New Member Orientation: the full procedure

Walk every new member through health-history screening, goal-setting, safe equipment use, facility rules, and their first booked sessions so they start safely and confidently.

• Applies to: Front desk & onboarding trainer.
• Frequency: Each new member, before their first independent workout.
• Scope: Covers the orientation process only — all health-screening decisions, flagged conditions, and PAR-Q+ "yes" answers defer to a physician for medical clearance before exercise.

What you need

• PAR-Q+ screening form
• Goal & intake sheet
• Facility rules handout
• Booking system
• Equipment orientation checklist

The procedure, step by step

1. Welcome & health screening — Greet the member and have them complete the PAR-Q+ before any activity to flag readiness concerns.
2. Review & clear or defer — If every answer is "no," proceed; if any answer is "yes," restrict to low-intensity activity and require physician medical clearance first.
3. Capture goals & history — Record their goals, experience level, schedule, and any preferences on the intake sheet.
4. Facility tour & rules — Show changerooms, water, washrooms, and the AED location, and review wipe-down, re-rack, and conduct rules.
5. Equipment orientation — Demonstrate safe set-up, adjustment, and use of the machines and free-weight areas they plan to use.
6. Safe-use reminders — Cover spotting, collar/clip use, emergency stops, and how to ask staff for help.
7. Book first sessions — Schedule their first one or two sessions or classes before they leave to lock in the habit.
8. Log & hand off — File the signed forms, note clearance status in their profile, and confirm next steps.

Quality check before you finish

• PAR-Q+ completed and signed before any activity.
• Any "yes" answer triggers a physician-clearance hold.
• Goals and experience recorded in the member profile.
• Member shown AED and emergency-exit locations.
• Equipment demonstrated, not just described.
• First session or class booked before they leave.
• Signed forms filed and clearance status logged.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Gym & Fitness Studio business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• PAR-Q+ / ePARmed-X+ — Physical Activity Readiness (eparmedx.com)
• ACSM — Preparticipation Health Screening (acsm.org)
• ACSM / Human Kinetics — Facility Standards & Guidelines (humankinetics.com)