Weightlifting competition

Chris and the group that went out to swim arrived at a new building standing some distance from the canteen: the new community centre. Chris decided to tap it before walking in and shouting, “Samson, how much for the gym equipment and, in theory, also the gym?”

“Like I told William, 40. Neither of you has enough want to go Dutch on it?” The goblin proposed.

“No, depending on the result of our bet, he will just owe me 5. I suppose otherwise he is up 10, right?”

“I can agree to that. Easy enough to pay off with what you are planning.” William confirmed.

“Want that bet notarised for free, and that you will be paying Chris back as soon as you get it,” Samson said.

Chris looked at William silently, seeing if he would move. Seeing the gymbro still frozen, Chris just said, “What do you want?”

“I… I… this is a lot.” William stammered.

Chris had none of this bulshit. “No need to notarise. He has been nagging me that I don’t trust him. Soooo prove that I can. Pay me back when you lose.”

“You are too damn sure of yourself. How can you be so sure she can outbench me?” Will stared daggers at the cocky man in front of him.

“Simple. I just know based on how she moves.” Chris bluffed more than anything. He didn’t exactly know, but he knew she was stronger than Will.

“For now, the equipment for the bench press will be placed in the community centre until the annex for the gym is made in the morning. The earth elementals work fast in building, but they aren’t miracle workers.” Samson added.

“Other machines as well, or just the bench press stuff?” Chris asked.

“Some free weights, and there are some firm benches you can use, enough?” The goblin asked, getting a thumbs-up from Chris.

The group entered the community centre, where there were three people: Ryan, Heather and Aimé. Heather was clutching a cup of some type of warm liquid, and Ryan was comforting her. The gnome that none of them knew came out from behind the bar. “Hello, I am Aimé. I hope you enjoy your time here. What can I get you?”

Chris looked at the duo and back at the new employee in front of him. “Aimé, can you explain what happened to Heather and why she seems like she cried recently? And if it isn’t too much, some isotonic drinks with some flavour to them, as well as directions to where the bench is we bought.”

“Asking for the stars, are we. Second door on the left for the room where we put the temporary gym until we have a proper one built. As for why Heather is crying, I just told her the consequences of elimination.” The dry tone the gnome held hadn’t changed. He didn’t seem to care for her emotions. All she was. No, all they were was a person to serve, to give answers maybe, but empathy was not expected of him.

Instead of reacting to Aimé directly, Chris walked up to Heather to meet her eye to eye. “Hey, you doing okay? I know it must have been a shock to hear even a little of what the options are. Do you need anything more?”

Seen master naked: First time bonus +1 (Heather)

“No, Philips, I am not, but Ryan is helping.” The heiress who had been in a panic moments before they entered said, giving him an appraising look. “It does help that you are giving me a nice view.” She looked over his shoulder at the rest of the group. “Moore and the rest are also looking great… I wouldn’t mind a piece of any of you studs.”

“I can share, but I think Ryan and Jesse already have plans for this evening, and William and I are spoken for.” Chris tried to joke. It landed and got him a small chuckle. “But if Ryan has everything under control, I have to judge the results of a bet on who can lift more: Jessica or William.”

“Who do you think will win?” Ryan asked.

“William is more show than function. He might be able to lift, but outlift a former soldier who recently got out of service… That is harder than you think. Remember when Andre joined us for a workout first year.” Chris joked.

“He outlifted you! He is an outlier and a man.” Ryan protested. Chris shrugged, believing that what you do matters more than how you look and left the duo behind with a wave.

The people who still wanted to do their naked workout continued into the room that was set up for them. There were two benches: one for bench press and one for general free-weight stuff. Missy grabbed free weights and handed them to Becky. “We are going to start squats as soon as Chris enters. You do ten reps with this weight, then we swap and repeat until we have done five sets. Then planks for as long as you can or a minute, whichever works, five times. Once all that is done, we will talk about what we do next, okay?”

Becky leaned in and kissed Missy on the cheek and whispered in her ear. “Thanks, good girl.”

Chris entered last after William and Jessica had set up the bar and the weights they were planning on using. “So what is the plan?”

“We are going to start at 100 kg, which is already super high for women. Each of us will do a set of 10, and then we increase it by 10 kg until one of us fails.” William said. This seemed reasonable.

