Personal trainer client check-in template

Without a regular check-in, you only hear from clients when something has already gone wrong, or not at all. A fixed weekly check-in gives you:

• A steady record you can look back on, instead of a memory of how things felt.
• An early warning when sleep, stress or motivation slips.
• A natural reason to talk every week, even when nothing is wrong.

Choose questions that are quick to answer and useful to you. Mix numbers, which you can compare week to week, with a few open questions, which tell you why the numbers moved.

• Body weight. An average of a few morning weigh-ins is steadier than one reading. Only ask if weight matters for their goal and they are happy to share it.
• Sleep: average hours a night, and how well they slept on a 1 to 10 scale.
• Energy, on a 1 to 10 scale.
• Stress, on a 1 to 10 scale, with room to say what is behind it.
• Training: how many of the planned sessions they completed.
• Wins: what went well this week.
• Struggles: what got in the way.
• Questions they have for you.
• Progress photos: front, side and back, in the same place and light each time. Once a month is often enough.

Weekly suits most clients. It is often enough to catch problems early, and rare enough not to become a chore.

• Use the same day every week. The end or start of the week works well, because the client can look back on the whole week.
• Ask for photos and body measurements less often, for example every four weeks.
• If a client finds weekly check-ins stressful, try a short version every week and a fuller one once a month.

Copy these into your form tool, a document or an email. Remove anything that does not fit the client.

If a client reports pain that is sharp, getting worse or not going away, ask them to see a qualified health professional before you keep training that area. That is a referral, not a failure.

1. Read it within the time you promised, ideally the same day or the next.
2. Compare it with the last few weeks, not just this one. One bad week is noise. Three in a row is a pattern.
3. Read the open answers first. “Work has been brutal” explains a lot of low numbers.
4. Decide on one change at most, if any. Change everything at once and you cannot tell what worked.

The reply matters more than the form. A short, personal reply beats a long, generic one.

• Start with something specific they did well.
• Answer every question they asked.
• Give one clear thing to focus on next week.
• Stay kind when the week went badly. Ask what would make next week easier, instead of pointing at what they missed.

A voice note or a short video can say more than a paragraph, and often takes you less time.

• Too many questions. If it takes more than a few minutes, answers get shorter and less honest.
• Asking and not replying. A check-in that gets no answer teaches clients to stop filling it in.
• Only looking at the scale. Sleep, stress and consistency often explain more.
• Changing the questions every week. The value is in comparing like with like.