PAR-Q forms: what personal trainers need, and how to do them online
Before anyone trains with you, you need to know whether exercise is safe for them. The Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire, or PAR-Q, is the usual way to find out. This guide covers what it is, what to do with the answers, and how to collect and keep it properly.
This is general information, not legal or medical advice.
What a PAR-Q is
A PAR-Q is a short set of yes or no questions about a person’s health, answered before they start exercising. The questions cover things such as heart conditions, chest pain, dizziness or losing consciousness, bone or joint problems that exercise could make worse, and medication for blood pressure or a heart condition.
The original PAR-Q was developed in Canada in the 1970s. Its successor, the PAR-Q+, was developed by an international panel of experts. It adds follow-up questions for anyone who answers yes, and has an online companion for further checks, the ePARmed-X+.
Do you have to use one?
No UK law names the PAR-Q, but screening clients before they train is standard practice for personal trainers. Many insurers and training providers expect it, and a signed form is your record that you asked. Read your insurance policy to see exactly what it asks of you.
What a good PAR-Q includes
- The health questions, in plain words.
- Space for details whenever the answer is yes.
- Emergency contact details.
- A declaration that the answers are true, and that the client will tell you if anything changes.
- The client’s signature and the date. For under-18s, a parent or guardian signs.
- A note of who reviewed it, and when.
Many coaches pair it with an informed consent form, which explains the risks of exercise and records the client’s agreement to train.
When a client answers yes
A yes is not a refusal to train. It means you need to find out more before you start.
- Read the details the client gave, and talk to them about it.
- Where the form or your judgement says so, ask them to check with their GP or another health professional before they start, and keep a copy of any letter they bring.
- Adapt the plan to what you have learned, and stay within your qualifications.
- Record that you reviewed it, when, and what you decided.
Keep it current
Ask clients to tell you when their health changes, and ask them to complete the form again from time to time, for example every year, or after an injury, an illness or a pregnancy.
Health answers and UK GDPR
PAR-Q answers are health information, which UK GDPR treats as special category data. That brings extra rules.
- Two legal grounds. You need a lawful basis under Article 6, and also a condition under Article 9. For most personal trainers, the Article 9 condition is the client’s explicit consent, given in a clear statement.
- Tell people. Explain what you collect, why, who can see it and how long you keep it, usually in a privacy notice.
- Collect only what you need to train the client safely.
- Keep it secure. A photo of a paper form in a phone’s camera roll or a chat app is hard to protect and hard to delete.
- Decide how long you keep it. Many coaches keep signed forms for some years after a client leaves, in case of a claim. Choose your period, put it in your privacy notice, and delete forms securely when it ends.
The Information Commissioner’s Office explains the rules in its guidance on special category data, linked below.
Why online forms work better
Paper forms get lost, can be hard to read, and often arrive on the day of the first session, when it is too late to follow up a yes. A good online form:
- arrives signed before the first session, so you have time to act on the answers;
- will not send until every required question is answered;
- records who signed, and when, automatically;
- keeps every form in one place, open only to the people who need it;
- reminds clients who have not finished.
If you use a general online form builder, check where it stores the answers, who can see them, and whether they end up in a shared inbox.
How Apogee does it
In Apogee, the Onboarding module puts the PAR-Q and your other forms in your app, in your brand, signed on screen.
- Any yes answer opens a box for details, offers to attach a GP letter, and marks the client for review. A PAR-Q review flag shows on your client list until you mark it reviewed, which records who reviewed it and when.
- Each signed form becomes a PDF in your branding, emailed to you and the client.
- Signed forms are never edited. If something changes, the client asks for a change and signs again, and both versions are kept. You can change the wording of your forms at any time; clients keep the version they signed.
- Class customers complete the PAR-Q and a consent form once, at least 24 hours before their first class, with a daily reminder until they do.
- For under-18s, a parent or guardian signs.
- Health answers are seen only by you and the client, and by the parent of an under-18. Apogee’s AI features never see medical forms.
- Signed forms are kept for seven years after a client leaves.
See Features for the Onboarding module, or try the demo.
