Best Personal Trainer Books: 25 Picks Recommended by CEOs

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s account of becoming Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia doubles as a weight-training manual, with a step-by-step program, dietary advice and a four-day routine for individual muscle groups shown in photographs. Ramit Sethi includes it among 50 books he recommends, and David Senra devoted a Founders episode to it.

Quarterback Tom Brady lays out his long-term fitness method built on pliability, covering strength training, hydration, nutrition, supplements and recovery with the aim of cutting injury risk and extending performance. Tony Robbins says it shares the tested strategies that kept Brady playing at a high level.

John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman gather research showing that aerobic exercise remodels the brain, easing stress, lifting mood and sharpening thinking, with a school fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, as a case study. Andrew Huberman calls it a good book that still holds up.

Pavel Tsatsouline builds strength with bodyweight alone, built around a pair of moves, one-arm pushups and single-leg squats, whose techniques then carry over to many traditional exercises. Andrew Huberman says he loves it, and repeats the word for emphasis.

Coach Jason Koop shows why ultramarathons need more than extra miles, laying out a periodized, research-based plan for energy systems, intervals, fueling, hydration and season planning drawn from coaching elite runners. Robert Hajnal says it overhauled his approach to training.

Climber and coach Eric J. Horst pairs sport science with decades of coaching in a program covering strength, power and endurance work, periodization, training zones, nutrition, recovery and injury prevention. Tudor Teodorescu says his results from it so far have been excellent.

Chiropractor Eric Goodman and trainer Peter Park move the idea of core strength to the back of the body, with equipment-free movement patterns meant to correct posture, ease back pain and help athletes past plateaus. Matthew McConaughey credits it with fixing his lower back.

Doug McGuff, a specialist in fitness medicine, and bodybuilder John R. Little design a single weekly workout of 12 minutes at high intensity, grounded in research, to build muscle, add strength and raise metabolism. Nassim Nicholas Taleb credits it with showing him why intensity and recovery matter.

Matthew Walker’s book is mainly about the science of sleep, but his account of how sleep regulates metabolism, appetite, immunity and learning bears directly on recovery from training. Andrew Huberman points to it for practical ways to improve sleep.

Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, a scientist and coach of Olympic athletes, distill principles of performance shared by athletes, thinkers and artists, such as cycling hard work with rest and preparing body and mind. Ryan Holiday praised it for bringing physical and mental performance together.

Tim Ferriss tested ways to reshape the body on himself and with athletes and doctors, centering on his slow-carb diet with further chapters on exercise and sleep, from simple to extreme options. Bryan Callen says he has recommended it more than almost any other book.

Longevity physician Peter Attia writes mainly about preventing age-related disease, but gives exercise particular weight, from intense training and stability work to avoiding injury and raising VO2 max. Andrew Huberman has read it cover to cover three times.

David Epstein weighs the share of genes against the share of practice in athletic success, questioning the 10,000-hour rule and examining Jamaican sprinters and Kalenjin marathon runners. Peter Attia calls it a fantastic book.

Entrepreneur Jesse Itzler recounts the month a Navy SEAL moved into his home to run him through extreme fitness training, a funny account of being pushed far past a comfort zone. Chris Goward found it entertaining and inspiring.

Science writer Gary Taubes argues that certain carbohydrates rather than excess calories drive obesity, covering insulin, exercise and genetics before closing with a diet, and critics have disputed its central idea. Bill Gurley has it on his list.

Mark Hyman’s diet program treats dietary fat as the key to weight loss and good health rather than its enemy, and supplies meal plans, recipes and shopping lists built on foods such as avocados, nuts and eggs. Daniel Amen calls it a well-researched roadmap to health.

Alex Hutchinson, a former national-team distance runner, surveys research suggesting the brain sets physical limits as much as the body, taking oxygen, pain, heat, muscle, fuel and thirst one at a time. Adam Grant says it shows how people can pass perceived limits.

Onnit founder Aubrey Marcus arranges small changes around a single day, from waking through workouts, diet and mindfulness to bedtime, so that they grow into weekly routines and then habits. Ryan Holiday calls it a road map for changing rituals and habits.

Andrew Weil’s week-by-week health program draws on conventional and alternative medicine and covers diet, exercise, stress and environment, with versions for overweight people, seniors and pregnant women. Kevin Rose rereads it every couple of years.

Two-time CrossFit Games champion Katrin Davidsdottir describes the training, nutrition, goal setting and mental work behind her titles, including how she trained harder and rebuilt her approach after missing the Games in 2014.

Joel Fuhrman’s weight-loss program rests on the formula that health equals nutrients divided by calories, beginning with six restrictive weeks of plant-based eating. Dr. Monali Y. Desai found it interesting while noting that she agrees fully with no nutrition book.

Triathlete Chris McCormack tells how he came back to win the Ironman World Championship in Kona at 37, and gives concrete training advice for weekend racers and seasoned competitors alike. Alex Circei used it to train for an Ironman.

Jillian Michaels turns her own endocrine problems into a three-phase eating plan targeting the weight-regulating hormones, with shopping lists, food charts, recipes and restaurant strategies. Nelson Chu says it taught him to design his diet and exercise.

Powerlifter Judd Biasiotto credits mental training rather than drugs for his rise from last place to world-class lifting, and sets out the psychological methods he used. Pavel Tsatsouline recommends it for learning to switch fully on for effort and fully off for rest.

Sport sleep coach Nick Littlehales, whose clients include Team Sky cyclists, NBA and NFL players and Olympic athletes, replaces the eight-hour rule with a plan built on sleep cycles and recovery routines. Iulia Ghita says its two rules ended her habit of sleeping until noon.