Member-only story
The Case for Personal Trainers
they’re not all jocks . . . .
After a couple of serious illnesses left me, in part, with impaired balance, I decided I’d have to get serious about my health. I have no intention of moving into my next decade wheelchair bound or stumbling about with a walker or lying on the couch gaining an extra hundred pounds.
In late January 2020 I began going to our local senior center to try out some of their exercise classes, though I dislike exercise and exercise classes. The classes were fine, but I knew they weren’t going to be enough.
The senior center offered personal trainers for members at a discounted price. Maybe that was what I needed — someone who wouldn’t listen to my excuses, and if I had to pay money I’d be less likely to slack off, right?
My idea of personal trainers was of young insolent guys with bulging muscles who’d look at me and order “drop and give me 20.” There were women trainers, of course, but I doubted any tiny Spandex-clad woman could pick me up if I fell.
Bob turned out to be a pleasant surprise. He was not a jock flexing his muscles, and there was no veiled disgust on his face when he saw an older, overweight, very much out of shape woman. He was closer to my age than I had dared hope. We talked about why I wanted to work with a personal trainer, what…
