RosesareBlue wants to know...

How long have you had your trainer?  How did that start compared to going to a group class somewhere?

I have been working with this particular trainer (Gary) since the end of my working days, December of 2017.  I started as part of a small group class of fellow triathlon club members with him, then when I retired, I signed on for individual sessions.

This is not the first personal trainer I have worked with.  I have also done group classes at times in the past.  It's a matter of fitting your needs and preferences to what's available at your local gyms.

The first personal trainer I hired was not for me, but for my son, when he was a teenager.  My son was struggling with the life transition associated with becoming an adult, i.e. a high school aged kid.  A doctor suggested personal training for him, so we joined a gym, and hired a trainer for him.

I was resistant to the idea for myself, though.  At the time, I was obese, and strength training wasn't my cuppa tea, nor were exercise classes!  But because I had to take my son to his trainer appointments (he didn't drive yet at the time)... I went along and used the cardio machines at the gym.  As often is the case, being more active made me feel better, and I dropped a few pounds.  

It was at least four years before I hired a trainer for myself.  I bought a "package" of six sessions at the gym, and we spread them out, so that those six sessions lasted three months.  During that time, my first trainer designed workouts for me introducing a new one with each session.  She gave me homework to do these workouts in rotation.  I did this off and on over the years, buying a "package" of sessions at whatever gym I belonged to, when I wanted a new set of workouts.  Usually every couple or three years.  I'd give them to myself as a birthday present.

After having worked with a trainer, I dipped my toe into group classes, from time to time over the years.  I grew in confidence, but they never did become my go-to form of exercise.  I liked working one on one better.

About five or six years ago I changed how I worked out with trainers.  Beginning during the time I was running and doing triathlon training, I found I needed a little more "oomph" to the motivation to work out with strength training.  Starting with "the Boy Wonder", a very young trainer named Dalton, I discovered trainers who would custom design the workouts each time.  I'd just show up and ask, "what are we doing today?" and they would have a variety of exercises just for that one session.  I scheduled this kind of session at least once a week.  Later, it moved up to twice a week.

Dalton was like that.  Later, BJ was like that, too.  BJ was my "recovery" trainer, when I'd had my fall and concussion in November, 2016.  She was an athlete who did obstacle courses.  She was not a young thing, but a single mom, with three kids... someone who had fought the battle of the scale herself, and won.  At our first meeting, my request to her was that during my recovery, when I was forbidden the bike, I did not want to "lose the awesome" of my triathlete days.  My goal was to run the Buffalo run, a five mile footrace, in September, 2017. BJ did her research, so that she designed workouts that would support my swimming, my biking when I'd be able to get back to it, and of course running.

At some point, BJ left the gym and passed me on to another young trainer named Chelsea.  Chelsea kept upping my weights without showing me what she was having me lift!  

Interestingly, I am still Facebook friends with all three of these trainers, and vicariously watched them get married, have children, and in the case of BJ, even ran a couple of events that she also ran, even beyond the trainer/client relationship.  One of the benefits of hiring a personal trainer is the relationship you build, the goals you share with them... it's customized to YOU, it's not just "a Zumba class" or "a yoga session"... it's a true partnership to achieve specific goals.

After getting through the triathlon season in 2017, I was preparing to retire from the workplace.  I thought I wanted to do more in triathlon, and that's when I moved over to Gary, who is a level II certified triathlon coach.  He's raced Kona (years ago)... for those who don't know, Kona is where they host the Ironman World Championship long course triathlon, a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, followed by a full 26.2 mile marathon run.  It's the race that hooked me on the sport.  Gary is a local treasure.

Gary understands the aging human body (an important feature for me), and he trains not just me, but several other senior women who mainly want to remain functionally fit and active as we continue to ripen!  His little boutique style gym turned out to be a total blessing during the pandemic, as it's easier to control and know that health standards are being met.  It's been hard on his business, at once point he told me he'd lost 60% of his business at the gym during the worst of 2020!  But I'm glad the gym has survived, and I hope it stays as long as I might need it.

A gray misty morning in the suburbs

Hope that answers your questions, RosesAreBlue!  Probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is!

As for today, status and the pep talk:

Post-vaccination, I did not sleep well.  I felt chills while trying to go to sleep, and later, around midnight, warm.  Took temperature, and it was 99.9℉, which for me is a low grade fever.  So I popped another Tylenol.  I repeated this at 5:15 a.m. as I was getting up, when it read 99.5℉.  I've been tired this morning.  But:  no headache, and breathing well... so I'm thinking I go work out this morning with Gary, but ask him to take it easy on me.

It's a foggy morning, but starting to burn off, with little peeks of sunshine starting to appear.

So... here we go... pacing ourselves to how the body is willing/able to contribute to the effort, let's do our best to make decisions that support our health, mental, physical, and spiritual, on this one and only Thursday, October 7, 2021 we'll ever get.  Bless us with knowing what ever effort we put in is sufficient for the day.  Peace be with us, Life is Good, Spark on!

✨🎇💖🔥💉