Creating a fitness waiver template

In his article

Starting a fitness template
Step 1: Setup
Step 2: Waiver Settings
Step 3: Customization
Step 4: Liability Clauses
Step 5: Client Intake Fields
Step 6: Health Screening
Step 7: Client Session Information
Step 8: Business Session Information
Step 9: Jurisdiction & Legal Compliance
Step 10: Preview
Next steps

Waiverly's fitness template builder guides you through setting up a waiver for gyms, personal trainers and fitness classes. The builder has 7 steps by default. Turning on some options in Step 2: Waiver Settings adds up to three more steps, and the step list on the left updates as you go.

A fitness waiver has three kinds of content:

Template content: your custom sections, liability clauses and legal references. You write these once and they appear on every waiver.
Client fields: what clients fill in when they sign, such as their details, health screening answers and session information.
Staff fields: what your trainers record for each session after the client submits.

Before you start: have a list of the activities your waiver should cover (for example Gym Access, Personal Training, Group Classes), and decide whether you want clients to complete a health screening and whether your trainers need to record session details.

Starting a fitness template

Go to Create Template in the left menu.
Select Fitness and click Let's get started.

Selecting Fitness on the Select Your Business Type screen and tapping Let's get started — Starting a fitness template: pick Fitness, then Let's get started

Step 1: Fitness Waiver Setup

Enter a Waiver Name, for example "Gym Membership Waiver".
Check the Waiver language. It's used for the waiver text, the acceptance statement defaults and the PDF labels. You can only set the language while creating the template, so choose carefully.
Select your Country, State and City.
Under Activity Coverage, click the suggested activities your waiver should cover, such as Gym Access, Personal Training or Group Classes. To add your own, type it in the Add another activity or program box and click Add.
Click Next.

Tip: Activity Coverage works like a catalog of everything your business offers. The activities you select are listed on the waiver PDF under Activity Coverage on the first page.

Step 1 Setup: entering the waiver name, choosing California and Los Angeles, and selecting Gym Access, Personal Training and Group Classes under Activity Coverage — Step 1: name the waiver, set the location and pick your activities.

Step 2: Waiver Settings

Turn on the options you want. Three of them add a step to the builder, and the step list on the left updates as soon as you turn them on.

Group	Setting	What it does
Delivery	Email Waiver Submissions via Waiverly	Automatically emails signed waivers to your clients, with your registered email as the reply-to address. If it's off, you'll be prompted to send the email yourself after each submission.
Delivery	Accept Form Link Submissions	Lets clients fill out and sign the waiver remotely using a secure form link. If it's off, the link shows the waiver for viewing only.
Signing requirements	Age Restriction	Choose No Age Restriction or Set Minimum Age.
Signing requirements	Require ID Photo	Adds a step where signers take a photo of their ID. You'll need to check I understand to confirm you've checked this is allowed in your jurisdiction.
Signing requirements	Supporting Documents	Lets clients upload documents such as a physician clearance.
Waiver sections	Client Session Information	Adds a section where you can ask the clients to fill in additional custom fields related to the session they're taking part in. Fields added here will be filled by the client. *Adds a step*.
Waiver sections	Health Screening	Clients complete a pre-exercise health questionnaire with questions you determine. *Adds a step*.
Waiver sections	Liability Clauses	Clients acknowledge each of your liability clauses with their initials. *Adds a step*.
Waiver sections	Media Consent	Clients choose whether they agree to photos and videos. Keep this off if media consent is required to receive your services.
Waiver sections	How You Found Us	Asks clients how they found your business.

Click Next when you're done.

Step 2 Waiver Settings: turning on the delivery, signing requirement and waiver section toggles, with the step count growing from 7 to 10 — Step 2: turn on the options you need. Three of them add a step to the builder.

Step 3: Customization

Add your own sections to the waiver, such as rules for using equipment or your cancellation policy.

Enter a Section title and the Section content. To let Waiverly draft it for you, click the AI button next to Add Section, then edit the text before saving.
Click Add Section. The section appears under Sections in your waiver.
Drag sections to reorder them. This is the order used in the PDF.
Click Next.

Step 3 Customization: typing a section title and content, then adding it to the Sections in your waiver list — Step 3: add your own sections. Drag them to set the order in the PDF.

Step 4: Liability Clauses

This step only appears if Liability Clauses is on.

Add liability acknowledgments specific to your business. Clients acknowledge each clause by signing with their initials.

Type a clause, or click the AI button to draft one.
Click Add Clause. Drag clauses under Clauses in your waiver to reorder them.
Click Next.