Chris gambled on this, but he didn’t know how skewed the actual results were between men and women. Chris decided to be the spotter. William and Jessica cycled between each other for the first few minutes. Each participant only took as long as the new setup took to make, as well as the others set. After they reached 160 kg, William started to take longer breaks, and as a result, Jessica did as well. 170 kg gave neither of them issues. At 180 William began to wobble but was able to complete it. 190 gave Jessica trouble, and William struggled but still completed it. Instead of going up by 10, both agreed to go up by 5. William asked for help at the last rep, and Jessica barely managed to finish. “Jessica won by a hair. Had she struggled more, I would have grabbed it, and it would have been a tie. She managed, so after the other girls are done with their workout, we can go.” Getting an awkward look from Becky, Chris said. “How about this, Jessies, William, you guys go take a shower whilst we finish up here.”

Missy and Becky had continued by doing sit-ups in the corner of Chris’s eye, and he gave a thumbs-up after each set. He had taken a look at the time; they still needed another 10-15 minutes. Walking up behind the duo, he joined in with side steps. Becky said, “Hey, thanks for joining me in these exercises instead of helping out with the others.”

“I could, but if I did, I would be stuck here for longer,” Missy said.

“Good girl for helping her, but you don’t need to be so humble,” Chris said, causing her lips to engorge. “It is fine to want to help someone. Empathy isn’t wrong. Helping isn’t wrong. Just say thank you, dummy.”

“Chris, you know I have to walk past others naked like this, right? Arousing me without release is mean.” Missy protested the sweet arousal she got.

“Did Becky change the command in the end?” He asked.

“She asked, but I refused. I saw no use in it.” The bitch being trained said.

“That is fine as long as you know you can ask later if you need us to change that. Good girl for setting your boundaries.” Chris said with a teasing smile.

“You prick.” She said with a smile. Somehow she didn’t get a punishment for the insult. “Why did I not get a punishment?”

“Good girl for asking clarifying questions,” Chris said mid-step. He saw drips form at the edges as he did. “You didn’t say it to insult me or to harm me. You said that I was being a prick because I am being a teasing prick right now. You were calling me out as a friend or partner would not to cause harm. I told you Ryan didn’t when he did earlier.”

“Wait, so you are saying I can insult you if you are doing mean or bad things?” Missy said.

“Yep.” The man pushing buttons said with a smile and a nod. “I will stop now if you want, but I felt like I needed to at least praise you for how well you are doing, for your support of Becky and for playing nice with everyone.” He didn’t touch her or approach her, but there was definitely some form of sexual tension there.

“You know what you are doing,” Missy said, glaring at him again, not something he wasn’t used to at this point. With all the women who hated him, he had grown accustomed to avoiding said daggers. Heather had similar glares, but most of the time sharper and more aimed. Meanwhile, Becky stood to the side like a girl watching some drama show. Had she had any popcorn, she would be happily crunching away at it. Alas, the trio needed to do exercises.

After doing side raises and the steps, they went to the bench to do press exercises. Missy managed around 40 kg, Becky did 180 and Chris also did 180 kg; each managed to complete 10 reps. Chris added another 10, and then they cycled between the three. Missy was shocked at what Becky was doing. Not many women could lift that much, let alone women who were overweight because of fat. Both Becky and Jessica were in spitting distance of things the weightlifting world would call records, and for both, you couldn’t tell. What is going on here? After the final set, she decided to say something. “Chris, you know that without supportive gear, the stuff Jessica and Becky did is like top-level weightlifting?”

“Wait, what!?!?! No, I did not. Is this because of some weird transformation bulshit?”

“I have always been strong, so it isn’t a transformation I got, but normally I struggle more with my reps,” Becky said with a shrug. “I have been trying to compensate for my weight as I grew up, so maybe it is that. When Will started training me, I could already do normal push-ups. That should account for at least some of the weight.”

“What is your weight? If I might be so bold.” Chris said, knowing how much of a faux pas it was.

“Uhhmmm… 160 kg. Why?” The overweight woman said.

“So you bench 1.2-ish your weight. That seems more reasonable than Jessica at least. I suspect she is doing the same thing as William in terms of ratio.” The ecologist said. “Power is somewhat relational to body weight in multiple ways. With how well you carry yourself, I suspect you can easily squat 300 kg if not more, on a supportive machine who doesnt ask you to hold the bar.”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Becky was shocked by the revelation.

“Can you do a squat on one leg? If the answer is yes, that is why. You need to be able to carry your weight, and that means taking steps, potentially up stairs. AKA one-legged squats if you don’t use railings. Not fully, of course, but close enough to estimate a factor of 2 at least if you are doing active exercises. Ratios are a lot more important in Biology than hard numbers for most things.” Chris explained.

“Does any of this mean anything else?” Missy asked.

“Nope, not that I know of. I have no idea why Jessica is so strong.” Chris admitted. “Let’s take a shower. I think we have done enough. We might even have gone a bit over time.” He said, gesturing to the clock.