I get asked constantly what I feel separates a good personal trainer from a bad personal trainer. It’s a simple answer really: continuing education (AKA….read!!!!!). Having letters next to your name doesn’t really impress me. I’ve been in the industry long enough to know that keeping up-to-date with information is a MUST in order to succeed.

Make it a point to read at least one hour per day in your field of choice. Trust me, the television shows can wait (unless it’s 24 or Lost). Below are some fantastic resources I recommend to anyone who wants to become an "expert" in the fitness industry. As Alwyn Cosgrove has stated on numerous occasions, "read one hour per day and you will be in the top 5% in the field within 2-3 years."

Free Resources:

Books, e-books, manuals, DVDs, CDs, etc are great and there are certainly a plethora of each that I would consider must haves. However, they do get outdated. I first started in this industry just reading articles on various websites and participating in forums- for free. Some of the better ones include:

www.t-muscle.com -In my opinion, the best site for information on anything fitness related from some of the most well known authorities in the industry.

www.strengthcoach.com - The one and only Mike Boyle’s website. A yearly membership is required in order to read the articles, but it’s worth every penny. The forum alone is worth the price of admission. As well, you can download free episodes of The Strengthcoach.com podcast here .

www.elitefts.com - A website dedicated entirely to the topic of lifting heavy things. One of the best weekly newsletters in the industry with TONS of great articles from some of the top names in the industry.

www.flzine.com - Leigh Peele’s website that combines great training information with a little bit of sass. Hint: they swear a lot over there.

www.thefitcast.com - One of the top weekly training/nutrition podcasts, featuring many of the top names in the industry. A certain someone who’s website you’re currently browsing is often a guest host.

www.wannabebig.com - Another great website with lots of very knowledgeable contributors.

www.mindandmuscle.net - For those of you who are really geeky, this site is perfect for you.

www.higher-faster-sports.com - Kelly Baggett’s website. Kelly is a bright guy that offers a lot of insight and perspective into how to train athletes the right way.

www.sbcoachescollege.com - Started by strength coaches Brijesh Patel, Robb Rogers, and Shawn Windle; this is a great website geared for other strength coaches/personal trainers. Tons of free articles.

BLOGS : I have smart friends, you should listen to them (Psst, I have a fairly extensive list of blogs I like on the home page).

Honestly, there is a ton of free information out there. I would go so far to say that I probably learned more spending time reading various websites than I did through all four years of college. So even if you are strapped for cash and can’t afford books and the like, you have no excuse not to better yourself….for free.

A Small Rant Before I Go On:

You want to learn? I can’t stress enough how important it is to surround yourself with like minded individuals. I have had the luxury of working along side some very knowledgable people within the past few years, and I can honestly say that not only am I a completely different trainer because of it- but I am also a different person.

As my good friend Eric Cressey has mentioned on several occasions, it doesn’t take money to network and make professional contacts with people in the industry. It doesn’t take money to write someone an e-mail to ask him or her a question. It doesn’t take money to go and observe the top trainers or strength and conditioning coaches in your area

However, you will have to spend some money. Attending seminars and conferences will only help you. Don’t gripe about the fact that it will cost $250 to attend. I guarantee that you will learn one tip from that seminar that will gross you ten times that amount in clients. In the end, most seminars or conferences pay for themselves. And if not, at least you got the free t-shirt.

Resources: Books, E-books, Manuals, DVD’s, CD’s, etc.

I’ll give a brief synopsis and rationale as to why I am recommending each resource. I’ll sub-divide all of this into a few categories: training, nutrition, anatomy/corrective training, coaching, and miscellaneous.

Training

Science and Practice of Strength Training - Other than Supertraining , written by the late Mel Siff, this book is probably the most referenced strength book ever. A must have for anyone in the industry.  You can’t really call yourself a strength coach if you don’t have this book in your personal library.

Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning - Published through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and a fantastic resource.

The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual - Is your training taking you to the next level with your athletic performance or general performance in the gym? Are your lifts going up? If not, than this manual is for you. If only I had this manual when I was an athlete in college.

Professional Fitness Coach Program Design Manual - A straightforward approach to program design by Alwyn Cosgrove. Every personal trainer should have this. Note: if you’re still programming 3×10 for everything, you really need to read this.

Real World Fat Loss: Destroying the Dogma - A practical guide to basic fat loss programming by Alwyn Cosgrove. Learn to debunk every myth ever perpetuated by un-educated fitness professionals concerning fat loss.

Vertical Jump Development Bible - Undoubtedly, one of the best books I have read in the past 3-5 years. So much more than just how to improve one’s vertical jump. I love all of Kelly’s stuff.

