What you like best about personal training/teaching classes?
I taught college writing for twenty years and since then have owned businesses which called for lots of staff training and I never get tired of teaching and mentoring. Being a personal trainer is a natural extension of that for me. As a teacher, I spent more time doing individual conferencing than big class teaching; I always felt that teaching means "guiding" not "telling." As a personal trainer, I love working with each client to discover goals, shaping a session that addresses that person's body, abilities, and lifestyle, not playing "drill sergeant."

Why did you become a trainer/instructor?
I hit my 50's as the perfect baby boomer role model: a lifetime of trying out every diet book that came out and periodically exercising excessively and obsessively--going from chunkette to dangerously thin and back again--but mostly out of shape, eating junk food, and always telling myself I was fine--I didn't need to worry until I got "older." Well, "older" happens and it starts before you see it happening. One morning, as I slipped into a sweater, the backs of my arms swayed. But that didn't just happen overnight. Instead of going my old route--diet and killing myself--I started working with a personal trainer who wasn't much younger than I was. Learning about my body and working slowly to improve it with someone who could understand achy joints was a revelation to me. Teacher geek that I am, it didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to become a trainer, too, especially for anyone of any age who wants to become functionally fit, not a super athlete.

Favorite type/mode type of training?
Lifestyle training and functional fitness are my favorite ways of working with clients. I do extensive discussion with clients about their goals, their preferred exercises, and realistically how exercise can fit into their lives not for two weeks but forever. I love working with "fun" equipment that gives clients the feeling "I can do this," like stability balls and light free weights and spend time on balance and flexibility which can make everyday tasks easier and more pleasant. Along with training, I try to encourage a complete mind/body integration, helping people see how they can love their bodies and themselves no matter what their weight or conditioning.

Your own athletic accomplishments:
Having an M.A. in Liberal Arts certainly didn't prepare me for the Anatomy and Physiology I had to learn to pass the trainer certification exam, so that's my latest big accomplishment! The other goals I've reached might sound negligible to lifetime athletes but not to me and others like me: I can carry more bags of groceries, walk more flights of stairs, and sprint to avoid a car coming at me. And my young employees at the cafe say I've got "SWAG" and mean that as a compliment.

Things you are currently working on/training for:
I'm doing what I've been doing my whole life: learning more so I can be a better teacher and mentor. I'm studying now for the American Council on Exercise Certification as a Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant to add to my Personal Trainer Certification and learning more about the concept of "Framework," the importance of the entire skeletal, joint, and muscle system and how to train "harmlessly" rather than "hurtfully."

Hobbies/What you do when you are not training:
Not surprisingly, I love reading but I'm not a reader of fiction as much as non-fiction. When I'm not too busy studying, I'm a blogger, writing about mid-life views of fashion and beauty. I'm also a member of The Museum of the American Cocktail, trying to revive the era of the "real" cocktail sipped from tiny glasses like Nick and Nora in "The Thin Man" movies.

If I were male and lived in the 17th century, I guess I would be what they called a "Renaissance Man": A lover of too many facets of life to settle on just one.