Desperate times call for desperate measures. There should be no other reason, why an otherwise perfectly good fitness trainer would go around the gym trying to recruit anyone that would listen.
As I was steadily elipting away, listening to my Pandora channel I noticed the chatty fitness trainer. A woman well into her 50s, a professional employed by the gym, who befriends many of the patrons of the women’s locker-room. She seemed to be stopping by every single fellow gym patron on the section of the floor with elliptical machines.
I was fifth in the row. My music was purposefully set to a high volume. It was high enough that it would drown out any other noise, chatting or music around me. I was hoping that she was just going to say ‘hello’ and move on.
It was finally my turn. As she was saying some last few words to my neighbor on the left I had a strange feeling that I would not be able to just smile politely, nod and continue with my cardio session uninterrupted. Unfortunately, I was right.
She stood right in front of me, slightly to the right of the machine. She was searching to hold my gaze long enough so that I took out one of my earpieces from the headphones. She introduced herself. I told her my name as well. She inquired as to what my purpose of the visit was. (DUH?) To be fair, since I knew she was a fitness trainer I told her that I was on my cardio session. (I am still elipting away as I am talking to her). And then I was flabbergasted.
She asked me to come over to the mat behind me so that she could show me some exercises. Seriously? I am not an expert, but I am half way through my 30 minute session. Did she expect me to suddenly stop, with no time to cool down my heart rate? I politely declined, noting that I have been going to the gym for a number of years and that I was happy with my own routine. (Still elipting).
Then, I blinked in utter surprise. She asked me how old I am. This was not half bad since she probably needed to be able to put me into a certain fitness category, like the machines have a schedule of heart rates for fat burning and cardio programs for various age groups. What stroke my ultimate nerve was that she was looking me up and down as she was talking to me. She was examining my need-to-work on areas. Again, seriously???? I may not be the fittest person in the world, but I am pretty healthy. How dare she?
I don’t know if it was my face expression or my frozen polite smile but I think the woman finally got the point. She made some final comments on continuing cardio (good job!) and starting to lift weights (at my age) and slowly made the turn to continue on her “begging for work” session.
Her next victim, a scrawny teenage boy.
A word to the wise to the fitness trainers: let the people come to you. It is enough that people are self conscious about their looks. Having a fitness expert looking you up and down, is like sitting next to a plastic surgeon giving you unsolicited advice about your face's possibilities.
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