It's More Than Just Making Them Sweat: A Career Training Guide for Personal Fitness Train

By Ed Thornton

Book Overview

It's More Than Just Making Them Sweat carves out a unique niche in the field of fitness publishing. No other book in this genre addresses more thoroughly the psychological factors of motivating clients and the how-to aspects of starting up and promoting a personal training business. No longer are personal trainers to be seen as glorified spotters just biding their time until the next career move. They are qualified health professionals who design and monitor the exercise programs that improve peoples' lives and health. The goal of this book is to promote a more reverent view of personal trainers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885003781
• ISBN13: 9781885003782
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Reed Publishers, Robert D.
• Length: 113 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

FANTASTIC!!

I've been involved in martial arts for 37 years and teaching law enforcement personnel, defensive tactics, for 30 years. Many times, I was encouraged to go into the personal training field but was hesitant. I recently became certified and was interested in getting started the 'right' way. Well, I found this gem of a book and highly recommend it. It has some solid information and is a perfect primer for new personal trainers. Yes, it is so much more, than learning the latest greatest exercise. The clients deserve more and I have to agree with the author, we should give them what they pay so well for.

Easy to read and informative

This is a well-written and easy to read book that covers the fundamentals of personal training. I gained a lot from reading this book and I feel like it helped me to better understand what's going on "underneath the hood" during a training session. My only complaint is that this book is rather short and not as in-depth as it could have been. However, it is still a valuable read and internalizing the principles Ed Thornton outlines here will improve the quality of your training sessions immediately. Specific props go out to his description of the "flow state" in chapter one. This may have been my favorite part of the book. [...].

A must read for anyone thinking about being a personal trainer or who is a new trainer!

As a personal trainer, this has been one of the best books I have purchased. I wish I had read it when I first became a trainer 8 years ago. I have read this book twice and refer to it often. If you are thinking of becoming a personal trainer or if you are new to the industry, you need to read this book. Even veteran personal trainers could learn something from this book. I have many clients that say they have had personal trainers in the past but were not successful at reaching their goals while working with them. I have also had clients that had trainers that were late, or didn't show up, talked on their cell phones while training, etc. This gives personal trainers a bad name. Personally training is so much more than sets and reps. Thornton goes into what it really means to be a professional fitness trainer that gets results for their clients. In addition, you will learn other successful tips in marketing your business, keeping your clients long-term, and getting referrals. This book is a must read for any one serious about a career in the fitness industry.

I love my job...

A colleague told me about this book, and said I should read it. What made it really valuable to me was that it reminded me (as crazy as it sounds) that I am here to help these people reach their fitness goals and that should be my number one focus -- how am I going to get them to reach their goal. I think in the high pressure health club environment, it's easy to forget that and get caught up in how much training you are selling and how many clients you are retaining and re-signing. This meant that I was always obsessing about how to get them to sign with me, re-sign, how do I get more clients? How do I get them to like me and keep training with me? Totally missing the point! This book reminded me what my real focus should be, and I implemented it instantly. The same week, I came into work and carefully thought about what each one of my clients wanted to achieve and thought about what was holding them back and i talked to them about that and what else we could do together to get them where they wanted to be. The response was amazing and so appreciative. It was a great lesson to learn. Totally with the 10 bucks. If you are a personal trainer who is serious about their career, and you sincerely want to be the best you can be, you should read this book.

A "must have" book for personal trainers

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (1/07) In my life, the job that I most enjoyed was being a personal trainer. I worked as a certified fitness counselor, which incorporated both personal training and nutrition, while I was in college. Because it didn't seem very lucrative for me, I never thought about doing it beyond college. I wish that I had read "It's More Than Just Making Them Sweat" back then. It would have given me a very different attitude. Having a different attitude would have made all the difference in the world. I could have made a career of it. The author, Ed Thornton, researched the reasons why some trainers made it and some didn't. He wrote "It's More Than Making Them Sweat" to show trainers how to be successful. He offers concrete workable principles that make a lot of sense. Thornton doesn't just want to help you increase your income; he also wants you to enjoy the gratification that comes from helping others improve their quality of life. It is so obvious that helping others, in this way, is Thornton 's passion. He conveys this in his writing and in doing so will motivate trainers to want to excel at what they do. He states that to be able to inspire others you need to love what you do and live what you teach. The first lesson that he teaches is to put your client's success before your own. You will never be more successful than your clients. Their success is also yours. Our primary goal as trainers is to help our clients gain natural and healthy control over their bodies. He also recommends getting to know the client as a person. This will allow the routines to be better customized to meet their particular needs. If you are a personal trainer or are thinking of becoming one, you really should read "It's More Than Just Making Them Sweat." It will get you started on the right path to becoming a successful trainer and in doing so, you will be able to reach out to more people and improve their lives.