Motivating People to Be Physically Active (Physical Activity Intervention) Paperback – September 29, 2008

Great book and needed it for school to become a personal trainer.

Within the first section of book, the authors' do a great job introducing and explaining current models and theories of behavioral change as it relates to exercise. The content is clear, well organized, and interesting. This section of the book kept me engaged while readingThe second half of the book however, was not as easy to stay focused. The second sections aims to provide practical way to implement the theories of section one in the real world. A chapter would first introducing how a particular setting would have specific considerations, which was interesting. But when proposing potential strategies for behavioral change, the book becomes very repetitive, In multiple chapters, 3-5 pages in a row would have a large portion of the exact same text verbatim, or modified very slightly. For me personally, this made it hard to engage those chapters of text.Overall, the information in the text is good. But if the purpose of the book is to promote fitness students and professionals to creatively motivate others to become and stay physically active, then I believe that a more creative, engaging delivery of the practical portions of the text would be more effective.

Although the concept behind this book sounds interesting, it is simply a long winded conglomeration of surveys and redundant information. I was disappointed in the manner that this book window dresses ground level basics, without any new innovative or even remotely unique ideas for motivating clients.What the book does do is help pinpoint various "obstacles" in the way of progress, by providing a rich surplus of questionnaires. However, I feel that pinpointing "obstacles" just helps you identify the excuses, and this is an ineffective approach in itself because you will find yourself in a whirlwind of excuses and lack of progress. Regardless of which of the hundreds of excuses the client makes, the bottom line is that they haven't made exercise a priority, and they probably won't until you can bring out their desire to exercise. Besides, having a client fill out a myriad of questionnaires is likely to make thier trip to the gym an extremely boring encounter, thereby creating unenthused bias about "going to the gym".In my own experience as a personal trainer, I have found "fun" to be the best motivator. Creating games through exercise, challenging personal records, and even simple rewards make the overall gym experience a positive one, and keep the client motivated to keep coming back for more. This book overlooks these approaches.The lack of creativity in this book's approach to motivating may not be the best investment of your time, in fact, you may need to find a way to "Motivate Yourself To Finish This Book".