No pain no gain : the standard of care of the personal fitness trainer

The case illustrates the tension for personal trainers between meeting the expectations or desire of the participants in exercise programs to improve their fitness and strength rapidly, and the need to ensure that the more challenging exercises are within the capacity of the participant so as not to create a risk of injury to them. For those operating personal fitness studios and gyms, the case also demonstrates the need to educate and supervise trainers, particularly novices, so that any deviation from a client's specific training regime is suitable not just in light of the fitness aims of the client, but also with regard to the client's capacity to undertake a form of exercise more rigorous than that identified in the training schedule of the client. For tort lawyers, the issues connected to determining the standard of care, the role of common practice, and the admonition not to determine the standard of care by reference to hindsight are of interest. The focus on evidentiary issues and the challenge to the factual findings of the trial judge are of interest to all practitioners, not just those who practice in the field of personal injury.