Coaching client intake form template (what to ask).
A copy-paste intake and onboarding questionnaire you can use with new clients today - contact details, goals, a PAR-Q style health and readiness screen, training and nutrition preferences, weekly availability, and a consent block. Grab the full field list below, then read how to use and customize it for your coaching, safely and within your scope of practice.
By Markus Evers · Updated June 2026
the short version
A coaching client intake form is the one questionnaire a new client fills out before you build their plan. Use it the moment they sign up. A complete form covers six parts: contact details, goals and the why, a PAR-Q style health and readiness screen, training and nutrition preferences, weekly availability and access, and a consent and waiver block. The full copy-paste field list is right below.
The client intake form, ready to copy.
Copy the full field list below into your form builder, your client app, or a document. Placeholders in [brackets] are yours to fill in or replace. The six sections run in the order a client should meet them: easy details first, the health screen and consent before anything else. Keep the health and consent blocks intact - those are the parts you should never trim.
[Your name / business] - New Client Intake Form
Welcome, and thank you for joining. Please complete this form before
we build your plan. It takes about 10 minutes and tells me everything
I need to coach you safely and personally. Your answers are kept
confidential and used only for your coaching.
SECTION 1 - CONTACT & BASIC DETAILS
- Full name: [ ]
- Preferred name / what should I call you: [ ]
- Email: [ ]
- Phone / WhatsApp (optional): [ ]
- Date of birth: [ ]
- Sex (for programming and calorie targets): [ ]
- Country / time zone: [ ]
- How did you hear about me: [ ]
- Emergency contact name & phone: [ ]
SECTION 2 - YOUR GOALS
- What is your main goal right now: [ ]
- Why does this goal matter to you - the real reason underneath it: [ ]
- Is there a date or event you are working toward: [ ]
- What does success look like in 12 weeks: [ ]
- Have you tried to reach this goal before? What happened: [ ]
- On a scale of 1-10, how ready are you to commit right now: [ ]
SECTION 3 - HEALTH & READINESS SCREEN (PAR-Q STYLE)
Please answer YES or NO to each. A "yes" is not a problem - it just
tells me to ask a follow-up before we begin.
1. Has a doctor ever said you have a heart condition and that you
should only do physical activity recommended by a doctor? [Y/N]
2. Do you feel pain in your chest when you do physical activity? [Y/N]
3. In the past month, have you had chest pain when not active? [Y/N]
4. Do you lose your balance from dizziness, or ever lose
consciousness? [Y/N]
5. Do you have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by
a change in your physical activity? [Y/N]
6. Is your doctor currently prescribing medication for blood
pressure or a heart condition? [Y/N]
7. Are you pregnant, or have you given birth in the last 6 months? [Y/N]
8. Do you know of any other reason you should not do physical
activity? [Y/N]
If you answered YES to any of the above, please add a short note:
[ ]
Health history:
- Current or past injuries (and which side / how recent): [ ]
- Diagnosed medical conditions: [ ]
- Medications or supplements you take regularly: [ ]
- Any surgeries in the last 2 years: [ ]
- Anything else about your health I should know: [ ]
- Are you currently under the care of a doctor or physio for
anything? If yes, for what: [ ]
SECTION 4 - TRAINING & NUTRITION PREFERENCES
- Current activity level (sedentary / light / moderate / very active): [ ]
- Training experience (beginner / intermediate / advanced): [ ]
- Where will you train (home / commercial gym / other): [ ]
- Equipment you have access to: [ ]
- Types of training you enjoy: [ ]
- Types of training you dislike or want to avoid: [ ]
- Foods you love: [ ]
- Foods you dislike or won't eat: [ ]
- Allergies or intolerances: [ ]
- Dietary pattern (none / vegetarian / vegan / halal / other): [ ]
- How do you prefer to track food (app / photos / no tracking): [ ]
- Typical day of eating right now: [ ]
- How much sleep do you average per night: [ ]
- Stress level right now (low / medium / high): [ ]
- Alcohol per week (rough estimate): [ ]
SECTION 5 - AVAILABILITY & ACCESS
- How many days per week can you train: [ ]
- How long can each session be: [ ]
- Which days/times usually work best: [ ]
- Anything coming up that will disrupt your schedule: [ ]
- Preferred way to communicate (in-app messages / voice notes): [ ]
- Best time of day to reach you: [ ]
SECTION 6 - BASELINE (so we can see progress later)
- Current height: [ ]
- Current weight: [ ]
- Key measurements (waist / hips / chest / arms), if you have them: [ ]
- Starting photos (front / side / back) - upload here: [ ]
SECTION 7 - CONSENT & AGREEMENT
Please read and confirm:
- [ ] I confirm the information above is accurate and complete to
the best of my knowledge.
