[Gideon's Glory] Building Blocks (Xalet)

by **Elem Bree** on November 23rd, 2012, 8:57 am

64th of Fall, AV 512

Elem finally felt that his routine was all around and his work with weights had given him enough confidence to make the trek to Gideon's Glory. he had heard much of it from others at the Tuvya as the premier place to train and work the body, as it was a staging ground for combatants in the Arena, which was Elem's eventual next stop, once he felt competent enough to do so. Being a Kuvan would be a necessity as well, but as most things went, he had to start somewhere.

His body was definitely beginning to grow with bulk, though definition was not as pronounced as he would have liked it before arriving. Of course, he would probably never show up at all if he waited for some imaginary state of perfection. It was an elusive prize, most likely for all who trained their bodies as he did. there was always a group of muscles to work. he could tell, however, that the punches he landed on his sparring partners were more effective in their damage with his growing strength, which shortened fights and the overall injuries. That was a good thing, right?

Stepping into the low building, his eyes danced among the many resources availabe for training. Ropes, weights of all shapes and sizes, benches. So many things to catch the Zeltivan's attention. Also, the incredible bodies of the various Akalaks in the room made Elem feel even smaller, though at six feet, he really wasn't, though looking around, he was sure he was the only human in the room. More to prove, he supposed. Stepping up to a bench that was free, he took a seat and began stretching down to his ankles, rolling and popping his joints in preparation for a good workout.

Standing nearby, as Elem tried to prepare himself, was possibly the largest Akalak Elem had seen. More striking, if that was possible, was the deep purple hue of the man. "By Rak'keli, Sir, you have an incredible amount of muscle mass. Any tips for a novice?".

by **Xalet** on November 23rd, 2012, 10:07 pm

Prior to Elem's arrival, Xuphim had been working hard, trying desperately to keep his body from becoming out of practice on him after the lengthy travel from Syliras to Riverfall. Though Syliras had several training facilities, none were quite so focused to the premise of Body Building such as this place. He would be spending plenty of time in here, he determined. The atmosphere suited him, a place where other Akalaks could come and test themselves before the weights. That one glorious place where all men were created equal. Where the contest wasn't simply against others, but against your own personal goals. It was about finding the current level to your own limitations and then raising them slightly.

Two other Akalak's had been near Xuphim, one mainly coaching his efforts while the other prepared himself as a spotter as needed. Assisting the fellow man during a particularly perilous lift was the duty of any good body builder. The particular lift Xuphim was attempting was a well known lift called the Power Clean, something every good builder did in order to fully work the absolute most amount of large muscle groups, as well as to test the overall fitness of the body. "Alright brother, receive the bar." one Akalak mentioned to Xuphim. Where the darker soul of Xalet was normally ripe with comments, now he was silent and focused, only nodded slowly as a few specks of sweat from his previous efforts dribbled from the tips of his hair and chin.

Moving into the 'above parallel' squat position, Xuphim wrapped both hands around the bar which held the weights he was about to test. Keeping the bar close to the shins, Xuphim prepared his lift with a great swell of breath inward. The breath he had learned early in his lifting career caused pressure against the lower spine, and thus created a cushion that strengthened the spine during the lift. "Do it!" he heard, and quickly his body jerked. Knees bent downward, head staying upward so that his sight remained to the front. It was most important never to curve the back outward during the power clean lift. With his legs flexing downward hard, the bar began to come up from the ground. Once Xuphim was nearly into a standing position his elbows engaged and the knees bent once again, yanking the bar upward into his chest and shoulders while his thumbs released their grip in order to readjust. Finally the hands re-positioned fully, the thumbs moving back into the underside grip and the legs locked into place. The power clean was complete. "Yeah! Drop it! Good job."

Properly getting the bar back to the ground, Xuphim rolled the bar across his palms and down his chest, making sure to once more keep the bar as close to the shins as absolutely possible. Back straight, he bent at the waist and followed the bar down, releasing it finally as it hit the ground. Briefly patting shoulders and shaking hands with the other two Akalaks whom went back to their own exercises, Xuphim took the moment to regain his breath and stretch his back out. It was then he noticed a man asking for advice, a Human it seemed.

"Shyke, you want advice about lifting, I got plenty of it. You need nutrition, you need hydration, and you need the proper routine. Every builder makes the decision what kind of routine he wants based on what's more important. Size, strength, or muscular endurance. You can have it all eventually, but you need to work on each one first to develop, and the best way to develop is to work large, non-specific muscle groups. Seen plenty of guys starting off with curls and the like, but the best thing to remember see is that exercises like that are specific muscle group exercises. A novice, to a builder, ain't got no muscle groups yet. So you develop those large groups, THEN go for the glamour." he said, patting his own bulbous bicep. If there was one thing Xuphim could get behind, it was a man working properly in body building.

