What Insurance Do I Need as a Personal Trainer

Imagine this. You, a personal trainer, are in the gym doing your job. All of a sudden, a client of yours loses their balance and falls off the treadmill. This client ended up spraining their leg and had to go to the hospital. Now, there’s a possible lawsuit. The client can send in a claim against you and hold you liable for the injury. You’d end up having to pay their medical bills, the cost of repairing their, or your, damaged property, and other possible damages. 

What if this claim goes to court? Accidents do happen and you can’t be held responsible for someone falling off a treadmill. However, depending on how the situation went down and how the courts view it, you could either win or lose the trial. There’s always the possibility that you successfully defend the claim against you. However, you’ll still have to pay attorney fees, which could evidently put you out of business. Not to mention missing work due to having to attend hearings and meetings. 

Choosing the Best Insurance for your Personal Training Needs

It seems like a lot for something that could be easily avoided. Or at least cost you less time and money. 

As a personal trainer, you’ve dedicated yourself to helping people reach their physical fitness goals. Your personal goal should be to be a successful personal trainer that makes an impact in the lives of your clients, find success, and have a fulfilling career. It’s important to protect yourself, your job, and your future with personal trainer liability insurance.

Choosing the correct plan that works for you and your business can be a bit tricky. It’s okay to be confused about it all. Let’s see if we can make the decision process a bit easier. 

What You Need in Insurance

There are two types of insurance that you must have when starting a personal training business or when you’re already running one, especially as a personal trainer. General Liability Insurance and Professional Liability Insurance. 

General Liability Insurance  

Insurance that protects you from the financial consequences of accidents that occur on the job that results in bodily injury. This would cover the sprained ankle medical bills in the first example. It would also cover an incident where a client uses a weight machine in which the pin has not been properly inserted and it causes injury. 

General liability insurance also covers property damage and third-party property damage. Imagine putting away some weights after a workout and accidentally dropping one of the weights on your client’s bag. The bag contained your client’s laptop, or other personal and fragile belongings,  which are now smashed. This would most likely cause your client to press charges for the damages of their property. 

So, as a whole, general liability insurance covers: 

• Accidents resulting in bodily injuries
• Damage to property owned by clients
• Property owned by another trainer
• Property owned by a complete stranger

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance is also known as Errors and Omissions insurance. It Protects you against claims of: 

• Negligence
• Misrepresentation
• Inaccurate advice 

Professional liability insurance is recommended if you are in any of these industries: 

• Health and wellness coaching
• Pilates instructor
• Personal trainer
• Yoga instructor

If you, or one of your employees, makes a mistake on the job, like giving advice to a client that results in injury, professional liability insurance can help cover the legal costs.  

Also, failing to give clients health questionnaires could result in a client falling ill or becoming injured due to being pushed outside their medical boundaries. They could sue you for negligence. You can read our article on Questions Personal Trainers Should Ask Clients, to know more.

Before You Buy Personal Trainer Insurance 

There’s a lot of thinking and researching that needs to be done before you jump right in and buy an insurance plan. You need to take into consideration not only your business but you, as a person, as well. Your insurance should benefit you just as much as it benefits your business. The insurance company you end up partnering with is just that; a partner. They are there to assist you in any way possible. 

Check for things like coverage limits for both professional and general liability insurance. See if they cover both, and find out if they are stout or substantial. 

Personal Trainer Insurance Research is Key

When researching the different insurance plans, make sure that the options make sense to you. Insurance language can be confusing if you aren’t too familiar with it. As your partner, your insurance company is there to help you and answer all and any questions you may have. Your partner cares about you and your business needs; you should be their main priority. They need to understand who you are as a person, along with understanding your business and what you are trying to accomplish with it. A quality insurance partner will value your career and your future.  

The policy should provide coverage that protects all of the services you offer. As said before, not only does the insurance need to cover your business, but it should also cover you. Check for additional perks, benefits, and protection. Such as:

• Identity Protection –  If a personal trainer loses a client’s file containing the client’s address, social security number, credit card number, and other records of personal information. 
• Protects against stolen equipment
• Protection against rental damage. 

How Much Does Personal Training Insurance Cost?

According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), if you choose their insurance plan, personal trainers can get professional and general liability insurance starting at $132 per year. You could also look into bundled coverage starting at $179 per year. 

The cost of your personal trainer insurance will typically vary based on these factors:

• Coverage limits
• Number of policies
• Business location
• The type of training you offer
• Professional certifications you may have
• Your personal training cancellation policy
• Number of employees you may have
• Previous history of claims

Basically, the more risks your business faces, and the more coverage you need, the more your premiums will cost. For example, if you work from home you will likely have a lower premium than if you were to rent a space in a gym and have an employee.

Best Insurance for Personal Trainers   

There are many different insurance options for personal trainers. It’s important to remember that just because an insurance policy costs more, it doesn’t mean that it’s any better. That also goes for if the insurance company costs less, it doesn’t mean that it’s any better or any worse. You need to really do your research and find out if the costs of the policy are worth the benefits it comes with. 

Listed below are the three best insurance options according to the Institute of Personal Trainers.  

Next Insurance

Next allows you to customize your policy. They have specialized personal trainer insurance that includes general liability and professional liability coverage. Based on the coverage limits you need, their standard policies are Basic, Pro, and Pro Plus. They also partner with NASM. Next Insurance provides general liability and professional liability coverage starting at $11 per month. 

Insure Fitness Group

Insure Fitness Group provides business insurance to personal trainers and other fitness professionals. They have a customized personal training policy that includes coverage for general liability, professional liability, products liability, rental damage, and stolen equipment.

The cost of Insure Fitness Group’s policy is $179 per year and only $25 per year for personal trainer students.

ACE Liability Insurance

American Council on Exercise (ACE) is a liability insurance program designed for trainers who have, or training to obtain, a certificate from the American Council on Exercise. The program offers discounted rates to ACE-certified professionals through a partnership with Philadelphia Insurance Companies. They provide coverage for general and professional liability, sexual abuse liability, products liability, medical payments, and damages to premises. According to the ACE website, a one-year premium for this coverage starts at $172 and a two-year premium starts at $294.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of what insurance company you decide is best for you, it’s important that you are insured. Especially before you begin your career as a personal trainer. Not only would it protect your business, but it would also protect you. Accidents happen in the workplace all of the time. Whether it’s your fault or not, it doesn’t matter. If the client feels the need to press charges against an injury or property damage, regardless of whether you win or lose the case, your business will suffer. You’ve already dedicated yourself to helping people reach their physical fitness goals. Now you need to dedicate yourself to protecting all you have worked for. It’s important to protect yourself, your job, and your future with personal trainer liability insurance.

For further information, guidance, and help with running your business, Persona is designed to do just that. The Persona team handles everything behind the scenes so that you can focus on running your business with peace of mind. Persona does everything your retail bank does and more. Download the app either on Google Play or the App Store. Persona will track and collect payments, keep you informed on how your business is doing financially, help you pay less in taxes as well as tell you when you should file taxes as a personal trainer.