Customer Reviews

The Personal Trainer's Handbook

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I think Teri O'Brien's "Personal Trainer's Handbook" is the most valuable resource I have ever owned. The 2nd Edition is thoroughly updated, augmented with a CD rom, and even better than the one I cut my teeth on, the original edition. I am particularly impressed by the section on legal forms and liability issues. Since the author is a lawyer as well as a exercise physiologist, the book contains a wealth of information you simply can't get anywhere else. I prefer O'Brien's writing style to that of Galt or Brooks or any of the other popular fitness authors. I think her writing is more accessible to the beginner and very enjoyable to read for the pro, such as I. I simply can't imagine not having this book in my fitness resource library.

The first part of the book is pretty simple in its concept. Mostly it gives you ideas on interaction with clients. Even with issues I already knew it was nice to have the reassurance. The best part of the book from was the EXERCISE section. It gives concise and easy to follow instructions on many exercises and they are broken down by body parts. What makes this especially valuable is that she give you reminders to tell your client plus things to watch out for as a trainer for each exercise. I only wish she had added more of this in the book. I practically scanned this whole section and uploaded it into my Palm Pilot for quick access at the gym ***That may be an idea for you Teri for future products**Also in the back are several standard forms such as a medical release.

I found three good reasons to read this book. 1. It's jam packed and filled to the brim with practical knowledge about how to become fit and/or a fitness trainer. 2.It discusses aspects of training yourself or others that most people never consider, such as: When to say when,Trainer ethics and credibility, and the importance of functional fitness. 3. Teri writes like she talks which means the book is more fun to read than most others. Buy it.

It's just head and shoulders above any Personal Trainers resource I've ever used. I absolutely emphatically recommend that anyone pursuing a career in training read this book.

I found three good reasons to read this book. 1. It's jam packed and filled to the brim with practical knowledge about how to become fit and/or a fitness trainer. 2.It discusses aspects of training yourself or others that most people never consider, such as: When to say when,Trainer ethics and credibility, and the importance of functional fitness. 3. Teri writes like she talks which means the book is more fun to read than most others. Buy it.

This book is amazingly thorough; from whether this is the right career for you to business and marketing, program design and more. I'm very happy with this purchase.

Just a quick note to thank all of you for your kind statements about my book. I appreciate the comments about its usefulness for the layperson, not just trainers. The drawings are based on ones I used to give me clients to use when they worked out on their own. If you order my book, you will have taken the first step to getting in shape!