"The flat bench press is a good, non-specific exercise. Works plenty of stuff, and those are good, important muscle groups it targets. When you get into position there's two things you want to make sure you focus on so as not to look like you don't know what you're doin'. First is the bar positioning. When the bar comes down, the new guy brings it close to his neck, right by the collarbone. That ain't no good, gotta bring it down closer to the underside of the pecs...that's yur chest muscles there. Followin' me? The second thing is keeping the elbows tucked in. Ain't gotta be paralleled to the body, but when that bar comes down they damn well better not be pointed straight outward. Puts too much strain on the shoulders, and it don't work the muscles out equally. You want that chest to get its fair share. Here, get on down there, let's get some weight on and we'll see just where you're at." Xuphim certainly had plenty of information to give, but he knew the best way to learn proper form was to do the motion over and over until proper form was executed. Then continue the exercise for several additional repetitions until the feeling of that proper form was memorized by the muscles.

by **Elem Bree** on November 26th, 2012, 7:40 pm

Elem at once felt the presence of this great purple Akalak once he turned and addressed him. He almost wished he had his journal with him, but memory would have to suffice. being a Human here was enough, but a book too would just be ridiculous. He nodded and listened closely to the man's words. Nutrition, hydration, routine. Elem felt he understood those basics well enough and had been applying them. There was also the focus on what he was going for. Size, strength or endurance. All three could be gained, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to be such a beast as this man. He wanted his optimal health for Rak'keli and he wanted his boxing to be its best. When he suspected he would get a word in, he would mention this.

Feeling fortunate to have such help, Elem watched as closely as if lab work was commencing. He felt that it was nice of the Akalak to mention things to not look like a new person, as that was Elem's primary fear among the others. He would make sure to do what was explained properly. At once, he was being directed to the bench and he did go there, lying down in preparation of immediate testing. He thought this was as good a time as any to explain himself.

"I am a Rak'kelian and I wish to be at my optimal state in order to properly worship Her. In my opinion, one can not claim to be a son of Healing if they are not in their best shape. Also, I do a bit of boxing, so I want to focus on strength and endurance, so I can win fights." Elem slowed his heart down with breathing, the mix of anxiety and excitement threatening to ruin his debut performance. He nodded at the Akalak, ready to train.

by **Xalet** on December 7th, 2012, 9:36 pm

"Man, Rak'keli again. Those woman's folks are everywhere. My own Patron was one of those marked by Rak'keli. Old Konti from Mura. Well I say old, that's just me living around Human's, she's somewhere around sixty, or seventy. Always had me drinking some ridiculous shakes made of plant fibers and grain, said they were 'healthy'." he recalled the memories involving the times he shared with his Sergeant. Almost fifteen years he had been with her, working toward Knighthood. The very antithesis to everything he was. Her tiny frame and softly spoken attitude were the exact opposite of the overpowering stature and direct speech of Xuphim.

"Strength and endurance eh? Fine enough, here's how it goes. There's two types of endurance, muscular endurance, and your 'wind'. Lifting here is gonna get your muscular endurance and strength up. The more you lift, the more your body is gonna get used to dealing with heavy loads. The more it gets used to dealing with loads, the less energy its gonna burn to move um. Your wind makes you suck in air when you're tired from moving all about. It's like..." Xuphim scratched his head a moment, trying how best to describe these concepts. He didn't have the eloquence of Xalet, so simplicity served him well, "When you can't go any further because you can't catch your breath, that's your wind. When you can't go any further because your muscles are failing you and won't do what you want, that's your muscular endurance. Get me?"

Whether or not the concepts behind properly training your body were accepted by the man, Xuphim had a desire to move forward. He was always quick to get results, and he expected the same for others. "When you lift, you start low. Gets the muscles warm and it keeps you from tearing all your shyke up. We're gonna start with this much. I want to shoot for eight repetitions. It's gonna feel light, and it should. Your first set should be one fourth of your working weight. The second set is gonna be one half of your working weight. The last two sets will be your full working weight. A set is those eight repetitions, got it?" Of course Xuphim wasn't about to slow down his forward momentum even if Elem didn't have all of the concepts firmly cemented in his mind. In fact the Akalak was already preparing the weights upon the bar. Considering things for a moment, he removed some, remembering that he was dealing with a Human whom was beginning his journey into the body building world.

"Alright, lets move it. Eight up and down. Bar comes down you breathe in, bar goes up you breathe out. Keep the elbows in, don't arch the back, and keep the back of your head on the bench." Xuphim stood above Elem, quite nearly the only thing the man could see was his giant purple frame, those large fingers spotting the bar as the Human prepared to move it.

