Oliver didn't exactly love coming back to the bunker, but he had to admit it was still his favorite place to work out. He might not wear the hood every night, but he had to make sure he stayed in peak conditions for the nights that he did. Usually, he dropped William off at Lyla's for an hour or so, but three to four times a week, he recognized it was an imposition, no matter how much she insisted it wasn't. So, when William begged to come with him, Oliver relented.
He figured as they edged closer and closer to those hormonal adolescent years, having a physically-taxing routine established in which to focus all that… energy… would probably be something they'd both thank him for later.
That didn't change the fact that William wasn't really in shape beyond the inherent healthiness that came with being a kid. Oliver hadn't forgotten their hike. But Oliver wasn't doing anything a reasonable person might consider dangerous, so he was fine with including William, although he let William think he was totally pulling one over on dear, old Dad.
"Fine, but if something hurts, stop. That's your body's way of warning you. Don't listen and you'll pay the price."
They started with box jumps. It was an explosive power move that kept Oliver's core strong and allowed him to jump onto and off of ledges without breaking his neck. Oliver set William up with a box that was about shin-high before moving over to his own which was a little higher than waist height.
William looked at the two boxes and gave Oliver a stink face. "Why do I get the baby box?"
"Have you ever done a box jump?" Oliver asked.
"No," William admitted.
"Then that's why you get the beginner's box," Oliver explained emphasizing the correct word. "I have that size because that's where I started. When I felt confident I wouldn't break my neck, I progressed up. Show me you can handle that one and I'll let you do the same."
William seemed satisfied with that answer so they started working. Oliver waited for a moment so he could catch William after the inevitable fall.
"Don't land on the edge on your toes. There's no balance there. Power through and land on the flats of your feet." Oliver demonstrated by powering through a jump and landing, steady, on top of his box. He hopped back down and pretended he didn't hear the word show-off being muttered.
Oliver completed fifty box jumps before he had to stop and catch his breath. William had stopped after about ten more-or-less successful jumps and now sat on his backside on top of his box.
"Good sized box?" Oliver asked.
William pursed his lips and looked away without answering.
"Alright. Up next push-ups." Oliver took a swig of water from his bottle before dropping down to the floor.
William settled a few feet away. He seemed more enthusiastic about this. Maybe because it let his feet stay on the floor. Oliver walked him through the basic steps of a correctly executed push-up. Feet planted together, hands shoulder width apart and positioned under the shoulders.
"Start with 25."
"How many are you doing?" William asked.
"More than 25," Oliver answered as he positioned his hands together and his feet apart.
"Wait! You're doing the exact opposite of what you told me to do!"
"This is a more advanced pushup," Oliver said patiently. "I have to do things a bit differently to get the same effect."
"I wanna do what you're doing."
"I don't think you're strong enough for this one yet, Will."
"I'm plenty strong!"
Oliver sighed. "Fine. You can do what I do."
William got through about two very shaky diamond push-ups before he had to spread his hands back out and pull his feet back in for the increased stability. Ten more okay push-ups after that, his hips dropped and his push-ups looked more like a really suggestive upward-facing dog. But he powered through to twenty-five before dropping all the way to the floor.
"Good job," Oliver said after finishing his fourth rep of fifty.
"No, it wasn't. I suck at everything," William said, his voice taking on a sharp whine of unhappiness.
"You're starting something. It took me years to be able to do this stuff. Nobody is great at everything when they first start. We'll find something you're really go at."
William nodded, but didn't look very hopeful. Oliver clapped the kid on the back and moved to the next exercise.
Oliver was sure they would find something William was good at it but it definitely wasn't squats. The point was to imitate sitting in a chair, but William let himself squat until his butt was almost touching the floor and then used his hands on his thighs to push himself back up again. They did sit-ups and Oliver steadfastly pretended not to hear William fart from the force of exertion. Shoulder touches were a little bit better, but William struggled to maintain the plank positioning and his shoulders ended up bright pink where he was swatting himself too hard in his hurry to quickly get his hands back on the floor. Sitting twists were okay, but William kind of defeated the purpose by keeping his feet on the floor and curling the ball into his mid-section and just swinging his elbows side to side. But hey, his obliques probably got a good workout.
