"ALRIGHT PEOPLE "
*zips up his pants*
"I hope you`re warmed up" said the instructor after the bathroom break
"Because now we get some ACTUAL training started. Get inside"
The crowd of trainees got up with a loud grunt, picked up their things and got up the stairs to the gym, one after another announcing with another grunt every step they had to take.
Gym receptionist looked up from her desk, shrugged and went back to her phone. Just a normal day for her, when a group of 20 sweaty people comes into the gym.
"It`s your first time int he gym I assume" Grant looked back at them "Or have you been in one before?"
Everyone except 3 people raised their hands.
"Ah. In that case . We are doing a simple multi-planar, load-based stimulus for overall muscular engagement."
"....."
"Full-body training with weights."
"Aaahhhh Okey"
"And the three that don`t know what were doing, you`re with me , for the rest - on the board is your training plan. Every body MUST do all of them in the next hour. The whole gym is yours to use" the instructor took the three gym-less people.
Adam with the rest checked out the board with the exercise.
[Barbell squat Bodyweight 3x10 sets]
[Bench press 100kg 3x10 sets]
[Dead Lift 140kg 3x10 sets]
[Dumbell bicep curl 20kg 2x3x10 sets]
A brief moment later 17 people rushed to the 3 benches .
"Back off b***h" 2 guys grabbed one of the barbells
"What did you call me fat a**" 2 ladies grabbed the weights
One bench was taken over by the biggest guy, third one by a group of 4 blonde people.
Adam was late, so he dashed over to the barbell on the padded ground. And some other guy behind him asked in a rush
"you don`t mind if we .. " He pushed someone else out of the way to the plates "work out together"
"Nah. Grab the 25`s" and the man did , 4 red large plates and 2 green smaller
"Thanks. Adam by the way" he reached out his hand "Ben" strong shake
And they started with no other problems. one set Adam, one set Ben.
After dead lifts, they looked at the state of the gym.
Someone was laying on the ground, some people were queuing for the benches, but mostly people sweating and grunting was the main thing that could be heard.
So they went together again for the dumbells.
And then the squat rack.
And after everybody else went before them - the bench presses.
*Fweeeet!* the whistle blew hard in everyone`s ears.
"LADIES . WE GOING OUT"
The girls walked to the building`s exit
"I SAID. WE GOING OUT. EVERYONE. NOW"
And the men did too.
Outside, Grant stood on a trash can to tower over the crowd.
"Now. Stamina and Strength are done for today. It was little, but we don`t have time for more. For the important part - we are training with swords now"
People started to whisper to each other things like "a little dangerous" "With real swords" or more common "f***ing finally""ooooh"
"QUIET. get the swords out"
"Weapon" 'WEAPON' "wEaPON" the crowd started to pull out their swords
"sword" Adam did his own too. some people heard that, which was the only different thing said here, but shrugged and looked away when it worked for Adam.
"I see you are thinking normally still. I DON`T LIKE IT. Line up"
and when the crowd made a nice line
"100 swings . like this " and he showed a very simple swing. He grabbed the sword in both hands, moved it above his head and swung down.
The 20 swords went down, and up, and down again.
Grant went alongside it and sometimes helped when people weren`t doing that one simple thing correctly.
"UP. AND DOWN. how are you messing this up!!!??"
Adam just swung in silence, trying to not draw his attention.
When he was done with the hundred, he put down the weapon.
"WHY THE F**K ARE YOU STOPPING" Grant immediately noticed from the other side of the line and rushed over to him.
Adam startled a bit answered "You said a hundred. I did the hundred."
Grant squinted his eyes and moved his face closely to his.
".mmmmmmm..you lucky bastard. you can have a break"
"and you USELESS LOT. DO. BETTER"
Soon all the sword were down, with a little panting and heavy breathing with them.
"and now. 100 thrust. I demonstrate now so watch closely"
He widened his stance, put his left hand forward and right one back. Tip of the sword pointed forward and his hips sideways.
Grant took a deep breath, lowered his position.
And then with a swift step forward he lunged the blade forward and pulled his left side back.
Adam looked at this, slightly impressed. But he did watch closely, closely enough to see the imperfections. The shake in his blade. The imbalance during the step forward, his loosened grip and other minor details.
"Now your turn. Just don`t hit anyone else beside you."
And again. 20 people started thrusting forward.
Adam thrusted too.
'F**k' immediately after the first repeat. And after the next one.
And after every single one.
'F**k 'or 'S**t' sometimes he changed it up.
And it was because he also had the same, and more, mistakes as Grant.
The shaking sword, the poorly aligned body, loose grip, feet messing up etc.
When he hit the hundred, he looked at the others, still going on .
So he continued for a few more.
When he finally felt tiredness in his arms, he stopped.
"Okey. We have one last thing for today. Blocks. Get in pairs"
Adam looked at Ben. He looked at Adam * nod *
"And we do something like this. Come here" the instructor pointed at the heckler from the beginning. He came slowly.
"I, the attacker, will attack you from left, right or top. You, the poor defender, have to block it. So here are the 3 positions." He quickly showed 3 sword placement, and the heckler repeated.
"And I say when I attack. LEFT" heckler quickly put his sword on his left and it got hit with the full force of the instructors sword.
"RIGHT " and the same thing, except the heckler got pushed away a bit.
"and last. TOP" A heavy swing. the defender put both hands to block but he still was downed to his knees.
When the guy pulled himself together and went back to his partner " now your turn. 50 strikes each"
Adam and Ben looked at each other. and smiled.
And then they tried beat the s**t out of each other.