Bulletproof Knees - A comprehensive manual dealing with everything and anything related to the knees and how to fix them. Written by Mike Robertson, a great resource for trainers and strength coaches, as well as weekend warriors.

Starting Strength - Great book for coaches to learn how to teach someone to squat, bench, and deadlift. Without question on my list of Top 5 books I recommend to anyone in the industry.

Practical Programming for Strength Training - Ever wonder what are the differences in program design between a novice, intermediate, and advanced lifter? Here is your answer.

Essentials of Weight Lifting and Strength Training - Very, very comprehensive text on the subject of Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and bodybuilding. Great visual aides.

The No-Bull Muscle Building Plan - Another great book by Kelly Baggett. Wish I would have had this when I was a teenager.

Athletic Body in Balance - Learn how to spot and fix asymmetries in the body. Jam packed with programming ideas dealing with corrective exercise from the one and only Gray Cook.

Warp Speed Fat Loss - Probably one of the best fat-loss programs ever written. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Includes 28 days worth of food plans and detailed programming from Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussel.

Functional Training for Sports - Mike Boyle’s first book. It should be your mission to read anything by Mike Boyle- starting with this.

Designing Strength Training Programs and Facilities - A great look inside the mind of Mike Boyle. Not only how to design sound programs, but also how to design a kick-ass facility.

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness - Mel Siff is smarter than you, and here is why. This book will serve as your "ammo" for any nimrod who thinks they know what they’re talking about.

Scrawny to Brawny - Simple, yet affective plan for adding on mass. All you skinny bastards out there need to read this book by authors Mike Meija and John Berardi.

The New Rules of Lifting - Perfect book for anyone new to lifting weights. No foo-foo nonsense. Just factual, sound information to get lean and strong.

The New Rules of Lifting for Women - Not that men and women need to train differently, but this book debunks just about every myth that women have towards strength training and lifting appreciable weights. Hint: pink dumbbells aren’t going to cut it.

Afterburn I and II - Proof why Alwyn Cosgrove is a mean sumbitch- but he sure knows how to get people lean, including you.

Maximum Strength - Seriously, you need to lift heavy stuff. Trust me. If more people followed this program and spent less time doing 15 sets of bicep curls, they might actually look like they lifted weights.

Power Training - Written by strength coach Robert dos Remedios; this book with certifiably kick your ass. Want to look like an athlete, you need to train like an athlete. Go figure!

Training for Warriors - Written by Martin Rooney, and one of the best books dealing with how to approach training mixed martial artists.

Strength Training for Young Athletes - A great text dealing with the psychology of training young athletes and the variables one needs to make with their programming.

Nutrition

I like to consider myself somewhat of a "nutrition guy." Simply put, no matter how often you’re in the gym, you can’t out train a poor diet. If your goal is fat loss, I would go as far to say that 80% of results will come from your nutrition. If your goal is to put on some lean muscle mass- again, your nutrition is going to play an integral role. Below are many of the books and manuals I highly recommend.

Precision Nutrition - Bar none…THE best nutritional resource out there. Everything you need to know to help you get started setting up your own nutritional plan. You have no excuse not to succeed with this resource.

Alan Aragon’s Research Review - I hate reading research papers.  Here, Alan does it for you.  Alan has a knack for cutting through the crap and telling it like it is.  For $10 per month, you can’t go wrong.

Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism - If you’re a geek, you need this book. Great reference point for anything related to nutrition.

Your Naked Nutrition Guide - Mike Roussell goes into detail on how you can design your own nutrition plan. A very unique, and very effective system.

Gourmet Nutrition - The only cookbook I own. Well worth the cost for the protein bar recipes alone. PS: the meatloaf is to die for.

The TNT Diet - As far as "commercialized" diet books go, this is one of the best. Written by Jeff Volek and Adam Campbell, it dispells many of the common myths that still plague the industry (ie: there is no direct link between saturated fat and risk for heart disease).

The Omnivore’s Dilemma - I would rank this book on my list of Top 5 books to own as well. A truly eye-opening read that will make you think twice about what you put down your pie hole. To summarize; corn……is……in……everything.

Bodyopus - Before Lyle McDonald, there was Dan Duchaine. This is a classic book, and one that everyone interested in body composition should read.

The Perfect Body Diet - A diet book (and much more) written for women by a woman. Cassandra Forsythe goes out of her way to debunk many common myths concerning women and dieting. For instance, you actually need to eat something more than a carrot stick and lift weights!

