All You Need to Know about Personal Training Liability Insurance

Personal trainers offer the kind of intense one-on-one instruction for clients that need to be motivated to reach their fitness goals. Clients trust their trainers to provide safe routines that are effective in helping them be healthier. During the session, personal trainers must be aware of many different variables and moving parts in order to provide a safe and beneficial workout. 

This guide provides a useful resource for personal trainers exploring covering themselves with the surety that personal trainer insurance provides. Read on as we deep dive into the important risk management practice for you and your business.

What do personal trainers do?

Personal trainers are undeniably in the “fit” business. They help their clients safely progress through workouts with an end goal in mind. For some, that’s losing weight, others want to tone, and others simply want to maintain mobility. Being able to craft the workout routines that get clients where they want to go is the mark of a good personal trainer and how you’ll grow your reputation as being effective. 

With knowledge, experience, and expectant clients comes responsibility. In the eyes of the law, there’s things known as liabilities, which are the responsibility of a professional to pay for injuries or damages to property that occur under the supervision of a trainer or generally around their place of business. The two liabilities most are at least fairly familiar with are general and professional liability.

Insure Fitness designed this insurance program just for personal trainers. We know the risks you will face throughout your career and so brought together a unique blend of stout coverage options and additional safeguards to produce the best all-around coverage available for personal trainers.

What is personal trainer liability insurance?

Personal trainer insurance will covers things like slip, trip, and fall injuries. These types of incidents are somewhat notorious with all those lawyer ads on TV, so all it can take is the slightest of falls to bring about an expensive lawsuit against you. With IFG, our trainer members are covered up to $1 Million for each occurrence and $3 Million in total individually each year. Not every insurance plan provides individual aggregates which means you may be sharing your limits with others on the plan.

What  does professional liability coverage provide?

The other type you’ve probably heard of is professional liability, or malpractice. These types stem from the actual training and advice you provide. If a client is injured or has their property damaged because they attend a fitness class with you, they may hold you responsible for reimbursing them for any costs. 

Professional liability incidents come in all shapes and sizes. Ushering a client through their workout, they may drop the weights during a tough exercise and leave the session exhausted. It could be weeks later that you then receive notice that the client believes you pushed them too hard in their session which led to some form of injury. Even if a claim against you has no merit, it can still take thousands to defend yourself in court.

Additional coverages

Coverage for the costs of claims plus the cost of legal defense fees when necessary is what personal trainer insurance does best. For one low, annual price, you get great coverage for general and professional liability claims, as well as product liability, rental damage coverage, stolen equipment coverage, and even an identity protection plan. 

Knowing all the different coverage types included with IFG’s tailored insurance plan just for fitness professionals is the best way to know you’re getting a great value for your unique career path. 

• Product Liability - any trainer knows the equipment in the gym are your tools for the trade. No matter what kind of fitness you’re into - group fitness classes, high-intensity interval training, or just about anything in between, you rely on your equipment to help deliver a great session. When a piece of equipment fails, an injury can occur. Product liability protection helps cover the costs to you that stem from someone being injured on a piece of equipment you have them use.
• Rental Damage Coverage - a lot of professional personal trainers need to rent space from a gym, studio, or even warehouse in order to provide their classes to clients. The landlord for this property can hold you responsible for paying the costs of repairs when any damage happens to the space you’re occupying. It could be a dropped Rogue Fitness® bumper weight that crashes into the wall or a backed-up toilet that ruins the flooring—accidents happen in a variety of formats. That’s why our coverage made for the real world provides all the way up to $100,000 to help cover the cost of any necessary repairs to a rented space. 
• Stolen Equipment Coverage - having your equipment stolen in a robbery-by-force can be both emotionally-rattling as well as a huge hit to your cash flow. Having to replace equipment in the midst of such an unsettling event is hard to imagine, so we include all the way up to $1,000 with a low $250 deductible to help you as you get back to normal.
• Identity Protection Plan - in the digital age we live in, cyber incidents happen 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When your identity is compromised, it can take a lot of time and effort to help restore all the different areas of your personal finances. That’s where our identity protection plan really packs a bunch. You’ll get all the way up to $25,000 worth of identity restoration services from a dedicated expert so you don’t have to worry about all the details.

Covering yourself from all sides with affordable and effective insurance means your career is protected through every rep and every personal best. This allows you to focus everything on the client, rather than having to wonder about the “what-ifs”. 

Choosing the best liability insurance for you

When considering your options for personal trainer insurance it's good practice to compare different programs available to you. Comparing elements like price, coverage options, services covered, additional protections, and benefits will help you make the best decision for you and your personal training career.