening seriously.
Frequently asked questions
What questions should a personal trainer ask a new client?
Ask about training level, age bracket, daily activity, the main goal for the next 8 to 12 weeks, past training, days per week, session length, training time, location, equipment, disliked exercises, injuries and health conditions, and preferred language. Add a PAR-Q+ health screen and ask whether the client answered yes to any question before you write the program.
Is the PAR-Q+ required for online coaching?
It is not a legal requirement everywhere, but it is the most widely used pre-exercise screening form and a sensible baseline for any coach. Link the official version from eparmedx.com, ask the client to complete it, and if they answer yes to any question, ask them to get clearance from a doctor before starting the program.
How long should a fitness intake form take to fill in?
Aim for 5 to 10 minutes, which usually means 15 to 20 questions split into short steps. Use multiple choice for schedule, location and equipment, and keep free text for injuries, health notes and disliked exercises. Ask only what changes the plan; measurements, photos and food diaries can be requested later if your service needs them.
Can a fitness coach give medical advice based on the intake form?
No. A fitness coach is not a substitute for medical advice. The intake form and PAR-Q+ help you spot clients who need a doctor, but they do not let you diagnose or treat anything. If a client reports chest pain, dizziness or unexplained shortness of breath, they should stop and see a healthcare provider before training.