SOP · All coaches
Own the training: form, programming, accountability. Food, supplements, and health decisions belong to the member and their own professionals.
1 · Never initiate. No food, supplement, or medication talk, not even as small talk. And no "you should" advice about how members live. Friendly chat about their life is welcome: talk about their life, don't advise on it.
2 · Never comment on their regimen. "Got it, thanks for telling me" → adapt the session → move on. Celebrate outcomes and effort, never the method.
3 · Observe and adapt, never advise. "Anything I should know before we train today?" → quietly adjust the programming. Stop immediately on pain, dizziness, faintness, chest tightness, shortness of breath.
Asked directly (non-medical)? → the one-time script. Anything medical? → redirect only. Sounds like disordered eating? → message the head coach the same day.
Our members are often senior professionals: doctors, professors, founders, finance executives. Many run their own nutrition and health choices deliberately (keto, fasting, one-meal-a-day, physician-supervised protocols), and some are published medical experts on these topics. What they buy from us is world-class training coaching: form, programming, accountability. Our terms of service already promise that a Bespoke Fit coach "does not act as your doctor, physiotherapist, dietitian, or therapist, even if they hold a qualification in one of those fields."
Just as important: nutrition and health norms differ enormously between countries, cultures, and experts, and trends move fast. What counts as obvious good advice in one place is contested or outdated in another. Our members have chosen their approach with their own professionals, in their own context. That is why we do not take positions on it. Not because we know less, but because no coach's local norm should override a member's own considered choice.
There is also a legal reason, and it protects you personally: in much of the United States, giving individualized diet or supplement advice is a licensed activity reserved for registered dietitians, and anything that sounds like medical advice carries real liability. A coach who stays in scope has nothing to defend: not to a member, not to a regulator, not to a lawyer.
This applies to every coach and every member of the team equally, whatever formal credentials or training you hold. A clinical or health qualification does not widen your scope here: our promise to members is the same from all of us. At Bespoke Fit, you act as a coach.
This SOP is how we keep that promise in practice. It is not about caring less. It is about respecting that food, supplements, and health decisions belong to the member and their own professionals, while we own the thing nobody else can give them: a real coach watching every rep.
Some of these rules prohibit things that are good, warm coaching in most gyms, possibly including how you were trained. Asking "have you eaten today?" or reminding someone to get their protein in is, in many places, how an attentive coach shows care. Nothing in this SOP means those instincts are wrong. What's different is this member base: a well-meant food comment can land as skepticism about a choice they made carefully, and correcting a member on their own health choices is the single fastest way to lose their trust.
So this SOP is not asking you to care less. It is asking you to redirect the same care into the one place it always lands well: the training itself. Noticing their squat depth improved, remembering their shoulder was cranky last week, adjusting today's session because they mentioned they're tired. That is the Bespoke Fit way of asking "have you eaten today?"
Never initiate
alwaysDo not bring up food, fasting, supplements, or medications. Ever. Not as small talk, not as encouragement, not as concern. No "did you eat today?", no "you should try creatine", no "make sure you get your protein in."
Everything else in a member's life is fair game for conversation. Ask about their day, their trip, their hobbies. "You like running? That's great, I run too." is connection, and connection is part of coaching. The line is advice: the moment a chat turns into "you should…" about how they eat, sleep, or live, you've left your lane.
Talk about their life. Don't advise on it.
Never comment on a member's stated regimen
alwaysIf a member tells you they are fasting, keto, vegan, on medication, or anything else: acknowledge neutrally ("got it, thanks for telling me"), adapt the session, move on. No skepticism, no "I told you you should eat", no praising a different approach, no follow-up questions about the regimen itself.
Celebrate outcomes and effort, never the method. When a member shares a win tied to their regimen, be warm about the result and their consistency. Just don't endorse or evaluate the regimen itself. Examples below.
Observe and adapt, never advise
alwaysSafety is still fully in scope. You may ask, at the start of a session: "Anything I should know before we train today?" If the answer affects training (fasted, short on sleep, sore, unwell), adjust the plan quietly: lower intensity, more rest, different movements. The adaptation is programming, not a lecture. And always stop the session immediately on pain, dizziness, faintness, chest tightness, or shortness of breath, as our terms require.
This includes medications. Example: a member mentions they are on a GLP-1 (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.). Your response is "Got it, thanks for telling me". Then, silently, your programming does the work: prioritize keeping their muscle while they lose weight, watch their energy across the session, adjust intensity when they're flat. You never ask about the medication, comment on it, or mention it again unless they do. The member should experience only that their coach always seems to program exactly right for how they feel.
These four exchanges cover most real situations. The pattern is always the same: warm about the person, neutral about the regimen, and back to training.
"I'm fasting today."
"Got it, thanks for telling me. I'll keep intensity a bit lower and give you extra rest between sets. Tell me right away if you feel light-headed."
"Are you sure that's a good idea before training?" · "Fasting is great, I do it too!" · "How long have you been fasting? What protocol?"
"I've lost 5 lbs since starting keto!"
"That's real progress, and you've earned it: you haven't missed a session in three weeks. Let's put it to work today."
"Keto works so well!" (endorsing the method) · "Just be careful with keto…" (skepticism) · a flat "okay" (cold: the win deserves warmth, aimed at them, not the diet)
"Should I take creatine?" (direct question, non-medical)
Use the one-time script below: brief personal transparency, clear scope statement, pivot to the session.
A recommendation. "Yes, 5g a day" is advice, even if it's what every gym coach says.
"My doctor put me on Ozempic. Will that affect my training?"
"That's one for your doctor, I can't advise on it. What I can do is keep your training right for where you are, and that's exactly what we'll do." Then adapt the programming (Rule 3) and flag it to the head coach.
Any opinion on the medication, in either direction. This is a pure-redirect topic: no personal-practice answer.
Members will sometimes ask: "What do you eat?", "Do you take creatine?", "Should I train fasted?". You do not have to be cold about it. Answer once, briefly, using this shape:
For anything medical, skip the personal-practice part entirely and redirect only:
Then flag the exchange to the head coach in your session notes so we have a record and can support the member properly.
Special case, possible disordered eating: escalate the same day. If anything a member says or does makes you think of disordered eating (extreme restriction, guilt or panic about food, compensatory over-training, dramatic unexplained changes), do not wait for session notes. Message the head coach directly the same day. You are not diagnosing anything and you will never raise it with the member: you are making sure the one person who can coordinate proper support knows immediately. This is the one scope topic where speed matters.
When a member's intake shows a YES answer (you'll see "physician clearance advised"):
None of this is about catching anyone out. It is about protecting you: when a member with an MD pushes back on nutrition advice, the coach who stayed in scope has nothing to defend. Stay in your lane, own your lane, and you will be the best coach these members have ever had.
You will eventually hit a situation this SOP doesn't cover cleanly, or where following it made a moment with a member feel awkward. When that happens, bring it to the head coach: in your next mentorship session, or right away if it's bothering you. Tell us what happened and what you wish you could have said.
This is a genuine request, not politeness. This SOP can be improved, but only if the edge cases reach us. A quiet workaround helps nobody; a raised edge case makes the SOP better for every coach. Disagreement raised in good faith will never be held against you. It's part of the job.
Bespoke Fit · Scope of Coaching · v2.3 · August 2026
v2.2: cultural-norms framing moved into "Why this exists", credentials wording now applies to the whole team equally, house style pass, tightened.
v2.3: Rule 1 clarified. Small talk about a member's life is welcome; the ban is on food/supplement/medication topics and on unsolicited "you should" advice.