Challenge #04478-L094: Respected Goals

They went to the gym and many there mocked them for appearing so weak. Then they showed what they were capable of. -- Anon Guest

They came to work out. To get big. To get cut. To be intimidating so that nobody messed with them. To get all the girls and impress other boys. So when one entered with a frame like a toast rack on stilts, there was some low laughter amongst the workout machines. Guy like that wouldn't last two reps.

There was some more muffled chuckling as the dude set the weights on his chosen machine to their minimum. Two who were taking their break elbowed each other in amusement.

He wasn't fast. He took his time, lifting and holding the weights for longer than any one of the regulars. Dade took a neighbouring machine and attempted to imitate the man they were calling The Stick. With his normal weights.

He didn't last two reps. He could have done ten or more in the time The Stick did half of one. It was a lot more strain than he imagined. Dade's muscles were burning and his very bones creaked. Nothing made him feel the pain like taking it that slowly.

The Stick managed to do fifty reps like that. Then he went onto the rowers. Also slowly. Then he went to the treadmills. For hours.

Big, strong, and impressive though all of the regulars were, none could maintain what The Stick was doing.

It was Dade, in the end, who recognised a worthy rival. "That's some impressive work you've done today. What are your goals? How do you measure your gains?"

"Hours I can haul people out of collapses," said The Stick. "It's slow and careful work, and you need a lot of endurance to do it."

There was a lot less laughter about who entered their gym and why.

[Photo by Ambitious Studio* | Rick Barrett on Unsplash]

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