Weighty Matters

[Jeremiah Maccabee]

The 10th of Summer 512 Ravok   Mac stepped into Trigol's Tools and Trade. A quick look around revealed an astonishing variety of miscellaneous tools and equipment, some of which he could not fathom a use for. He approached the proprietor. “I'm looking for a body building set and am beginning to despair of finding one in Ravok. Any suggestions?” “I see one now and then,” the proprietor said. “But they're an unusual item. I don't have any new sets, but I have a second-hand set in the back room. “I'd like to see it.” The man took him into a smallish room filled with another astonishing selection of … junk. He pointed to a crate containing a variety of weights, bars, ropes, pulleys and chains. Mac took a few minutes to examine the equipment. “How much?” He asked. “These go for any where between 25 and 45 gold mizas. This one is beat up some, so I'll give it to you for 30.” “It's a pretty old set,” Mac said. “Some of the weights are missing and I think you're a bar short.” “Ah, a good eye,” the man said. “I see you know your equipment. Still, it's a rare find in Ravok.” He looked expectantly at Mac, who simply looked back at him with an arched eyebrow. “Okay, 25 gold mizas.” “Fifteen,” Mac said. “What? Not a chance. I'll lose money on it.” “You'll lose money if you don't sell it, and judging from its less-than-prominent location in your shop, I'd say you don't get many offers for it.” The man pursed his lips and said, “Twenty.” “Done,” Mac said. “If you'll have it delivered to my residence.” The man's expression sour. “Tomorrow morning be soon enough for ya?” “Tomorrow morning will do just fine.” As he headed out Mac stopped and said, “I don't suppose it comes with a body building manual?” The man grinned. “As a matter of fact it does. For another five gold.” “How about throwing it in for free as a gesture of good will for a customer that you're likely to see again?” “Not sure I can afford to see you again,” he replied. He dug around in a box under a table and came up with a manual, which he tossed into the crate. He was not looking so sour now. Mac figured he had done the guy a favor by taking the aging equipment off his hands. LEDGER : -20 gm

[Jeremiah Maccabee]

Mac had been running for thirty chimes when the sun cleared the eastern horizon. He maintained a moderate but steady pace. He was not running for speed. He was running for endurance. His breathing was labored. Sweat was pouring off his bald head. He turned around for the return trip and thirty chimes later was back at Tarsin's Boarding House, where he found a crate of body building equipment sitting outside the door to his room. He organized the equipment in one corner of his room, ate some breakfast and started working his way through the manual. The first thing the manual suggested was something Mac was already doing. He ran for an hour every morning. It literally warmed up the muscles and got the blood fully oxygenated. The second thing the manual suggested was a number of stretching exercises designed to get the muscles limbered up prior to lifting weights. Some of these he was familiar with, others not. First was the hamstring stretch. He placed his right foot on the floor well in front of his left foot and then bent his left leg at the knee while keeping his upper body upright. He held this position for half a chime or so and then repeated it for the other leg. Second was the calf stretch. This involved placing both hands on his right thigh and stepping forward with the right leg bending the knee, while keep the left heel flat on the floor. He held this position for half a chime or so and then switched to the other leg. Third was the hip flexor stretch, with stretched the front of the hip and thigh. This was followed by stretching exercises for the lower back, head and neck, triceps, chest, shoulder and torso. The entire set took about ten chimes, a satisfactory expenditure of time in Mac's mind.

[Jeremiah Maccabee]

The bulk of the manual was devoted to weight training. Mac determined that the best approach would be to work one set of muscles one day and different set the next, allowing the muscles a day for recovery. He started with the upper body. He assembled two 20-pound dumbbells. Lying on his back, he did a set of chest presses with the dumbbells. He stopped at fifteen because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do more than one or two more. According to the manual, this exercise worked the main muscles of the chest, shoulders and triceps. He followed this with a set of ten chest flies, in which he held the dumbbells direction above his chest with arms fully extended and then let his arms slowly down to the floor, remaining extended. This was supposed to concentrate on the outer chest muscles. The dumbbell row involved bending at the waist with a dumbbell in each hand, letting the arms hanging and then bending at the elbows to pull the weights up. This produced an up-and-down rowing motion that worked the lower back muscles. The overhead barbell press used a longer bar with eighty pounds of weight on each end. He brought the bar up to forehead level and then slowly extended his arms to raise the bar over his head. He was able to do a set of fifteen of these. The manual said this exercise worked the muscles in and around the shoulders. He followed this with bicep curls, again using the long barbell, and then triceps kickbacks with the dumbbells. He was tired when he finally quit and he figured that when he got up next morning he would discover muscles he had forgotten he had. But Mac was a determined man. And he had determined he was going to need all the bulking up he could get for the line of work he was going into.