The Fat Loss Troubleshoot - I love Leigh’s no bull-shit approach. Backed by tons of research, Leigh does a fantastic job and rationalizing why you’re not losing fat. Huh, weird…..total calories do count.

The Metabolism Advantage - Do you think because you’re over 30 your metabolism is doomed to slow down? Think again. Another great book by Dr. John Berardi.

Nutrient Timing - I wish more registered dietitians would read this book.

Ultrametabolism - Another practical book with lots of useful information pertaining to the topic of your metabolism and how to boost it through simple tweaks in your diet.

The Whole Soy Story - Think soy is a "healthy" food? It’s like, totally not. Our government sucks.

The Abs Diet - I hate diet books, but this one I actually like because it focuses on habits and not quick fixes.

The Cheat to Lose Diet - Authored by Joel Marion. A very effective "diet" which allows you to eat pizza no less. With over 300 scientific references, a must have if all other diets have failed you.

Girth Control - Probably one of the wittiest titles for a book ever! Alan Aragon is a fantastic "go to" guy in the nutrition world and his book is one of the best resources I have read in a looooong time. TONS of research based information, as well as Alan’s common sense and practical knowledge. If you’re a nutrition geek, this book is for you.

Natural Hormonal Enhancement - One of the very first nutrition related books I ever bought and it still ranks right up there with the best.

DVDs/Audio

Building the Efficient Athlete - If I had this dvd set when I was a collegiate athlete, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have had better odds of turning pro. A absolutely great resource for athletes and for those who train them.

2008 I-FAST Performance Enhancement Seminar - The first of what will hopefully be an annual event of knowledge bombs given by Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman.

Advance Functional Movement Screen - Gray Cook is smart. So smart that I totally have a man-crush on him. If you’re a trainer, do yourself a favor and buy this dvd set. I guarantee you’ll make your money back. One of the best investments you can make in yourself.

Inside-Out - The perfect upper body warm-up. For all of you with bum shoulders, this is a must.

Magnificent Mobility - The perfect lower body warm-up. For all of you with bum hips, knees, and lower backs, this is a must.

Secrets of Primitive Patterns - This dvd takes "going back to the basics" to a whole new level.

Secrets of the Shoulder - Learn why it’s not just about doing band exercises for the shoulder.

Secrets of Core Training - Not what you think it’s about.

Secrets of the Hip and Knee - Just about every dysfunction in the body can be attributed to the hips.

Joint-by-Joint Warm Up and Training - Another classic by Mike Boyle. Some joints need to be trained with mobility in mind, and some need to be trained with stability in mind. Yes, it’s that important.

No Nonsense Nutrition -

Functional Strength Coach - So good, I watched the entire set…TWICE.

Bodyweight Training - Alwyn shows you how to make your own body the ultimate training tool.

Pumping Iron - A classic for the bodybuilder in all of us. Watch Arnold while in his prime.

Miscellaneous (AKA: Books that make you sound really smart)

Muscles: Testing and Function With Posture and Pain - Pretty much the "go to" reference as far as functional anatomy is concerned.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes - Shirley Sahrmann is the shiznit

Exercise Metabolism - A great source of reference material dealing with anything and everything related to human metabolism

Hole’s Human Anatomy & Physiology - THE book when it comes to human anatomy.

Kinetic Anatomy - A great "introductory" book to functional anatomy. Highly recommended for those who need a quick and easy to use reference book.

Form and Function - I like to recommend this book to those who don’t have the attention span to read thick text books. A really great reference in regards to functional training and performance enhancement

Muscle Mechanics - A great "introductory" book to biomechanics and muscle movement.

Low Back Disorders - Dr. Stuart McGill’s fantastic first book. A bit more clinical in nature, but a must read for anyone who deals with patients or clients with a history of chronic lower back pain.

Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance - Learn how to assess and correct low back dysfunction through proper programming. Written by Dr. McGill and already in it’s 3rd edition.

Business Side of Things

Anyone Can Sell - Fantastic book by Thomas Plummer (AKA, the Godfather of the fitness industry) on the "ins and outs" of how to be an effective seller in this industry. If I had this book when I first stated in this industry, I would be much better off.

The Tipping Point - Not necessarily a business book per se, but a great book nonetheless on the why and how certain ideas take off and others don’t.

Six Figure Trainer - An audio set which teaches you the specifics on how you can start earning six figures as a personal trainer using other revenue streams. I can honestly say that this product alone has saved me thousands of dollars.

Made to Stick - Why do some ideas "stick" and others don’t?

Never Eat Alone - It’s just sad.

Yes! 50 Scientific Proven Ways to Be Persuasive - Kate Beckinsale will be mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.