Book Review: The Personal Trainer's Handbook

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Personal Trainers and Personal Training. Personal Trainers design exercise routines, provide education on physical fitness and give motivation and support to help their clients achieve better health. Craig Burton is the Official Guide to Personal Trainers and Personal Training.

The Personal Trainer's Handbook, by Teri S. O'Brien, is a valuable resource for people interested in Personal Trainers and Personal Training, and it is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Starting your own personal training business or wanting to improve your existing practice? With the updated and expanded second edition of the popular The Personal Trainer’s Handbook, you’ll have all the advice and tools you’ll need to succeed.

Like the popular first edition, this easy-to-use reference is written in everyday language and covers everything from designing safe and effective fitness programs to handling even the most difficult clients. You will learn how to achieve personal and financial success as a personal trainer, how to attract and keep clientele, and how to manage taxes and other business issues that are crucial to a personal training business.

With the new edition, you’ll also get a succinct but comprehensive review of exercise physiology that’s directly applicable to your business. This text includes a valuable new CD-ROM with the following features:

· 10 reproducible forms you can use and modify to manage the commercial, practical, and legal requirements of your business

· Forms for data collection and record keeping

· Charts and tables for writing the most beneficial exercise program for each client

· 3 case studies to help you hone your skills

· Excerpts from other Human Kinetics publications designed to help you improve your practice in everything from individualizing exercise prescription to applying principles of periodization to your clients’ programs

The Personal Trainer’s Handbook, Second Edition, also features an improved resistance workout guide. The guide contains

· instructions and illustrations for 74 exercises and 17 stretches,

· important reminders to give your clients to ensure ongoing correct form, and

· tips on how to handle or avoid common problems that you or your clients may experience with each exercise.

In addition, the resistance workout guide now contains a handy box on the outer edge of each page that has listings of the primary and secondary muscles and the area of the body worked by each exercise. This will help you quickly locate appropriate exercises for each client.

The author, Teri O’Brien, is a well-known consultant on starting and growing personal training businesses and a former lawyer and personal trainer. She uses a clear, friendly, and entertaining writing style to share a wealth of practical guidance. With The Personal Trainer’s Handbook, Second Edition, you will become a more effective self-marketer, businessperson, motivator, and teacher for your clients.

About the Author
Teri O’Brien is an author, speaker, radio personality, and founder and president of Teri O’Brien Fitness Systems, Inc., a fitness consultation firm located in the Chicago area. Since starting the company in 1991, shortly after completing her master’s degree in exercise science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, she has designed optimum performance programs for people of all ages and conditions. A variety of women’s and professional groups have enjoyed her entertaining talks and workshops on effective exercise programming, personal effectiveness, successful aging, and optimum performance.

Teri is not your usual fitness expert. Coaching and motivational speaking are a second career for this self-described recovering (as in nonpracticing) lawyer, who practiced law for seven years. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Arizona State University (ASU), where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She discovered the energy-boosting and stress-busting powers of exercise while she was in law school at ASU. To relieve her anxiety from school pressures, Teri began running and continued for nearly 10 years, completing five marathons and dozens of 10K races. After abandoning running in favor of weight training, Teri competed in several bodybuilding competitions, including the Gateway Classic, where she placed fourth in the lightweight class.

Teri is certified as a health fitness instructor by both the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise. In addition, she is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

She hosted a popular radio talk show on health and wellness on a major Chicago radio station and was featured twice in Shape magazine’s “One on One” column. Teri also wrote and was featured in eight videos for fitness professionals in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Healthy Learning series.