William did find his stride in lunges. His knees were much healthier than Oliver's, one of the benefits of being eleven and not having spent years landing hard after falls and jumps that probably should have killed him.
"These are easy!" William crowed.
Oliver nodded and said nothing when William started to slow after about a minute. Youth or not, lunges inspired muscle fatigue.
William also really liked high knees, although he was basically jogging very enthusiastically in place. What the boy lacked in muscle, he made up in natural youthful energy. He liked mountain climbers, too, although that came to an abrupt end when William somehow managed to knee himself in the mouth, which made his bottom teeth cut his lip.
Once they got the bleeding to stop, Oliver contemplated the salmon ladder and whether or not it was insane to even consider putting an eleven-year-old boy on it. Not that he expected William to get past the first rung.
But William had been eyeballing the apparatus since they'd come downstairs and would likely feel gipped if Oliver didn't at least let him try. Oliver moved all the sparring mats in the room directly under the Salmon ladder.
"Alright. I know you've been wanting to get on this all day."
William bounced on his toes and nodded excitedly.
"I'll show you how to do it and then I'll let you have at it." Oliver demonstrated how to move from one rung to the next.
"Drop your body weight. Swing forward, pushing your chest out as much as you can. Swing backward, collapsing your chest in and making sure your head is out from between your arms. Swing forward again. Swing backwards again. When you swing backwards that second time, you'll feel a kind of weightlessness. That's when you jerk the bar and go up to the next rung."
Oliver demonstrated the moves several times going up and down the middle rungs. He then set his feet back on the floor and lowered the bar to the bottom rung, which would be a better starting height for William.
William literally rubbed his hands together before gripping the bar. He let his feet fall from under him and hung from the bar. Oliver saw his muscles tense and…
Nothing.
A couple of grunts and wiggles, but neither William nor the bar moved. He tried for a few more seconds before setting his feedback under him.
"It doesn't work, Dad."
"It absolutely does but I think you're going to have to work up to it. There's a lot of moving parts in that exercise." Oliver walked over to the computer console and dug into a box underneath. After a few moments of searching, he found the pull-up assist bands Felicity had left behind at some point. He walked back over to the Salmon ladder and connected them to the bar, moving it up a few rungs to accommodate the fact that William's legs would now be straight out under him. Oliver helped William up to the bar.
"Put your foot in," Oliver instructed, pulling down the center of the assist band.
William did, adjusting his grip on the bar and then placing his feet in the cradle. Oliver steadied him with a hand to his back until William had both feet situated comfortably and was completely still.
"Now try."
The boy wobbled to keep his balance on the band but he was finally able to complete a couple of backwards and forwards swings.
"Keep practicing," Oliver said, moving to lean against the side of the ladder. "But don't try to hop rungs or you and the bar are going to end up on the ground."
Oliver let him go until it was clear that William was tapped. Oliver helped him down and started cleaning up, putting all of the equipment back in place. As he worked, he noticed he was alone. He turned and saw William staring into the empty case that used to hold his suit. Oliver had emptied all the cases, not really wanted the reminder of his team every time he visited. The suits were now packed away, with great care, into an ARGUS vault.
William's own image reflected off the glass. Oliver watched William toss him a surreptitious glance before flexing an arm. Oliver bit back a laugh. He finished tidying their workout area and then snuck the long way around the computer consoles to end up behind his son.
"Whoa, Will! Put away the guns. Bows and arrows only!"
William jumped and flushed. "I just wanted to see if I'm getting strong like you."
Oliver couldn't hold back the grin that spread across his face. "Tell you a secret. You keep working hard and one day you'll be stronger than me."
William's eyes widened like the thought was unimaginable. "Really?"
Oliver nodded. "In fact, one day you'll be able to do this to me!"
He growled and picked William up, flipping the boy over his back fireman-style. He pressed a raspberry against William's side and William howled with laughter. Oliver headed out of the bunker, climbing the stairs and flipping the lights off, William's breathless giggles trailing all the way.