- [ ] I understand this is online coaching and that [Your name] is
not providing medical, physiotherapy, or psychological treatment.
- [ ] I understand I should consult a doctor before starting if I
answered "yes" to any health-screening question above, and I
will get medical clearance where needed.
- [ ] I take responsibility for exercising within my own limits and
will stop and seek advice if I feel unwell or in pain.
- [ ] I consent to [Your name] storing and using my information and
photos for the purpose of my coaching. [link to privacy policy]
- [ ] I have read and agree to the coaching terms. [link to terms]
Signature / typed full name: [ ]
Date: [ ]
Thank you. Once you submit this, you'll get a welcome from me and
your first steps within [timeframe, e.g. 48 hours]. The PAR-Q style questions above are adapted from the long-established Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire format used widely in fitness. Treat it as a screen, not a diagnosis. The next section walks through how to use it, customize it for your niche, and stay on the right side of your scope of practice.
How to use and customize the form.
The template is a strong default, not a finished form for every coach. Send it the moment a client signs up, before you build anything, so their answers shape the very first plan. Then tune it to your niche - keeping the health screen and consent block whole - and let it become the baseline you measure progress against later.
Send it before you build anything
A finished intake should be the trigger for the rest of onboarding, not an afterthought. Have the new client complete it on day one, so their goal, health flags, and preferences are in front of you before you write a single training day.
Customize for your niche
A pre/postnatal coach adds pregnancy-stage and pelvic-floor questions; a strength coach adds current lifts; a fat-loss coach leans into food preferences and lifestyle. Add what changes how you program, and cut anything you will not actually use.
Never trim health or consent
Shorten the preferences and history sections if you want a lighter form, but keep the PAR-Q style screen and the consent block intact. Those two are what protect the client and you - they are not the place to optimize for fewer fields.
Capture the baseline once
Photos and measurements taken on day one are the reference that makes progress visible weeks later. Collecting them inside the same form means the client uploads from their phone rather than emailing files you then have to chase and file.
The intake is the first step of a wider sequence. For the deeper assessment side - turning these answers into a real remote evaluation - see the fitness assessment form, and for the full first-week flow that the intake should trigger, follow the coaching onboarding checklist.
Health screening follows your scope of practice.
The health section screens; it does not diagnose. Its only job is to surface anything that means you should slow down, ask more, or send the client to a doctor before you progress them. A coach is not a medical provider, and the form should make that clear to the client too. This is general guidance, not legal or medical advice - have a qualified professional review your final wording for where you practise.
Screen, don't diagnose
A "yes" on the PAR-Q style block is a prompt to ask one more question, not a label to apply. Coaches gather flags and act sensibly on them; naming or treating a condition is a doctor's job, not yours.
Get clearance when in doubt
If a flag sits outside what you are qualified to manage, ask the client to get medical clearance before you load or intensify training. The safe default is always to pause and check rather than push on and hope.
Refer on when needed
Pain, injury rehab, eating-disorder signs, or clinical nutrition belong with the right professional. Knowing when to refer is a mark of a good coach, and the consent block should set that boundary in writing.
The consent block is where this boundary becomes formal: it records that the client understood online coaching is not medical treatment and agreed to it. That same logic carries into the agreement you sign together - the wider version, covering payment, cancellation, and liability, is in the personal training contract template.
Common intake form mistakes.
Most intake forms fail in one of a few predictable ways. None of them are hard to avoid once you know to look for them - they are the difference between a form that quietly does its job and one that costs you a week of chasing or, worse, leaves a safety gap.
Skipping the health screen to look friendly
Dropping the PAR-Q style block because it feels clinical is the most expensive shortcut in the list. It is the one section that protects the client and you, and a warm welcome video alongside it does far more for the relationship than a missing safety screen.
Asking for everything you can think of
Every extra field is friction, and friction is where a motivated new client stalls. If a question will not change how you coach or keep them safe, leave it out and let it surface naturally over the first few weeks of check-ins instead.
Collecting it across scattered messages
Asking questions one at a time over DMs for a week makes you look disorganized and makes the client repeat themselves. One structured form gathered in a single pass beats a trickle of half-remembered answers every time.
Treating the form as the finish line
A submitted intake is the start of onboarding, not the end of it. If nothing happens after the client hits submit, the momentum you just built drains away - the form should trigger a welcome and clear first steps, not silence.
