What’s up guys, Jeff from Stay Healthier. Today we’re talking about a bunch of different things that the average personal trainer couldn’t be more clueless about. We’re going to be talking about insurance and lawsuits. These are scary subjects and many of us would rather bury our heads in the sand than discuss these things, but discuss them we must.
Do Personal Trainers Need Insurance?
One of the main questions in your head right now probably is: do personal trainers even need to have insurance? The answer to that is no, you don’t legally have to be insured. That being said, many of you would be real dummies if you’re training clients and you’re not covered.
The real questions you should be asking yourself are:
- Am I adequately protected for offering the type of training I currently offer?
- What type of services do I plan on offering in the future?
- What coverage will I need for those?
We’ll go over that in quite a bit more detail as well. I also have three stories about trainers getting sued that I’ll talk about in this article, so stay tuned for that. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of any lawsuits unprotected. They’re rare, but they do happen in the training world.
Who Should Purchase Insurance?
Ultimately, all trainers should be insured, but you might not need to purchase the policy yourself.
General Liability Insurance
You’ll definitely want general liability insurance, which covers things like your client tripping over a dumbbell, getting hurt, breaking their arm, and then suing you.
Professional Liability Insurance
You also want professional liability insurance. Let’s say you’re teaching a group class and a client tears their hamstring doing a lunge and claims that you made the workout too hard and that’s why they got hurt. In situations like that, that’s where professional liability insurance comes in for the rescue.
You want at least $1 million coverage in both of these areas. Some people actually recommend $2 million in coverage for both. I tend to think $1 million is probably enough if you’re training clients in responsible, safe, and professional ways.
By the way, if it wasn’t clear: $1 million in coverage means that if someone gets hurt or has an issue during your training them, the insurance company will cover up to $1 million in medical fees.
Do You Already Have Coverage Through Your Gym?
Now if you work for a big gym like LA Fitness, Equinox, or Crunch, really any of the big ones, you might already have coverage and not even know about it. Honestly, even smaller locations will often have policies to cover their workers as well.
So if you’re employed anywhere, before you buy anything, ask your boss: “Hey boss, do I have professional and general liability insurance through the gym, or do I have to buy my own?”
If your boss says you’re covered through the company, then I wouldn’t necessarily bother buying any extra coverage. However, if they don’t have you covered or you’re self-employed, read on.
Getting Insured: A Step-by-Step Quote Walkthrough with Next Insurance
I’ve compared a bunch of different options and the best deal from a reputable company in the fitness insurance space seems to be from Next. I’ve actually been insured through Next for about 8 years now. I’ve looked at other options a few times, but Next always seems to have the best rates, at least from a bigger, more established company.
Again, I’m personally looking for at least $1 million coverage in general and professional liability, and of course I’m looking for a company with a proven track record, which you should be looking for as well.
Here’s how to get a quote on Next’s website, step by step, so you can be covered when you’re training clients.
Step 1: Start Your Quote
Go to the Next Insurance website and click “Get Instant Quote.” Another good thing about coverage with Next is that your general liability insurance also includes professional liability insurance, so you’ll have all the coverage that you need.
Enter your state. Then, since we are personal trainers, select “Personal Trainer” under industries.
Step 2: Answer Business Questions
You’ll be asked a series of questions about your business. Here’s how to think through each one:
Do you employ other instructors or operate a gym or fitness studio? Most of you don’t, so select No.
Uses tools and equipment to operate? I’m going to say No for this one. To clarify further: selecting this would likely just provide some coverage to your fitness equipment if something like your dumbbells were stolen or damaged.
It shouldn’t change the coverage you would get if a client were to get injured, and in my opinion, that’s what you should care about. Fitness equipment isn’t too expensive, but hospital bills are. Long story short, some of you should consider checking this, but for most it probably won’t be worth it.
Rents or owns an office or business location? I’m going to check this one off because I think a lot of you, if you work for yourself, would be renting out space somewhere.
Uses vehicles for business purposes? We don’t need to check that one off. We should not be driving clients around places.
Step 3: Fill Out Basic Business Information
- Business name: Enter your business name (e.g., Jeff’s Training).
- Location: Enter the address of wherever you’re training clients.
- Business ownership structure: Select “Individual or Sole Proprietorship,” as that’s what most of you will be.
- Start date: Enter when you started operating.
- Employees outside your state: Select No if applicable.
- Number of owners: 1. Number of employees: 0 (not including owners).
Step 4: Additional Coverage Questions
Do you or any of your employees have a certification in nutrition and dietary supplements?
