Solo Deeds of Might in the Making

[Belugnir]

55th of Summer, 9th Bell of Morning, Just Outside of the Northern Outpost's Palisade:

It had been quite the while since Ein had established a proper training regime, ever since he’d settled in Ravok’s vicinity all of his exercises outside of actual jobs up until recently had been rather hazardous and moody. That needed to change if he was to keep exposing himself to danger on behalf of whatever coin the black ‘uns figured to bestow upon him for the effort. He needed to keep in good shape.

So he might as well start the day out strong, namely with a lengthy jog, spanning half a dozen lengths of the outpost’s southern wall. He’d gotten to it while wearing his full set of armor, padding, coat of plates, shoulder and elbow guards, gauntlets and plated boots. Even since Sahova, he’d learned how to buckle the thing so that it hinders his movement and weighs him down as little as possible, though he also had to pay a pretty coin for the luxury of having the armor fitted to his own body as well… regardless, minimal prior stretching saw him into the first session of light running under encumbrance, proper breathing was of little issue for this pace, as that was an are Einar was generally decently covered in, though he quickly found that the exercise was placing great strain primarily upon the back of his thighs and knees… it was as though he could hear his foster father nagging at him, how his posture was god awful.

‘’If your feet give out under you, all the arm strength in the world won’t do you any good, lad, you better remember that one… and stop tensing your knees as much, for pity’s sake…’’

Weekend 4/8K Marathon Word Count: +292

[Belugnir]

With one hearty spit at the annoying old man’s image in his head, delivered from a swiftly drying throat, Ein went about taking a lengthy sip from his water skin and seating himself upon a log not far off from the road to take a brief rest, as always, he would attempt to strike a balance between lengthy, fewer exercises with longer pauses in between, and brief bursts of physical strain. First being for mass and strength, the second for swiftness and form. He detested the idea of being unable to match an agile bastard for their speed, and the same went with all those blundering bastards who enjoyed showing off the bulk of their muscle. A healthy balance between speed, strength and weight was what Ein wished to tone out.

A bucket filled nearly to the brim with water sat before him as he rested, Ein having brought it along before starting out. This one he would use as a weigh. It was another one of his foster fathers’ favorite exercises. Holding his back as straight as he could in his seat, Ein reached downward for the bucket’s handle, taking hold and pulling the thing upward. His whole arm hinged within the shoulder as the heavy bucket was lifted up, and he began to bend his arm in the elbow so that the handle would come to form an arc, hanging from his hand at a slight, intended bend in his wrist, so that the bucket would end up just beneath his elbow, all the while pulling the thing up, ‘till it would come to rest in line with his head. This way he placed strain upon his shoulder, his elbow, his wrist, his fingers as they gripped the handle, and all the muscle in between, while the effort at keeping his back straight also saw some of the weight pressing upon the muscles that connected to his body from the torso.

Weekend 4/8K Marathon Word Count: +323

[Belugnir]

Now, needless to say, in spite of all of this, pulling the bucket upward repeatedly like this was a far cry from simply carrying it by one’s side for lengthy stretches of time. The fact that he made a point of only letting the bucket ever get in close proximity to the ground instead of touching it was hardly doing anything to ease that difference. This way he had practically no rest between lifts, as his arm would constantly be under the bucket’s weight, with varying points being primary targets of the pressure as the bucket went up and down. It went fifteen repetitions for each arm before he’d take a brief break for stretching out the strain.

Then he would go back to lifting up the bucket in his seat, twenty five to thirty repetitions this time around, letting go whenever he’d feel that his arms were nearing the limit of failure. Only with this series, he’d let the bucket land upon the soil each time before lifting it up again. The moment of respite for his muscles between each raise allowed him to keep going longer, but also emphasized the strain of each and every movement all the more.

Finally, after another ten chime breather and a hearty gulp of water, Ein went about performing one last series for each arm. This time pushing his limbs to the limit by keeping at the exercise without any respite until it felt as though he would be unable to lift the thing a single more time, respectfully, he’d learned that his instinct on the matter was in fact wrong, as he’d succeeded in lifting the thing a whole of thirty seven times with his right, and thirty nine with his left, respectfully two and four lifts over what he felt like h was capable of pulling off. However his posture toward the end of this one was considerably shaken, a trace of sloppiness.

With one long breath of self contentment amidst the sweat he’d built up, Ein stood up and stretched his arms behind his back, feeling the aching strain of his exercises reach all the way from the tip of his fingers, crawling up his arms, across his shoulders to finally meat at the center of his chest and back.

Weekend 4/8K Marathon Word Count: +381

[Belugnir]

This time around he took a properly lengthy rest, twenty something chimes with the occasional stretch to keep his muscles from going cold. Meanwhile he’d spent most of this pause to perform an exercise of the mind. He would close his eyes and focus upon imagining his own shape within the space where he sat upon, forging an image of what ought to be his soul, the backbone of his being, as if it were a tangible thing. It had been a long time since he’d last properly meditated upon invoking his sorcery of Flux, thus coming into accord with his djed proved to be more difficult and time consuming, yet eventually he did come to grasp its flow, as vaguely as ever, and steer it, only barely, not approaching the bounds of his already severely limited ability.

With a lengthy breath, he would pull a vague ounce of djed from his upper body into his belly and from there distribute it further downward, mere droplets of strength bestowed upon his legs. Then was time to take another trek alongside the length of the southern wall. He found a way to keep decent pace while slightly relaxing his knees and lightly steering his hips as he made way, distributing a bit of the strain upon his sides as well. Only this time he would repeat the wall’s length four times as he ran, as it was his closing exercise, and not exactly a light one by any means, for he’d kept his mind in a constant state of shallow meditation to maintain his meek flow of djed throughout the entire exercise. He was already decent in using the sorcery for short bursts of strength with brief preparation, this time around, he wished to practice maintaining it for longer periods of time, though on a lesser scale. However this compromised his breathing rhythm, for while properly breathing during brawls and exercise was coming close to being second nature, he still had to commit some thought to it as it occurred.

Thus after the first time he’d had to stop and lean against the palisade to catch his breath, Einar would decide to call it a day, dispersing his focus of djed and letting it flow where its nature would have of it, meanwhile he went to retrieve a cloth with which to wipe the sweat off of himself.

He knew fairly well, it won’t be far off, that remarkable feeling that occurs upon taking daily rest after a hard exercise, when the muscles begin to string themselves into place to rebuild after being strained for so long, and when the mind enjoys a liberating state of relief.

Weekend 4/8K Marathon Word Count: +446 (Thread Total: 1442)

[Ruvya]

G R A D E

Running +2
Bodybuilding +2
Flux +1
Endurance +1
Meditation +1

Bodybuilding: Long repititions with short breaks builds mass
Bodybuilding: Short, high repititions & long breaks tones form
Bodybuilding: Lifting a bucke of water to work arms & shoulders
Flux: Boosting strength in one's limbs for running
Meditation: Visualization aids with focus
Endurance: Using flux to push oneself farther

If you have any queries about your grade feel free to shoot me a PM!