Business Insurance For Fitness Professionals: What Kind Of Protection Do You Need?

Trying to find fitness professional insurance might feel overwhelming when thinking about potential issues you could face. As a personal trainer or fitness instructor, do you really know what kind of insurance you’d need to cover everything?

Any career involving working with people is going to have some element of danger, especially when using equipment. No doubt you have numerous pieces of training equipment in your fitness facility that you completely trust.

What happens, though, if a piece of equipment malfunctions, causing injury to a client?

In other cases, it could mean a claim of personal injury based on a singular exercise. Despite being sure that your exercise program is safe, a client may throw their back out and blame you for the injury.

These are just some of the general problems you might encounter. Other sideline situations could occur, and you may not have proper coverage to compensate.

Here’s some insurance policies to consider if you’re just now opening doors to a new fitness business.

Liability Insurance

Personal injury is more than possible when you’re working with clients for personal fitness training. Those clients could end up needing an operation or decide to sue for injuries they incurred while working with you or being at your facility.

Liability insurance usually covers various categories in fitness, including yoga, general aerobics, or spinning. All of these can potentially cause bodily injury, no matter how safe you’ve attempted to make them.

Finding a liability policy with legal protection is just as important since legal fees to fight a case could put you in bankruptcy. Especially when a client sues you for compensation on their medical expenses, you need legal coverage to protect your finances.

The same goes for protecting your own property. A client could damage your equipment or a natural disaster could destroy your facility. The latter could happen to any business, no matter where they’re located.

License Protection

You’ve perhaps never heard of license protection for fitness instructors, but it’s an important insurance to consider. One of your clients could complain to a state licensing board that you are not following regulations, thus threatening the welfare of your business. When this occurs, you’ll have to defend yourself legally, which only means massive legal bills.

A policy covering license protection will help cover your legal expenses. Without this, you could lose more money than just legal fees.

Medical Payment Coverage

General liability sometimes isn’t enough to help cover the medical expenses you’re forced to pay if a client gets injured. Separate policies exist to give you more thorough coverage so you’re assured everything gets covered and doesn’t leave lingering expenses.

Finding a stand-alone medical payment policy usually helps cover medical costs ranging in the multi-thousands. All of these policies have limits, yet work well as a supplement.

Harassment Or Sexual Misconduct Protection

Because you’re working personally with your clients, some of the physical contact you have with clients could be misinterpreted. Someone could sue you for harassment or sexual misconduct, leaving you in another legal debacle that could put you out of business.

These cases could go on for a long time because the accusations involve extensive background checks with little to no witnesses. When it’s just your word against a client’s, it could mean six-figure legal bills.

As another separate policy, it’s a good idea to get this protection, even if you trust all your clients to not misjudge your actions.