Are you a personal trainer who want’s to stand out from the crowd? 

“In an industry saturated with coaches (all claiming to get awesome results!) how do you stand out from the crowd?”

Well of course there are many ways, and i’m going to be covering them over the next couple of months (i’ve got a 5 post series for personal trainers scheduled for September – so stay tuned!) but one of the ways you can get ahead of the competition is… by being smarter. Smarter in business, and smarter with your coaching.

How do you do this? well the title of this post kind of gives it away…read! But don’t worry if your not a big reader thanks to technology you can access most of these books in audio form! I’d recommend checking out Audible if you prefer learning this way. Anyhow my brother from another mother, here’s 10 Books Every Personal Trainer Must Read…

1) Losing My Virginity 

Personally my favourite entrepreneur of all time, I mean how can you not love Richard Branson (unless your British Airways!). The guy with a lions mane of hair is a loveable geeza, who happens to be a billionaire and knows how to build successful businesses, across the globe in multiple industries. How many guys/entrepreneurs do you know who’ve done gyms, trains, planes, record shops, and banks! I mean Jesus is there anything this guy can’t do? Oh and he also owns a private island called Necker! This book explores the life of the great man himself and it’s well worth the read.

2) N1 Nutritional Programming 

Ok, so if you’ve never heard of Phil Learney you’ve lead a very sheltered life! Phil is one of the most knowledgeable personal trainers that i’ve ever come across, he’s super smart and what I love about his work is that he doesn’t talk in pretentious science gobbledygook! His work is easy to read and digest and absolutely spot on when it comes to training and nutrition. This is a must read book for those personal trainers looking to be the best in our industry.

3) Steve Jobs – The Exclusive Biography 

You don’t get much bigger than Steve Jobs, I mean this guy can be held accountable for developing the iPod, iPhone and the slick Rick computer… aka the Mac (god I love Apple!). This biography delves deep into the life of the great man himself, from how he started his first business in his garage, to the many ups and downs of a complex, charismatic leader.

4) How To Eat, Move And Be Healthy 

What a book! I’ve read this book on numerous occasions and always refer back to specific chapters when I need them. This book looks at everything from training and diet, to sleep and recovery. It provides a wealth of experience from a chap (Paul Chek) who truly knows what he’s talking about. The book also provides many systems to help you screen your clients, whilst also providing practical solutions, so you can become a better coach and teach your clients to lead a healthy, and sustainable life.

5) Think & Grow Rich

An absolute classic! This book delves deep into the minds of some of the most successful  entrepreneurs of the last century. Napoleon Hill teaches you how to develop a winners mindset, and how to get what you want from life and business by drawing on the experience of the worlds most successful entrepreneurs.

6) Strength Training Anatomy 

A book full of simple illustrations and a great manual to refer to when looking at human anatomy, and learning about the structure of the body and how it functions. This colourful book, full of pictures explores all the muscles in the body, explaining: how they work, their functionality, and the correct movement patterns for an abundance of exercises like the bench press, squat, deadlift and many more. You need to read this and have it on your book shelf! As a personal trainer it’s important to read lots of books on physical health to ensure you stay on top of your game and stand out from your fellow PT’s

7) Made in America

The legendary Sam Walton, founder of the retail giant Walmart. Similar to the Richard Branson and Steve Jobs books this is another book filled to the brim with knowledge bombs and wisdom. I’ve recently just read this book and it was frickin awesome! There’s something very comforting about hearing the struggles, setbacks and challenges of these successful entrepreneurs, they’ve all been through tough times. Learning from these mentors helps us deal with our own struggles, especially those of us looking to build a highly successful personal training business.

8) The Max Muscle Plan

The legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson shares his secrets on Leading one of the biggest sports teams in the world…. Manchester Utd. From his early days at Aberdeen to his illustrious 26 year career at Manchester Utd, Sir Alex shares his hard earned wealth of knowledge on how he lead his team to 38 trophies and became one of the most successful and respected sports managers of our generation. To be a great personal trainer you need to be a leader, you need to be able to lead your clients, and your staff, who better to learn from than the main man himself… Sir Alex.

10) How to Win Friends And Influence People

We are in the business of communication. We have to communicate with people in our 1-1 personal training session, and our group classes. This book by Dale Carnegie is a classic, it’s got 4.5 stars on Amazon out of 949 reviews (wowza!) it’s a book that must not be missed. Dale Carnegie teaches you the art of communication, how to make people smile, how to cultivate relationships, deal with tricky people/situations and much more. This book changed the way I communicated my message to customers and how I now speak to them. I can honestly say that this is the best book i’ve read to date and would highly recommend. If there’s one book you need to pick up from this list…it’s this one!

No Go and get em!

I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as i’ve enjoyed putting it together for you. I’d strongly encourage you to pick up all the books I’ve mentioned in 10 Books Every Personal Trainer Must Read but if not at least pick up one or two. Add the others into your wish list and work your way through them. I can guarantee that the small investment you make will be returned in abundance as you see your personal training skills and business take off like a Virgin Aeroplane (Richard Branson I love you!) haha.

If you liked this post “please please please” share the love and share it with a friend or leave your comment below with feedback, i’d love to hear from you and it makes these post seem all the more worthwhile.

Thanks again, and here’s to a prosperous personal training career my friend.

👱💪 Nick

P.S. I’ve also written another post – with some extra book recommendations if you want even more amazing books.