70yo Mom finally wants to work out

[sg10033]

My 70yo Mom is overweight but not remarkably so. She looks like a typical grandma.

As long as I've been alive, I have never seen my mother do a single act of exercise. Not a jog, a bike, a lift, nothing. I haven't pushed anything on her since I thought it would go on deaf ears and just make me look like an ass. I have though, been talking about my excitement and success with Starting Strength.

Out of nowhere she told me she's joined a gym and has a personal trainer. My mix of excitement for her and fear because of the PT, was difficult to hide. I think she'd be willing to follow SS but there aren't coaches or gyms within an hour's drive.

Because of my her advanced age and complete inexperience with exercise, would an online coach be advisable or worth it? Without a trained and experience coach in front of her accessing her ability to do the basic movements and coach her through her fear of the basic movements, I don't know if she'll be able to get past her telling herself she can't bend that far.

What is your success rate on someone like my mom? If an online coach is the answer, what tips can I use to gently guide her in that direction?

Thanks

[BareSteel]

It's true that if the lifts seem too far out of reach for her, she may want to scrap the whole thing altogether. You can gain compliance by making some concessions and accepting less-than-ideal parameters, including exercise selection. For example sit-to-stands are still an OK starting point if she won't try squatting with a bar right now.

You mentioned online coaching which makes me suspect that you've searched the directory and are too far to drive to an SSC in person. If that's not the case, see if she's willing to have a visit (or a few) with someone who can drastically reduce her learning curve. Even if you have a successful time with this, like all lifters, she would still need form checks, because it's easy to let things get sloppy if unmonitored.

Training family members can be tough. Remember that a lot of this is highly individual as well.