Client lifestyle questionnaire and activity diary: what to ask after the PAR-Q

What a lifestyle questionnaire adds to the PAR-Q

The two forms do different jobs. The PAR-Q is a health screening: it flags whether a client should speak to a doctor before starting. The lifestyle questionnaire is a planning tool: it tells you how the client lives, what they already do, what is getting in the way and what they want from training.

Our guide to a smooth client intake shows where each form fits in the process. Do the PAR-Q first, deal with any yes answers, then use the lifestyle questionnaire in the consultation to shape the first programme.

What to ask

Keep it to questions you will actually use. Each one should help you decide what to include in the programme or how to schedule it.

• Goals. What the client wants, by when, and why it matters to them.
• Current activity. What they do in a normal week, and for how long.
• Work and daily routine. Mostly seated, on their feet or physically active, and their working pattern.
• Sleep. Roughly how many hours and how they feel on waking.
• Eating pattern. Meals per day and any dietary requirements or allergies, recorded as information only.
• Barriers. What has stopped them keeping up exercise before.
• Preferences. What they enjoy, what they dislike and where they would train.

Comparing the diary with the NHS guidelines

The NHS physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 give a useful reference point. They say to do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week, and strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week.

Use these as a conversation starter, not a test. If a client's diary shows far less than that, it tells you where to start and how gently to build. The same NHS page says to speak to your GP first if you have not exercised for some time, or if you have medical conditions or concerns, which is a good reason to follow up on the PAR-Q rather than assume.

How to use a 7-day activity diary

Ask the client to fill in a week before the first session, or in the week after the consultation. A week catches both working days and weekends. Ask for what they did, roughly how long, and how it felt, plus a note on sleep and meals if you have agreed to look at those.

Tell them there is no right answer and that you are not judging. People under-report when they feel judged, and an honest diary is far more useful than a flattering one. Review it together at the first session.

Stay in scope on food, sleep and health

Recording that a client eats two meals a day or sleeps five hours is information. Deciding what a client should eat, or treating a sleep problem, is beyond what a PT form should do. Where something looks like a medical or dietary concern, record it and signpost the client to their GP or a registered dietitian.

If you offer nutrition coaching as a service, that needs its own terms and limits, so keep it separate from this form.

Treat the answers as sensitive data

The ICO says health data includes information that reveals something about a person's health status, and gives fitness tracker data as an example. Sleep, medication and eating details can therefore fall into that category, so keep the questionnaire and diary with the client's screening record, store them securely and tell the client how you will use them.

The ICO also says you must be able to justify how long you keep personal data and should review it at the end of your retention period. Decide how long you keep diaries once training ends.

What a lifestyle questionnaire and activity diary should ask

A preview of our free Client Lifestyle Questionnaire and 7-Day Activity Diary. The complete, print-ready version is sent to you by email.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64, NHS
• What is special category data?, Information Commissioner's Office
• Storage limitation, Information Commissioner's Office