Weekly client check-in template

The template

Paste into a Google Form, Typeform, Notion page, email or your coaching app. The wording matters less than asking the same things in the same order every week, so answers stay comparable.

Why these questions

Every question in the template is doing a specific job. If you swap one out, swap in something that does the same job.

One or two hard numbers

Bodyweight, and measurements if you track them. Numbers are the only part of a check-in that can't be fudged by mood, and they're what makes a progress chart worth looking at. Ask for a weekly average rather than a single morning reading if the client weighs daily, because it kills most of the noise.

Adherence, split two ways

Training and nutrition asked separately, because they fail separately. A client who trained four times but ate off-plan needs a completely different conversation to one who ate well and never made it to the gym. A single "how did the week go?" hides both.

One recovery signal

Sleep or energy. This is your early warning: recovery usually drops weeks before adherence does, so it's the question that lets you intervene before the client starts missing sessions.

One open question, in their words

This is where the actual coaching comes from. Numbers tell you what happened; the open box tells you why. It's also where clients mention the holiday, the new job or the injury they'd never have volunteered otherwise.

How to run it so people answer

• Keep it under a minute. Response rates fall off a cliff somewhere past six or seven questions. A short check-in that gets answered beats a thorough one that gets ignored.
• Same day, same time, every week. Sunday or Monday suits most coaches: it closes the week while it's fresh and gives you time to adjust before the next one starts. The consistency matters more than the day.
• Always reply. A check-in that vanishes into silence teaches the client it doesn't matter. Even two lines is enough.
• Chase non-responders the same day. A missed check-in is the single most reliable early sign that someone is about to quit, and it's much easier to restart a client who missed one week than one who's missed three.
• Don't redesign it constantly. The value is in the trend, and changing the questions resets your ability to compare week to week.

Need more variety in the questions themselves? There's a bank of 30 check-in questions grouped by category, and a generator that builds a tailored set from a client's goal and focus areas.

Common questions

What should a weekly client check-in include?

Keep it to five or six questions that take under a minute. A good weekly check-in covers one or two hard numbers (bodyweight, and measurements if you track them), adherence to training and nutrition, one recovery signal such as sleep or energy, and one open question in the client's own words. Anything longer gets skipped, and a skipped check-in tells you nothing.

How often should personal training clients check in?

Weekly is the standard for most online and hybrid coaching. It's frequent enough to catch a client drifting before they disappear, but not so frequent that the form becomes a chore. Fortnightly can work for maintenance or long-term clients. Daily check-ins almost always collapse within a month.

What day should I send client check-ins?

Sunday or Monday works best for most coaches. It closes off the week just gone while it's fresh, and gives you time to read replies and adjust before the new training week starts. The specific day matters less than picking one and never moving it, because the routine is what drives the response rate.

How do I get clients to actually fill in their check-in?

Three things do most of the work: keep it short enough to finish in about 60 seconds, send it at the same time every week so it becomes routine, and always reply to it. If a client submits a check-in and hears nothing back, the next one is far less likely to arrive. Chasing non-responders the same day also helps more than any change to the questions.

Should I use a form or just message clients?

A form is better once you have more than a handful of clients. Messaging works fine at three or four clients, but the answers end up scattered through a chat thread with no way to see trends, and chasing people manually eats your evening. A form keeps every answer in the same shape week to week, which is what makes progress visible.