Secret :

by **Elem Bree** on December 11th, 2012, 5:37 am

More mention of Mura threatened to send Elem's mind off into daydream, but he did his best to remain focused. He wondered if he would ever visit the island. If Rak'keli willed it by marking him secondly as she had done for Kavala, he would surely take the trip. Shakes of greens and fibers sounded yummy. He lied there on the bench, the perspective making the Akalak seem even more like a mountain. Endurance, wind, strength, heavy loads. When asked if he 'got' the Akalak, Elem nodded. More or less.

Reaching and taking the bar in hands, Elem remembered the previous advice as he listened to the new knowledge. It wasn't a problem of difficult concepts. It was more that he wanted to impress the Akalak with his retention. "Sets are repetitions of eight. Work up to full weight. Ok." He was concerned for a moment with the amount of weight on the bar, thinking it more beastly Akalak than human boxer. The other must have thought the same, removing a few of the weights. Elem remembered what he had been told, bringing the bar slowly down to his chest, his elbows tucked in. He could feel the pressure more on his chest now and was thankful that he had been doing hsi core training before coming to this stage.

As he pushed the bar up and brought it down in the repetitions, the weight did feel light. He was glad that the Akalak had warned him of this. The Akalak. "What's your name, Sir?", Elem said as he brought up the final lift of the set, replacing the bar and waiting for the next barrage of information as well as more weight.

by **Xalet** on December 24th, 2012, 10:40 pm

"Keep it controlled, keep the elbows in, not bad." Xuphim commented, although the volume at which he spoke could have meant the words were only for himself, small personal notations at how exactly Elem was doing. "Keep that core tight when you push up. The core is the area right about your midsection, a strong core will increase the strength of the entire body. When the core gives out, everything else goes down after it, and when the core goes out that's when you risk the biggest chance of some serious shyke going wrong with your bones and what not. When you start moving big weight you gotta keep that in mind. You mess up with light stuff like this and you might pull something, you mess up with big weight and shyke will be pulled out of sockets or broken."

On the last repetition, Xuphim guided the bar back onto the frame and prepared to increase the weight by double. The first lightest repetition was to get the muscles used to moving. The second repetition was meant to get the body used to moving weight and withstanding pressure. The final two repetitions were meant to tax the muscles completely, pushing them right to the edge of failure. The closer to failure the body could come, the better. Complete failure was bad, but narrow failure, when a person just barely managed to force their muscles to complete that last repetition was exactly what it took to get big.

With a practiced hand Xuphim sought to set the bar up with a greater amount of weight, the original mass Elem would be moving had now doubled. It wasn't enough to make a man fail, but it was enough to make a man sweat. "Name's Xuphim." he said simply, part of his attention spent in eyeing the weight as he leveled them appropriately upon the bar. "Alright this should do it. Put it up for eight more, then we'll start to see what your maximum workin' weight is. You're going to need more than this to keep you going too, so I'll show you other important exercises that work the biggest muscle groups to get you the fastest results. We'll be working with squats and bent over rows next. That stuff will effectively get you an entire body work out. Bench for the shoulder and chest, squats for the legs and butt, bent over rows for the back, and we'll see what else you need to round out your routine. Ain't no two routines the same, gotta make um specific for what you want. Enough of that crap though, get those hands on the bar and push, let me see um!"

by **Elem Bree** on March 6th, 2013, 6:18 pm

Elem felt invigorated, especially with a mentor of sorts. "Well met, Xuphim." He answered to the large purple man, attempting to commit to memory the words of the Akalak. Bench for shoulder and chest. Squats for leg and butt. Bent over rows? His mind was trying to understand too much. This was his body's time to learn, so the human just looked up at the ceiling, listening, but preparing for a new struggle. He rubbed his palms against his pants, not wanting to make a bad showing with slippery hands, then reaching up and taking the bar in hand. He nodded at the Akalak and took the weight.

As he brought the bar down and pushed it back up, it was clearly doubled. Now, the form learned of holding the bar was an essential part of the puzzle. Slowly bringing the weight down to his chest and exerting as he pushed it back up, Elem could feel the sweat beading on his forehead. His shoulders began to burn, though it was a slow burn, not one of real pain, as he had warmed them up prior. Breaths came in rhythm as he continued to focus on the ceiling, allowing his body to work. Each time the bar came close to his chest, Elem could feel the pressure, pushing it back out with his exhalations.

As the last of the repetitions came, he put the bar back in its place. Sweat was a layer of humidity on his body now. While his muscles burned, there was also a feeling of exhilaration, a readiness to take more and work harder. The best part? His mind was clear, the work of exercise pushing random thoughts aside, Elem's body moving in a beautiful motion o9f union. he looked over at Xuphim,nodding. He was ready for more.