The Personal Trainer's Handbook - 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Teri O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0736045015 | ISBN-13: 978-0736045018 | Publication Date: April 11, 2003 | Edition: 2nd

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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
·Handouts you can print and give to clients to reinforce your training

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

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Human Kinetics; 2nd edition (April 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736045015
• ISBN-13: 978-0736045018
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book for non-professionals, too, April 15, 1998

By 

Mark J. Satterstrom (Harris, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Personal Trainer's Handbook (Paperback)

This book was recommended to me by a friend who's really into fitness training. I was just looking for a guide that would enable me to exercise more effectively. This is it! It's terrific! Many, many exercises are fully explained (all with diagrams,) from stretching to working with weights. The book is written so a novice like me can easily understand every concept, yet the level of thoroughness is really amazing. Mental approach, setting goals, creating an individualized program, danger signs (that indicate over-exercise) are all discussed in an intelligent, yet readable way. Even the stuff that doesn't apply to me-- the professional trainer pointers regarding setting up a business, how to market yourself, legal matters, etc. are interesting reading. The style is friendly and sometimes humorous, yet serious and to the point. I also like the ever-present integrity of the author's viewpoint. She's not at all shy about telling it like it is. I expected a hard-to-read technical manual. I am quite pleasantly surprised. Wish I could give it an 11!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Outdated information and poorly presented reference material, May 12, 2004

By 

"muscle76" (Chicago, IL.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Personal Trainer's Handbook (Paperback)

New trainers looking for a reference handbook will not benfit from spending money on this handbook. Douglas Brooks' "Going Solo" and "Program Design for Personal Trainers" has more high quality information for new trainers. This handbook just contains the same generic fitness guidelines of most fitness books that can be gotten for free through various websites. For basic reference with a higher quality publication, ACE's "Personal Trainer Manual" covers everything you need with more easy to find quick reference tools and high quality demonstrations, where this handbook is crammed text with a poor layout making it difficult to quickly find basic information since you have to sort through the author's excess commentary. For non-professionals, Ian King's "Book of Muscle" will give a wealth of easy and solid information for the beginner looking for a hardcover manual. This is definitely not for anyone looking for cutting edge info or how to really develop effective exercise programs. The many free resources at ACE, ACSM and NSCA's websites give you the same information without wasting your money.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for writing this book, Ms. O'Brien, July 13, 2004

By 

"oliviadd" (Beverly Hills, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Personal Trainer's Handbook - 2nd Edition (Paperback)

As an aspiring personal training entrepreneur, I bought your book after it was recommended by the chairman of the Exercise Physiology Department at a major university. I give your book an enthusiastic thumbs up to ANYONE who wants to make fitness their life, or even their hobby The legal forms are priceless, the section on handling difficult clients is indispensible and the resistance training form guide is great! I have told all my colleagues to buy it, and the chairman I referred to adopting it as the textbook for my alma mater's 'personal training business' instruction class. Thanks for writing this book, Ms. O'Brien.