Become a fitness provider
You are a fitness supplier if you are in the business of supplying fitness services.
You can be:
- the owner of a fitness centre who receives income other than rent to provide fitness services
- a fitness centre franchisee
- a manager of a fitness centre’s day-to-day operations
- a personal trainer.
You are not a fitness supplier if you:
- do office work and get paid to work in a fitness centre’s office
- get paid to teach aerobics classes at a fitness centre.
Fitness services
A fitness service can be:
- an exercise consultation
- a supervised or unsupervised individual fitness program
- a group exercise program
- fitness equipment used by clients at a fitness centre.
A fitness service is not:
- a service supplied by:
- a doctor
- a registered physiotherapist
- a sports club
- a school, college or university as part of its curriculum
- a spa bath, sauna, swimming pool or similar facility with no other fitness service
- a hotel’s fitness equipment for patron use with no other fitness service
- a fitness centre service for medical rehabilitation only
- a service for an unsupervised outdoor activity
- court hire or other facility hire for playing sport.
Code of practice
The fitness industry is regulated by a code of practice.
The code of practice:
- maintains appropriate standards of trading in the fitness industry
- promotes client confidence and safety in the fitness industry
- ensures that fitness suppliers operate ethically, professionally and in clients’ best interests
- details the rights and obligations of fitness service suppliers and their clients.
The code provides for:
- compulsory contracts signed by you and the client
- a 48-hour cooling-off period for new agreements
- full fee disclosure in all membership agreements
- a limit on up-front fees you can charge a client
- a ban on new fitness centres collecting fees before they open for business
- a client’s right to cancel an agreement.