Expand Your Business with In-Home Personal Training

In-home training can provide numerous benefits to clients who prefer to receive training at their house instead of on-premise. Training outside of your gym or fitness center is a great way to add clients to your roster, but come with its own set of responsibilities and necessary precautions.

In-Home Training Best Practices

The same best practices you apply in your regular one-on-one personal training sessions in your familiar surroundings should apply when you are training a client in their home. Always insist in a proper workout surface, appropriate workout attire, and proper workout form no matter where you are conducting a session.

Remember to stay professional – you are still the trainer, and they are the client, so be careful not to allow overfamiliarity to become part of the routine. This may apply particularly if you feel there is any chance of the client trying to take the professional relationship and turn it personal.

Create a Safe Environment

Manage the risk of personal injury just as rigorously as you would in a gym setting. Ensure that the area chosen for the workout is spacious enough to prevent injury by hitting the way with a limb or the head in case of a fall.

If you don’t feel that the area chosen provides a safe workout space, address this with the client before the session begins by saying something like ‘I really don’t feel comfortable having you do your workout here – it’s not very safe” and agree on a location that makes both of your comfortable.

Safety applies to you as well. Conducting sessions in private with clients adds a layer of risk that none of us like to think about, but you should make sure someone knows your schedule and has the address for where you will be. Have your spouse / significant other or a coworker / friend give you a call after your session, or expect a call from you to let them know you are safe.

Keep Your Clients on Track

It can be difficult to keep your client focused when he/she is in their own space. Try to lay ground rules for your sessions, and structure their workout to provide maximum value. Ways to gently take and maintain control could include:

• Making sure the session starts on time. If your client is always unready when you arrive, maybe you could call them when you are ten minutes out to remind them to be ready.
• Remove distractions. Request the TV be turned off so you can hear each other, the phones to be turned off to prevent interruptions, and have any pets or children sent to another room during the session.
• Try to avoid getting sucked into chit chat that lessens workout time. If the client insists on chat breaks, suggest they increase their session time from 45 minutes to an hour, or from an hour to an hour and a half.  This is a particularly good idea if you have a client who likes to work out with a friend or their spouse and chatter starts eating away at the workout time.

 

Manage Your Liability

Make sure your professional liability insurance policy is portable. A good personal trainer insurance policy will follow you wherever you go, so you can conduct sessions at the gym, in a client’s home, or at the park with full coverage. Fitness trainer coverage from CPH insurance is fully portable and covers you anywhere you are legally allowed to train.

Providing in-home personal training sessions to your clientele can open up a whole new revenue stream – you just have to be aware of the added risks and complexities and plan accordingly.

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CPH & Associates is proud to be the Professional Liability Insurance partner of NFPT. A policy with CPH brings peace of mind, so you can focus on providing  your clients with the highest quality of care. Visit http://www.wellfitins.com/nfptinsurance/ to learn more about CPH and the importance of carrying personal trainer insurance.