How Coachway handles intake for you.
You can run this template anywhere, but stitching a form tool, a file store, and a messaging app together by hand is exactly the friction it is meant to remove. In Coachway, the intake form, the answers, the photos, and the follow-up all live in one place, so a finished form becomes a clean first week instead of a pile of admin.
Drag-and-drop forms
Build this exact intake - including the health screen, photo and measurement capture, and consent checkboxes - with intake and check-in forms, and the answers drop straight onto the client profile.
Automations off submission
A completed form can trigger your onboarding flow the moment it lands, so the welcome video and first steps go out automatically. Set it up once with automations and every new client gets the same clean start.
One branded client app
The client fills out the form, uploads photos, and meets your welcome inside the branded client app under your logo and colours - so intake feels like your business, not a generic tool.
That is the point of an all-in-one platform: forms, automations, and a branded app pulling in one direction so a submitted intake flows straight into a great first week instead of becoming admin you do by hand. Coachway runs on predictable per-client pricing, and you keep your own Stripe - the plain numbers are on the pricing page. For the full sequence the form kicks off, see the coaching onboarding checklist.
Frequently asked questions about client intake forms.
What should a coaching client intake form include?
A complete intake form has six parts: contact and basic details, goals and the why behind them, a health and readiness screen (a PAR-Q style set of yes/no flags plus injuries, conditions, and medications), training and nutrition preferences, weekly availability and access, and a short consent and waiver block. Together these let you build a safe, personal plan from day one without a week of back-and-forth messages, and they double as the baseline you measure progress against later.
What is a PAR-Q and should I use it in my intake form?
A PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) is a short set of yes/no health-screening questions used to flag people who should check with a doctor before starting or increasing exercise. Including a PAR-Q style block in your intake form is a sensible, widely used safety step. It is a screen, not a diagnosis: any "yes" answer is a prompt to pause, ask follow-up questions, and where appropriate ask the client to get medical clearance before you progress them - it does not turn you into a medical provider.
How long should a client intake form be?
Long enough to coach safely and personally, short enough that a motivated new client finishes it in one sitting. Ask only what changes how you program or how you keep them safe, and cut anything you will not actually use. The health and consent sections are the parts you should never trim. Everything else - preferences, lifestyle detail, history - can be lighter at intake and filled in naturally over the first few weeks of check-ins.
Do online coaches need a health screen and consent on the intake form?
Yes. A health and readiness screen plus a clear consent and waiver block are the two parts of an intake form you should never skip, because they protect both the client and you. The health screen surfaces anything that changes how you should program or whether the client needs medical clearance first, and the consent block records that the client understood the nature of online coaching and agreed to it. This is general guidance, not legal advice - have a qualified professional review your specific waiver and consent wording for your country.
What do I do if a client answers "yes" to a health-screening question?
Treat it as a stop-and-check, not a reason to refuse outright. Ask a short follow-up to understand it, and stay inside your scope of practice: if anything sits outside what you are qualified to manage, ask the client to get clearance from their doctor before you progress them, and refer on where appropriate. Coaches screen and refer; they do not diagnose or treat medical conditions. When in doubt, the safe default is to get clearance before loading or intensifying training.
Can I collect the intake form digitally instead of a PDF?
Yes, and it is far better than a PDF or email thread. A digital form the client completes on their phone captures everything in one structured place, including photos and measurements, with no files to chase or re-type. In Coachway, drag-and-drop intake forms do exactly this, drop the answers straight onto the client profile, and can trigger your onboarding flow the moment the form is submitted, so a finished intake becomes the start of a clean, automated first week.
Keep reading
all guidesHow to build an engaged online fitness community (that retains clients, 2026)
An engaged community does some of the coaching for you and lifts retention. How to choose a platform, set the rituals, and turn a quiet group into a place clients show up for.
Read the guidePassive income and digital products for fitness coaches (what actually works, 2026)
Passive income for coaches is rarely passive, but leverage is real. The digital products that actually work - courses, templates, challenges, memberships - and how to build one without abandoning your 1:1 clients.
Read the guideHow to build a value ladder and high-ticket offer suite for coaching (2026)
A value ladder turns one-off buyers into long-term clients. How to structure low, mid, and high-ticket offers so each rung leads to the next, without discounting your core coaching.
Read the guideSee what Coachway can do for your coaching business
Coachway was built after working with 150+ coaches who all had the same frustrations - slow platforms, clunky workflows, wasted hours. Book a demo and see what we fixed. 15 minutes, and you'll know if it's the right fit.