Answer honestly.
Do you want additional coverage for this?
Select No, because we’re not going to be doing anything that requires extra coverage there.
Are you certified through NASM, NESTA, WITS, or any other accredited training program?
Yes, and you should be as well.
Do you, your employees, or your participants do any non-fitness dance or performances?
Definitely No.
Do you or your employer require all of your clients to sign a waiver?
Absolutely Yes. That should be a yes for you guys as well.
Has your commercial insurance coverage been cancelled, revoked, or non-renewed in the last 3 years?
No.
Has your business or any of its officers, owners, or partners been convicted of a felony in the past 5 years?
No.
Declared bankruptcy?
No.
Had business-related lawsuits?
No.
Had any claims?
No.
Step 5: Excluded Activities
The following activities will be excluded from your policy. Confirm that you acknowledge you will not be covered for things like acrobatics, yoga, cheerleading, massage therapy, and fitness classes involving infants or animals. We’re good, we don’t need to do any of those things.
Step 6: Additional Coverage Options
Umbrella/excess liability coverage? We’re probably not going to need that.
Workers’ compensation? We don’t need this if we’re working for ourselves without employees.
Property coverage? We don’t need this either if we’re just renting space, not owning it.
Step 7: Review Your Quote
In this example, we got $15.35 a month, which is a little more than it quoted last time, probably due to the different location chosen. By the way, there are ways to get this monthly payment down a little bit. If you reach out to Next after they send you a quote, you can adjust to get less coverage, which would cost a little bit less. But at $15.34 a month or $184 a year, that’s a very good price for $4 million of coverage.
Also keep in mind, if you work for yourself, this is a good tax write-off. You’ll definitely be needing some of those.
Real Lawsuits Involving Personal Trainers
Now that we’ve talked about coverage, who should purchase a policy, who shouldn’t, and what type of policy you should get, let’s talk about a few different lawsuits that I’ve actually heard of or seen firsthand that involved personal trainers.
Lawsuit #1: The Client With Pre-Existing Injuries
The first lawsuit I was close to involved a trainer that I worked with at a private facility for about two years. Just to give you some context: this trainer had a four-year degree in exercise science and was in the process of applying to and moving on to med school. This trainer was very intelligent and really good at the job. I never saw any weaknesses in his game. He was certainly just as good as I was. He just happened to get the wrong client at the wrong time.
Essentially, the studio where we both worked signed on a client who had a bunch of different injuries: knee problems, shoulder problems, back problems. You name it, she had it. But despite that, she was in a pretty good spot and excited to begin training. Also, many of those injuries were older, and of course strength training can help with that. She primarily ended up working with this other trainer, and at first things seemed to go really well.
It was probably about four months into working together that, out of the blue, this client started complaining about old injuries flaring up, and not just a little bit. We’re talking a lot. She was claiming that this trainer was causing her injuries to get worse.
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Do I believe that this trainer was actually worsening this client’s injuries? No. I’m reasonably sure that wasn’t the case. I saw the workouts that he was doing with her and I saw how she was acting before and after sessions. Is it possible that he didn’t do anything wrong and the client ended up hurt anyway? Yeah, unfortunately that’s always a possibility. I hate to say it, but it’s also possible that this client decided she wanted to make some money and see what happens when she sues. I have no way of knowing what was actually going on with this particular client. But I can tell you that this whole situation ended up in a settlement, and the trainer and the business itself were essentially saved by insurance.
Lawsuit #2: The Dumbbell Handoff Gone Wrong
There was another situation I wasn’t as close to, but I heard about from a different trainer who I really trust. Essentially, a trainer was working at a gym close to the one that I used to work at, and they were spotting a client doing a dumbbell bench press. After the client had completed their set, the trainer went to grab the dumbbells from the client, but they missed the handoff, which resulted in a dumbbell to the face of the client. A dumbbell to the face. That’s not exactly ideal.
Again, I wasn’t as close to this lawsuit. This one is really just more of a rumor coming from a trusted source. But since I heard that story, I don’t let clients hand me or my staff dumbbells over their face, and neither should you. Have them drop those things off to the sides.
From what I heard, this trainer did get fired. This one happened in a bigger gym, and the trainer and the gym itself both had coverage. I’m pretty sure this one ended up in a settlement as well. The trainer lost their job, which is tough, but I don’t think they got into any additional trouble beyond that.
