Another One Gone
I haven't had a chance to blog about the loss of yet another trainer. Jarrad Bard - trainer #9 - gave me my last session with him on Friday. We started out smiling and laughing and he certainly didn't give me a break just because it was our last session. But as the session was ending, the emotions we had were surfacing.
Some people would criticize me for getting attached to a trainer. I mean, he's just there to push me through exercise, right? Wrong.
Trainers are there to encourage and challenge, to tap in to the psyche and find out what makes their client tick so that they can get the most out of them. Jarrad figured it out. I'm competitive (with myself) and I like to be challenged. And he used that information to give me the best training sessions I've ever had (and I've had quite a few).
While he figured out what made me tick, so that he could challenge me, I let him in to my life and my head. I told him about feeling the effects of menopause on my body and mentality. I told him about working in a prison, relayed stories about my yoga classes, shared my frustrations about weight and dieting, my thoughts about aging, my medical concerns, shared my philosophy of life, let him see the frustration with myself when I couldn't "get" an exercise, laughed with him and joked with him. He encouraged me.
He was more than a trainer to me. He became my friend.
He's gone to Colorado with his bride. On Friday he told me that he is going to pursue training there and perhaps go back to school for physical therapy. I'm glad. I told him that he has a gift that needs to be used. His dedication to his clients and his genuine concern for their wellbeing is priceless.
Today I received a txt message from him asking if he could use me as a reference. Absodamnlutely!!
So now I'm going to have a new trainer. Number 10. I doubt I'll have the same connection with him that I did with Jarrad; that connection was priceless. I'll keep an open mind, I'll learn from him and I'll continue to give 110% in the training sessions.
But it still won't be the same - it won't be Jarrad.
Some people would criticize me for getting attached to a trainer. I mean, he's just there to push me through exercise, right? Wrong.
Trainers are there to encourage and challenge, to tap in to the psyche and find out what makes their client tick so that they can get the most out of them. Jarrad figured it out. I'm competitive (with myself) and I like to be challenged. And he used that information to give me the best training sessions I've ever had (and I've had quite a few).
While he figured out what made me tick, so that he could challenge me, I let him in to my life and my head. I told him about feeling the effects of menopause on my body and mentality. I told him about working in a prison, relayed stories about my yoga classes, shared my frustrations about weight and dieting, my thoughts about aging, my medical concerns, shared my philosophy of life, let him see the frustration with myself when I couldn't "get" an exercise, laughed with him and joked with him. He encouraged me.
He was more than a trainer to me. He became my friend.
He's gone to Colorado with his bride. On Friday he told me that he is going to pursue training there and perhaps go back to school for physical therapy. I'm glad. I told him that he has a gift that needs to be used. His dedication to his clients and his genuine concern for their wellbeing is priceless.
Today I received a txt message from him asking if he could use me as a reference. Absodamnlutely!!
So now I'm going to have a new trainer. Number 10. I doubt I'll have the same connection with him that I did with Jarrad; that connection was priceless. I'll keep an open mind, I'll learn from him and I'll continue to give 110% in the training sessions.
But it still won't be the same - it won't be Jarrad.
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