I am thinking about getting a personal trainer. I've had them before and liked having the discipline of someone standing over me making me do another 5 crunches before I broke down and cried.

The problems I had with my earlier trainers were that they were very young; graduate students in fact, and I was working out at the University gym where I (the competitive creature that I am) started to try to match or outdo the people next to me. This resulted in some major surgery to my shoulder after I got a little too butch.
Now I can identify between pain as in oooh, muscle is overworked and pain as in, hmmm, that's a torn rotator cuff. Trust me when I say that isn't a lesson you want to learn first hand.

I've since changed my ways when it comes to gyms. I look for a gym that has women who wear matching outfits and makeup. I know that they aren't going to be doing anything that will cause me to compete to self injury. I won't go under the knife to look like they do. I won't starve myself to be as stringy-thin. It's safe for me there.

So today I interviewed a potential personal trainer. I like her. She's lean, but not stringy. She's not too young, and although blonde, it isn't bleached blonde and in a pony tail. She's from the hood and understands my world view. I told her I want to get leaner, fitter, more flexible and able to ride my bike twenty miles without collapsing.

She talked about women's bodies and their changing needs as they age. I wasn't even offended, because it was coming from a woman of a certain age her own self. What do you think? Keep on at my current gym, or go for the whip and chair of a personal trainer?