If you Google “personal trainer lawsuits,” you can find a bunch of other scenarios that aren’t totally dissimilar to the two that we just talked about. People get hurt in stupid ways, and sometimes it’s the trainer’s fault and other times it isn’t.
Lawsuit #3: The Non-Compete Agreement That Didn’t Hold Up
The only other lawsuit involving trainers that I know happened close to me actually had nothing to do with liability, but it may as well be discussed because it’s a story worth sharing.
A studio close to mine, which shall remain nameless and doesn’t exist any longer, was known as a decent place to work out if you were a client but a bad place to work if you were a trainer. They really struggled with trainer turnover, and I can only guess that’s from not paying their trainers very well.
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In the final days of this studio, a bunch of trainers left the facility and I think they may have tried to take some clients with them. Considering the business was basically wrapping up at that point, I can’t really blame the trainers for doing this. Also, if they weren’t treated well leading up to where the business was starting to struggle, well, yeah, all of this would make sense.
So the owner of that studio sued these trainers who were leaving and likely taking clients. I don’t know all the details, but I’m reasonably certain it had something to do with them violating non-compete agreements that they had signed.
There’s one big issue with all that though: non-compete agreements are basically unenforceable in most cases. I don’t think that any of these trainers went and tried to open up physical locations close to where this business was. From what I’ve been told, they were just trying to move on, get new jobs, and make a living doing what they knew, which was of course training.
Opening a physical personal training location close to the one where you signed the non-compete and taking clients is the only way in which I can see a non-compete possibly holding up. But even then, there’s a good chance it still wouldn’t.
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So anyway, all these trainers banded together and won the legal battle against the facility owner. I ended up hearing about this later on because some of the clients who were working out at the facility ended up at other facilities close by, one of which was my studio.
Long story short: non-competes don’t usually hold up. But also, if you’re going to leave a business, try to be as respectful as possible even if your employer is not.
Conclusion
Lawsuits do happen in the personal training world, and the stories above show that it can happen to even the most skilled and responsible trainers. The good news is that proper insurance coverage can mean the difference between a costly disaster and a manageable situation.
To summarize the key takeaways:
- All personal trainers should be insured, even if it’s not legally required.
- Make sure you have both general liability and professional liability insurance.
- Aim for at least $1 million in coverage in both areas.
- If you’re employed at a gym, ask whether you’re already covered before buying a policy.
- If you’re self-employed, get your own policy. Next Insurance is a solid and affordable option.
- Always require clients to sign a waiver before training begins.
- Practice safe habits in sessions, such as not allowing dumbbell handoffs over a client’s face.
- Non-compete agreements are rarely enforceable, but always leave jobs professionally and respectfully.
Either way, make sure you’re acting professionally and make sure you’re covered. If you use our link for Next down below, the channel does receive a small commission. But that has nothing to do with recommending them. Next has been used for many years before this article was written, and they simply offer the best deal.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do personal trainers legally need to have insurance? No, there is no legal requirement to be insured as a personal trainer. However, training clients without insurance is a significant financial risk, and most trainers should be covered.
What types of insurance do personal trainers need? At a minimum, you need general liability insurance and professional liability insurance. General liability covers incidents like a client tripping and getting injured. Professional liability covers claims that your training caused harm or was negligent.
How much coverage do personal trainers need? Aim for at least $1 million in both general and professional liability coverage. Some experts recommend $2 million, but $1 million is typically sufficient for trainers operating in a safe and professional manner.
What if I already work at a gym? Do I still need insurance? Not necessarily. Many gyms provide coverage for their employees. Ask your employer directly whether you have professional and general liability coverage through the gym before purchasing your own policy.
What is the best insurance company for personal trainers? Next Insurance is a well-regarded option in the fitness space, offering competitive rates and solid coverage. General and professional liability are bundled together in their fitness plans.
How much does personal trainer insurance cost? It varies based on your state and situation, but a ballpark figure is around $15 per month or roughly $184 per year for $4 million in coverage through Next Insurance.
Are non-compete agreements enforceable for personal trainers? Generally, no. Non-compete agreements are very difficult to enforce, especially if you are simply moving on to a new job rather than opening a competing business nearby.
Should I require clients to sign a waiver? Absolutely yes. Always have clients sign a waiver before beginning any training. This is a basic professional standard that can help protect you in the event of a legal dispute.
Can a trainer be sued even if they didn’t do anything wrong? Yes, unfortunately. As discussed in the stories above, clients can file claims even when a trainer has done everything correctly. This is exactly why having insurance coverage is so important regardless of how carefully you work.
