Personal Training Package Agreement + Cancellation Policy (Free Template)

A personal training package agreement needs to answer eight questions before the first session: what was bought, when it expires, what counts as a late cancellation, what a no-show costs, whether the pack can be frozen, whether sessions can be transferred, what gets refunded, and what happens if the trainer changes. Below is a full agreement that answers all eight, clause by clause, followed by a cancellation policy in three strictness levels. Copy it, change the numbers, and have a local lawyer read it once — this is a template, not legal advice.

It's written for a studio or PT business with more than one trainer, where the client's contract is with the business rather than the individual coach. If you're a solo trainer the same clauses work; just replace "the Studio" with your own name.

Why the generic templates don't work for packages

Most of what ranks for "personal training contract" — PandaDoc, Bonsai, Legal Templates — is a service agreement for a self-employed trainer selling their own time by the hour. The package-specific problems that actually generate disputes aren't in them. To be fair, a few do carry a 24-hour clause; Trainerize's template has one, and Exercise.com's cancellation policy is decent. But none of them handle the expiry-with-balance case, the freeze, or the trainer-leaves case, and in a studio those three are where the money is.

A rule the client didn't see before paying isn't a rule. So the agreement below is short enough to read at the point of sale, and every clause with a number in it is meant to appear on the receipt too — the validity date, the notice period, the freeze allowance. The pricing post covers what those numbers should be; this one covers how to write them down.

The agreement, clause by clause

Square brackets are the bits you fill in. The note under each clause explains what it's for and where you might reasonably change it.

1. What you're buying

"The Client purchases [12] personal training sessions of [55] minutes each ("the Package") from [Studio name] ("the Studio") for AED [3,600] including VAT, paid in full on [date]. Sessions are delivered by a Studio trainer at [the Studio's premises / the Client's home within [area]]."

Name the session length. "One hour" packs that run 50 minutes are the most common small complaint we hear about. Name the place, because at-home and studio sessions are usually priced differently and a client who bought studio sessions will ask for home ones.

2. Validity

"The Package is valid until [date — e.g. 10 weeks from purchase]. Sessions not used by that date lapse and are not refunded, except as set out in clauses 5 and 7. The Client is told the remaining balance and expiry date after each session."

The second sentence is the important one, and it's the one no template includes. An expiry the client sees every week is enforceable and rarely reached. An expiry they see once at purchase is a fight. Make the balance visible — on the receipt, in a message after each session, or in the client's app — and clause 2 mostly enforces itself.

3. Booking and cancelling

"Sessions are booked with the Client's trainer. A session may be moved or cancelled without charge with at least [24] hours' notice by [WhatsApp / the app]. A session cancelled with less than [24] hours' notice is counted as delivered and deducted from the Package."

Choose the notice period from the three levels in the policy section below. Name the channel. "I told the receptionist" and "I texted the trainer's personal number at midnight" are both arguments you can avoid by writing down where a cancellation counts.

4. No-shows and lateness

"If the Client does not attend a booked session and has not cancelled, the session is deducted from the Package. If the Client arrives late, the session ends at the scheduled time. If the trainer is more than [15] minutes late, the session is rescheduled at no cost and the Client is credited [one additional session / AED 100]."

The last sentence is the fairness clause. Clients accept strict rules when the rule cuts both ways. Studios that add it report fewer arguments about clause 3, not more.

5. Freezing the package

"The Client may freeze the Package once, for between [7] and [21] consecutive days, by telling the Studio in writing before the freeze starts. The expiry date extends by the length of the freeze. Freezes for medical reasons with a doctor's note are not limited in number."

"Before the freeze starts" is doing the work here. Nearly every expiry dispute is a client asking, in week eleven, for a freeze covering weeks six to eight. One written freeze, requested in advance, is fair to a client with a work trip and closes the retrospective version.

6. Transferring sessions

"Sessions are personal to the Client and may not be transferred to another person, except that the Client may transfer up to [4] sessions to a named family member or partner, once, with the Studio's agreement."