Step 4 Liability Clauses: typing a cancellation clause and clicking Add Clause — Step 4: add clauses that clients acknowledge with their initials.

Step 5: Client Intake Fields

These are the details every client gives you about themselves. If the defaults suit you, just click Next.

Always collected: First Name, Last Name, Birthday and Email. These can't be removed.
Example fields: Gender, Phone Number, Address, Legal Guardian Full Name, Legal Guardian Phone Number, Emergency Contact Name and Emergency Contact Phone Number. Edit or delete any of them with the icons on the right.
Add field: add your own question as Text, Long text, Number, Date, Dropdown or Multi-select.

Each field shows colored labels: slate for the field format, teal for an example field, indigo for a required field and amber when logic is attached. Use the logic icon to show or hide a field only when another answer matches a condition. For example, the legal guardian fields are set to appear only if the client's birthday shows they're under 18.

Step 5 Client Intake Fields: the default fields with their colored labels, then adding a required Membership Number field — Step 5: review the client fields, then add your own with Add field.

Step 6: Health Screening

This step only appears if Health Screening is on.

The questionnaire starts with five groups of standard pre-exercise questions:

Cardiovascular Readiness
Exercise Symptoms
Musculoskeletal Limitations
Medications / Pregnancy / Clearance
Other Relevant Health Information, a free-text box at the end for anything the questions didn't cover

Use the icons beside each group to rename it, move it up or down, or delete it, and click Add question to add a question to a group.

Step 6 Health Screening: scrolling the five question groups, opening a question, turning on Flag the submission when the answer matches and adding a note for staff — Step 6: edit the questions and flag the ones your team should review.

Click the pencil icon on a question to change it:

Question prompt and Response format (Yes / No, text, number, date, dropdown or multi-select).
Required: the client must answer.
Add a notes field when the answer is "Yes": asks the client for details.
Add Logic: only asks the question when another answer matches.
Flag the submission when the answer matches: choose the answer that raises the flag and add an optional note for staff. Flagged submissions are highlighted in your submissions list so your team can review them before the client takes part.

Flagging is off on all default questions. Turn it on for the questions your team needs to review after the submission has been performed.

Step 7: Client Session Information

This step only appears if Client Session Information is on.

These fields are shown to the client as Client Session Information and print under Session Information on the PDF. Keep in mind that fields created here are intended to be filled by the client. You can also add logic to fields created here.

The example fields are:

Fitness Activity / Program (text, required)
Training Type (dropdown: Personal Training, Group Class, Self-guided, Online Coaching)
Experience Level (dropdown: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

Edit or delete any of them, or click Add field to add your own, then click Next.

Step 7 Client Session Information: opening the Training Type dropdown field and adding a Bootcamp option — Step 7: adjust what you ask clients about their session.

Step 8: Business Session Information

The fields created here are intended to be completed by you or your business staff, and print on the Business Session Information screen. You can also add logic to fields created here. The example fields are Trainer, Session Type, Restrictions / Modifications and Trainer Notes. Edit or delete them, or add your own. Leave the list empty if there's nothing for your staff to record.

Two settings at the bottom of this step:

Skip Submission Review: lets clients complete and sign the form without your team reviewing it on the Form Links dashboard. This is only available when your staff have no fields to complete.
Require Staff Signature: requires a staff member to sign the form during the submission process.

Step 8 Business Session Information: deleting the Session Type example field and turning on Require Staff Signature — Step 8: set whether your staff needs to add any records during the submission

Step 9: Jurisdiction & Legal Compliance

Under Add Law or Policy URL, enter links to any laws, posted policies or regulations that apply to this template, and click + after each one.
Add any Additional Legal Notes.
Check I confirm that the jurisdiction details and legal references for this template are accurate.
Click Save & Proceed.

Step 9 Jurisdiction and Legal Compliance: adding a policy URL and a legal note, checking the confirmation box and clicking Save and Proceed — Step 9: add legal references, confirm, then Save & Proceed.

Step 10: Preview

Use the arrows to go through every page of the PDF Preview and check that each section looks right.
To change something, click the step in the list on the left, make the change and come back to the preview.
Click Save & Finish to save your template.

Step 10 PDF Preview: paging through the waiver pages with the arrow buttons before Save and Finish — Step 10: check every page of the preview, then Save & Finish.

Next steps

Your new template appears on the Waiver Forms screen, where you can view, edit and manage it. To let clients sign from their own phone, see Creating a Form Link for Your Waiver Template.