What is “Programming?” Simple, your workouts. What you tell your members to do every day. The workout you right for your private training client. The workouts you send your virtual clients to do at home, or at their gym. That’s programming. So, we can ask this another way:
Are your workouts increasing your legal liability?
Or, we can ask it even a third way:
Are your workouts increasing the likelihood that your members will get hurt?
If you are a gym owner, the potential to hurt one of your members needs to be at the forefront of your mind at all times. Someone who is mad over your cancellation policy may cost you a lot of money, but won’t necessarily shut down your gym. Someone who was injured at your gym? That’s a potentially business ending problem.
Was It Your Fault?
Whenever a gym member is injured, the first question someone will ask is whether it was your fault. It doesn’t matter whether you work at your gym, or whether you were coaching at the time, you are the owner. You own a dangerous place and you ask someone to do dangerous things. The injured person might have an easy time showing fault. That member told you his back was hurting and you had him deadlift anyway. Now he’s hurt.
Once your injured member proves fault, the next issue is whether the risk of injury was ordinary or not. We explain more about that HERE. Over the years, the public has given micro gyms a bad rap. Anyone can pop up a new gym tomorrow with no real training or certification. Attorneys LOVE this stuff. The less qualified the owner/trainer is, the easier the attorney can prove recklessness on the part of the owner. That’s when this gets serious. This is call Gross Negligence and your waiver won’t cover you.
Your Programming Points To Your Fault
Usually, a member won’t make an issue about an injury unless its because you told him/her to do something. In the gym industry, what do we call it when you tell your client to do something (like a back squat)? Programming.
So, is your programming a liability? 100%
Finally, the more general your programming gets, the more liability you may be risking.
