If you’re someone who has made gardening or hiking a part of your life and you want to keep at it despite mobility and strength challenges creeping up on you, then this small group, personal training series is perfect for you.

The series starts April 5th.  Class size is limited to 5 people.

When you think about it, gardening is a complex “sport”.  It requires kneeling, squatting, forward bending, pulling.  You need quite a bit of mobility for gardening, as well as the strength and endurance to keep getting up and down from the ground or maintain a forward bend.

Likewise if you’d like to have more energy and endurance for hiking season, this is also a lower body strength and endurance “sport”.  Particularly when it comes to the sustained eccentric muscle action of hiking down hill.

The adaptations that exercise creates are specific to the kind of exercise you do.  That means that going for walks isn’t going to make you better able to kneel down or hike up a hill, because going for a walk does not use the same part of your muscle that a deep knee bend or step-up will.

Persistent, progressive training of the motions that translate best to the activity will allow you to do the activity with more ease and less discomfort.

There’s a lot to know about building a solid fitness routine that will work for your body and for your activities, especially as your body becomes more complicated with time.

The key elements that make exercise magically effective are that you start in the place that’s right for you.  That starting place is going to be quite a bit different if you’re 60, have no history of joint disorders and get out backpacking regularly, versus if you’re 75 and have had a joint replaced and might have arthritis or a heart condition.

The other key element is that you don’t take it too easy on yourself.  Just because you might be into your 6th or 7th decade doesn’t mean we have to treat you like you’re fragile.  Doing so would be a disservice and keep you from becoming as strong and able as you could be.

I believe in vigorous challenge with a whole lot of compassion. 

You probably already know this–but it’s worth stating–this isn’t about physique.  I don’t care what you look like.  I care about what you can do.  And I want to help you be able to do more of what matters to you.

I also want you to leave the class knowing more about what good and useful challenges feel like in your own body, so that you can get stronger without injury.  I think that it’s essential that as we challenge ourselves, we do so with a lot of compassion.  It would be my hope to encourage each participant (and everyone in the world) to see and honor their limitations while at the same time working to change them…rather than avoiding or disregarding limitations, which will keep us having to work around them.  Working around, not through, takes its toll on the other parts of our body.

The way this works.

Once you’ve registered for the class, on the appointed days you’ll show up at my house a couple minutes before 9am.  We will start at 9am sharp and you’ll need a minute to get from your car to the shop where the class is held.  If you’re going to train with shoes on then you’ll need a minute to change your shoes.  I’m not particular about what sort of shoes you wear, but they need to be clean and not wet or it’ll make a mess.  In fact, I encourage you to train barefoot if you’re up for it.  Locking your feet in shoes keeps them from getting a workout, but I know that having shoes on is important to people for various reasons.

It’s going to be cold in the shop, which will feel great once you’re warmed up.  I’m happy to add a little heat if the group finds it too chilly.  So, you’ll want to start with a hat or warm layer that you can take off once your body temperature is elevated.  You’ll probably find it convenient to bring a water bottle.  There is a sink and a toilet adjacent to the class space.

We’ll start our warm up gradually, do the heavy work, then end with more static mobility exercises as we cool down.

You’ll learn how to get the work into the right place in your body, and you’ll probably see several progressions of the same fundamental exercise as I expect the group will not all be at the same ability level for each exercise.

Our very first class will be assessment and learning oriented.  You might not end up working as hard as you will later on in this series.  We’ll work on finding the line between what you can do and what you can’t do and writing it down.  This is so that we can start in the right spot, but it’s also so that later (maybe more than 6 weeks later) you’ll be able to see very clearly that you are able to do what you couldn’t do before.

When this 6 week series is over, I’ll be offering more.  Both continuations of the work that we’ve done, and also work for other areas and specific to other activities.  You can help steer this by sharing your interests and priorities with me.  You are, of course, not making any obligation to continue on with any of that.

Payment

Once you’ve committed to the class and I’ve received payment I’ll ask you to fill out the following health history and intake form so that I can learn a bit more about you and tailor the training sessions to your needs.

The cost for the class is $297 and that is due in full in order to reserve your place.  If you would prefer to make two payments, email me and we’ll set that up.  If you change your mind after you pay, but before class starts I’ll refund all but $75 and offer your space to someone else.  I realize you might have some fear or hesitation come up as you contemplate the step that you’re taking (or maybe you’ll be completely relaxed and enthusiastic about it, I don’t know), exercise can be weirdly, viscerally intimidating.  However, I want to point out that the hard part is showing up, and each time you show up you’re creating the future that you want.

Intake Forms

I need to know a few personal details about any health conditions you may have, and I’d like to get an early glimpse of your starting point and any specific movement limitations you experience.

https://forms.gle/5ndkemcARgWzYS7N8

Refunds

If you decide not to continue within the first 2 weeks of class you’ll be given a 50% refund.  If you decide not to continue after the first 2 weeks have passed there will be no refund.  This not only reflects and honors the work that I put into creating and customizing the class and the space that was made for you in this community.  It also acknowledges that it can be difficult to consistently show up for exercise, and that having a bit of skin in the game can actually help you stick with your decision and follow through.  It also helps me feel like I won’t be trapping you into something if you sincerely decide it’s not right for you.

And as I mentioned above, if you change your mind after you pay, but before class starts I’ll keep a $75 deposit and refund the rest of your money.  

Snow Days

This class is in winter and it’s at 9 am and sometimes snow happens.  I will never cancel the class.  I will never need to because I live on-site.  If you can make it I’ll be here and we’ll train.  However, there may be times when you don’t want to drive because of road conditions.  If there is a day when more than one participant lets me know that they won’t make it because of the driving conditions then I will schedule a make-up day.  This will be on the Wednesday after the series is over.  If we need a second make-up day it will be on the following Friday.  We might also do a Monday at 9 am during the series if that works for participants.  Everyone is welcome to attend any make-up days, regardless of whether they missed the session or not.

If you opt not to come to class for other, personal reasons there will not be a make-up day.