Building a stronger body.

by **Ander Jibs** on May 11th, 2014, 7:16 pm

Second day of Spring, 514

Ander Jibs was not a Isur.

No... He definitely was not an Isur. But he fully devoted his worshiping moments towards Izurdin, the god of strength.

It had a lot to do with the fact that he was very grateful for Izurdin's introduction of Body building. He truly enjoyed lifting weights. He also enjoyed the fact that he had to eat a lot of meat in order to be bigger and stronger, as meat was his favorite food, especially duck. His body, evidently, showed that he was a man who lifted weights. His body, from his legs up to his trapezius muscles indeed showed the hard work he had invested under the barbell.

And when he separated from his parents to finally live in his own in a cottage in the Mithryn Outpost of Syliras, he invested 45 Gold Miza to a full set of bodybuilding equipments, including a loadable barbell down to the minutest incrementation of weight, a few dumbbells, a solid bench, and plywood flooring in case he had to drop the weight when lifting. He understood the value of such items and treasured them even more than his beloved sword.

And today, like most other days, was a day to lift weights. And for today, he had to do two exercises (technically three, but the other two were stockpiled into a single exercise). The clean-and-press, and the deep back-squat.

Both exercises taxed heavily the legs, which Ander believed key to being athletic.

And of course, he first had to warm up. For the next few minutes, he did jumping jacks to break out a sweat. And once he broke out a sweat, he started toying around with his barbell, lifting it like it was a wooden stick.

by **Ander Jibs** on May 11th, 2014, 7:18 pm

And then came the stretches. He stretched his groin, his inner-thighs, his lower-back, his hamstrings, his wrists, and his shoulders. He was doing these to minimize the possibility of injuries.

After the rigorous stretching, he stared at the barbell that he was about to lift (which weighed in at 100 pounds) and sat down in a lotus position.

Mighty Izurdin, he prayed. Let today be another glorious day of weight lifting. Let my body become even stronger as I nurture it with rigorous exercise and tasty meat. Let laziness become absent, and give me the strength of mind to give it my best!

He then stood up.

It's time...

With both hands, Ander grabbed the lightly-loaded barbell and did a few easy hang-cleans. It was obviously an easy weight for him, merely a warm-up set.

After the hang cleans, he did a few easy presses with it, also a warm-up set.

He dropped the weight unto the plywood flooring, which he simply called “the platform”, and added fifty pounds to it.

He rested for two minutes. And after the rest, he did two clean-and-presses with near flawless technique, with the 'hop' happening at the perfect time when his torso was upright. He then dropped the weight...

And he did it again...

And for the third time, he added fifty more pounds to the barbell, making it a total of 200 pounds.

This was not an easy weight for him. It would be a struggle, and he knew it. But he also anticipated it.

His goal was to do two repetitions of clean-and-presses with this weight...

He cleaned it, and pressed it in an agonizing fashion. He dropped the weight... And after taking a breath, he cleaned it again...

And now for the press... It was an agonizing move, but he did it! He reached his goal!

Now he had to do about... fifteen more sets like that... Of course he would not make it, but he could at least try...

by **Ander Jibs** on May 11th, 2014, 7:18 pm

After brutalizing his body with those thoroughly-exhausting sets of clean-and-presses, now came the squat, his ultimate favorite exercise!

After resting for five minutes, he loaded the barbell on the squat-rack for 200 pounds. He did 12 repetitions of deep back-squats easily as if there was nothing on his back...

Of course, it was a warm-up set like many others.

His body was warm, however, and did not need too much warming-up.

He added fifty pounds to the barbell and squatted 10 easy reps. It felt like it was something, but far from being heavy to actually exhaust him in any way.

He rested for almost three minutes...

And then he added the dreaded fifty pounds, totaling the whole thing at 300. He could already feel the pain that was involved in this endeavor. He could already feel his legs burning. But he ignored that fear and unloaded the weight unto his trapezius muscles. He squatted down...

One... two... three... until he reached the tenth repetition. He was trying his best. He was grinding up and up and up... But he couldn't do it. So he got stuck at the bottom and simply dropped the weight behind him and let it hit the platform.

As always, it was an exhausting set of squats...

It was a scary thought that he had to do fifteen more sets of them...

After the last grueling set of squats, he drank lots of water and put the weights back in their places.

He then ate a third of a pound of meat, totaling him eating a whole pound of meat that day...

by **Ander Jibs** on May 11th, 2014, 7:19 pm

After the rigorous workout and before taking a bath, he took a moment to sit down and simply think...

Life... is about strength, he thought.

Only the strongest shall survive. The weak does not deserve to live... Therefore, to make myself worthy, I must be strong. As strong as I can be!

His philosophy was overly generalized. Perhaps he needed more enlightenment.

But... is that really the truth?

If weak people do not deserve to live, why are there so many weak people living here in Mizahar?

...No... Perhaps they are just lucky. Perhaps the gods have simply forgotten to punish them, or would like to punish them on a different day... Either way, they do not deserve the same life as I do!

He was positively arrogant and positively shallow. Perhaps he needed more wisdom.

Oh... I think I should discuss philosophy with the wise sages of this world... Maybe they will have a better viewpoint than I.

At least he was willing to accept that others may have a better viewpoint than he. It was a correct step...

by **Radiant** on May 12th, 2014, 2:00 am

Ander :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Body Building	+2 XP
Endurance	+1 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP

Completed Building a stronger body.