A little over a year ago I decided to hire a personal trainer to help me achieve some fitness goals. Don’t misunderstand me, please — I am in my mid-fifties, work in a sedentary IT job, and basically hate to get all sweaty. But age is catching up with me, and my weight is a problem, exacerbating my arthritic knees, hips and right thumb. I know myself very well, and I would never achieve anything by trying to go it alone.
I made a list of the qualities important to me in a personal trainer; I happened to find it again just the other day. Female, definitely — the most important thing because I know women understand other women, and generally I consider that to be a good thing (Big Brother notwithstanding). Someone over 30, because no one can really know what they’re doing any younger than that, can they? Not pc, I know, but there it is. Someone experienced in a more holistic outlook on health and well-being, where we give equal effort to mind, body and spirit, or at least to exercise, nutrition and positive thinking.
I googled and found Alan Gordon. No, not a woman, but everything else I thought I wanted and some things I didn’t know I wanted. From last August until this August, Alan has come to my house most Tuesday afternoons to work me over, err, out. I still have the sedentary IT job, but now I walk over to the other side of the building instead of emailing. I still hate to get all sweaty, but I do that too, every Tuesday.
This past July I took a walking holiday in the Alps. My knees held up superbly. My hips still have some problems, but we’re working on them. In Wengen, on the advice from a spry octogenarian seated at the dining table next to ours, I bought a pair of those trendy walking poles. He said they gave him confidence, especially on the downhill walks, and was sure they’d do the same for me. Boy! Do they ever!
But not nearly as much confidence as having Alan there all the time telling me that my knees are good, that I’m well-balanced and some parts of me are strong.
It’s a wonderful thing to set a goal, then find that others in the world come along with just the right support and help, exactly when it’s needed.
