So what’s new?
2014 has brought many challenges in my 10 year anniversary as a personal trainer.
I began to work with my first late stage Altzheimer’s client, which required another certification. I also worked with a client who has Parkinson’s and another client who needed post stroke rehab.
It seems that my work is getting more and more challenging these days, yet more and more rewarding! I work with an older population with special medical concerns that would otherwise be invisible and perhaps neglected. Yet, I too am growing and always ready to learn and to pursue deeper and more meaningful work with an under served population.
And so I have developed a new direction – training a very special segment of our population – a grandmother who fell and broke her hip, a 73 year old with late stage Alzheimer’s, a 70 year old recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s who just lost a loved one, a professor emeritus who had a mini stroke and is struggling with depression and balance issues.
I am humbled and honored to work with them. It is deeply moving and personal to witness their courage, vulnerability, struggles and successes, regardless of their advanced age and serious medical issues.
As far as I am concerned, these are the real heroes of my personal training career. They deserve our attention and recognition. Our culture prizes youth and beauty, to become old and ill is out of the question. Fact is – we are all getting older! We should look forward to growing old and not fear or dread the future. Many of my clients are living and coping with the worst health issues ever imagined – and they are doing their best to be healthy and fit just like you and I.