Allow a limited transfer. It turns a client's abandoned balance into a trial for someone new, and the alternative — a client secretly bringing their spouse to "their" session — is worse for everyone.

7. Refunds

"The Package is non-refundable except: (a) within [7] days of purchase, before the second session, in full; (b) if the Client relocates more than [50] km or is medically unable to train for the remainder of the validity, with evidence, in which case unused sessions are refunded at the per-session Package price less an admin fee of AED [150]; (c) if the Studio is unable to provide a trainer."

Three named exceptions and nothing else. The cooling-off exception costs you almost nothing and removes the "I was pressured" complaint entirely. The relocation and medical exception is what a reasonable person expects, and stating it stops you deciding case by case under pressure. Refund at the package per-session price, not the single rate — the client bought at the discount. If you're VAT-registered, a refund needs a credit note against the original invoice; our UAE VAT post covers that.

8. Your trainer

"Sessions are delivered by a Studio trainer. The Client may request a specific trainer, and the Studio will accommodate this where possible. If the Client's usual trainer is unavailable or leaves the Studio, the Studio will offer a replacement trainer of equivalent qualification. The Package remains with the Studio and is not affected by a change of trainer."

This is the clause that makes the business yours rather than the trainer's. It tells the client, on day one, that the package belongs to the studio. When a trainer leaves and messages "their" clients, this is the sentence you point to. The trainer-pay post explains why this matters more than the commission percentage.

9. Health and safety

"The Client confirms they have completed the health questionnaire truthfully, will tell their trainer of any change in their health, injury or medication before a session, and has been advised to consult a doctor before starting. The Client trains at their own risk, and the Studio is not liable for injury arising from information the Client did not disclose."

Attach a short pre-exercise questionnaire (the PAR-Q+ is the standard one and it's free). Keep the liability language modest: a clause that tries to exclude everything is often worth less in front of a judge than one that excludes what a client failed to tell you.

10. Data, photos and the boring bits

"The Studio keeps the Client's contact, health and payment details to deliver the Package and for [5] years afterwards for tax purposes. Progress photos are taken only with consent and are never published without separate written permission. Governing law: [UAE / your state]."

The five years is the FTA's record-keeping period for tax invoices, and the same figure works in most jurisdictions. Separate, specific consent for publishing photos — never buried in the general terms. A transformation post on your Instagram without written permission is the fastest way to lose a client and a reputation at once.

The cancellation policy, in three strictness levels

Clause 3 above is the contract language. This is the plain-English version you put on the wall, the website and the welcome message. Pick one level and use its wording everywhere.

The Standard wording, ready to copy:

• "We hold your slot for you. If you need to move or cancel a session, let your trainer know at least 24 hours ahead and there's no charge. Cancellations with less than 24 hours' notice, and missed sessions, are deducted from your package — that's the time your trainer set aside. If we're ever late or have to cancel on you, the session is on us."

Two things make a policy work in practice. The first is applying it the first time it's tested — the studio that waives the first late cancel "just this once" has, in the client's mind, no policy. The second is making it painless to be on the right side of it. A client who can move a session from their phone in ten seconds gives you 24 hours' notice. A client who has to call the front desk during opening hours doesn't. That's not a character difference, it's a friction difference, and it's the strongest argument for putting the schedule somewhere the client can see it.

Getting it signed without killing the sale

• Put clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 — validity, notice, no-show, freeze — on the receipt in one line each. The receipt is the document the client actually keeps.
• Send the full agreement by WhatsApp or email at purchase, and ask for a "Yes, agreed" reply. A typed agreement in a message thread is an acceptable record in most places and far better than an unsigned PDF.
• Keep the health questionnaire separate and get it before session one, not at the sale. Nobody fills in a PAR-Q honestly with a card machine in front of them.
• Re-send the agreement when you change it, and only apply changes to packages bought after the change. A pack sold under the old rules runs on the old rules until it expires.

Frequently asked questions