Saturday, October 17th, 2020
"Yeah mom, I'm safe." Oscar spoke into his airpods while leaning back in his desk chair. "I wasn't near the building. I'm perfectly fine. If anything, I'm more worried about my upcoming news broadcast project for my film class. I still have no clue what to create for it."
He waited for a moment to hear his mother's response. While doing so, he stared at a picture frame on his desk, showing both Oscar and his parents posing in front of an airplane at the Orlampa Fantasy of Flight museum. He was only twelve when that photo was taken, but Oscar smiled at the memory nonetheless. "Alright, I'll see you guys on Thanksgiving. Love you too, mom." He tapped on his phone to hang up the call, and the airpods ceased their output. Once again forgetting that they wouldn't play music on their own, he navigated to one of his YouTube playlists and hit shuffle. After adjusting the volume, Oscar looked back up at his PC screen.
The warm glow of the PC provided little light to the room, besides the small cracks in the blinds. Oscar didn't care that it was a bright Saturday morning, he preferred the dark. Not in an edgy sort of way, as he instead liked the cooler atmosphere the absence of light created. However, his dark room may have taken another mood within the past few days.
The dark-mode color palette of his editing software greeted him as he watched the blue progress bar of the file he was exporting. It was yet another mashup project, a personal hobby of his. He didn't make them for popularity, as many of them had relatively few views. He smiled to himself as the mashup played in his head, hitting its combined chorus. The way songs could combine and take cues from each other had fascinated him for a long time. His work wasn't the best, as he didn't have a ton of production experience behind him. That didn't matter, however. The only person who cared about listening to his content was him. At least, that's what only he thought.
While he waited for the project to finish exporting, Oscar tabbed over to his English homework, an article reading. He began to read, and after he was a few paragraphs in, Oscar glanced over at his makeshift pantry in the dorm room's closet. He wasn't necessarily hungry, but the large bag of pretzels peeking out of a plastic box looked quite appetizing. He got up to grab it before stopping himself just short of grabbing the bag. His footsteps instead echoed out into the small sub-hallway that connected his pod of four student rooms to the rest of the dorm building. Turning on the bathroom light, he stepped onto the scale in his bathroom. This was the first time he used it on campus. Fearing the worst, Oscar was still disappointed by the number that greeted him. He wasn't too obese, but when he pulled up his shirt in the mirror things didn't look pretty. Tentatively, Oscar hopped on the bathroom tiles. The slight jiggling he saw in response elicited a groan from him as he trekked back to his room. Slouching back down in his chair, Oscar uploaded the completed video to his channel before scrolling back to the English article.
It was at this point when a new song began to play, another one of his older mashups from a few months ago, before college started. A soft guitar progression led into the track as vocals filled his airpods.
"Every day, I imagine…"
Oscar froze for a second before quickly pausing the playlist and closing the page. He rested his hand on his chin for a second, before noticing his terrible posture and taking his arm off the table. He needed to do something, anything else to distract his mind from school, from... other things. He stared back down at his gut while sighing in defeat. Oscar reached for his phone again and pulled up a contact he had added only a few days ago.
…
"This is Caspo Dedespa, who's calling?" Caspo held up his phone in one hand and a protein smoothie in the other as he walked down one of the relatively empty paths on campus. He was returning from the campus's local smoothie joint, and was planning on getting some schoolwork done before heading to the gym that evening.
"Oscar? from the superpower group chat?" He confirmed after the voice in his phone answered him. "Well, it's nice to hear from you. What made you call?" Caspo inquired. He got another response.
"You saw my instagram feed? Well, I do enjoy sharing my gains with the world. He boasted. "How often do you work out?" He asked Oscar.
On the other end of the phone, Oscar bit his lip. "I actually haven't been to a gym in a long time. I keep telling myself I need to go but I end up just making excuses not to."
"Well, the first step to solving your problems is admitting you have 'em." Caspo commented, taking a gulp of his smoothie. "You just need some more motivation."
"I hate to bother you, but I'm not too sure how to make a routine and actually navigate the gym on campus. If you don't mind, could-" Oscar was cut off by a guttural laugh that made him cringe in regret.
"Why of course you can hitch along with me!" Caspo roared in excitement, causing a few students around him on the path to give him odd looks. "After what happened to me last week, I could use a spotter." He added as he rubbed some of the sores on his body from a certain scuffle.
Oscar was stunned. "You're not making fun of me?"
"Why the hell would I do that? Pushing away people who want to improve themselves isn't going to help anybody!" Caspo explained. "We only put pressure on people who don't care about their bodies."
Oscar wasn't sure how to respond to Caspo's methodology. It's a good thing he didn't say that on his Instagram. He thought. "So you'd let me go with you?" He spoke into his airpods.
"Sure thing, dude. Meet me in front of the gym at 5, and I'll show you the ropes. Bring a towel and a water bottle as well.
A smile formed on Oscar's face as he heard the sound of an empty straw's suction on Caspo's end. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."
"Thank me when we get you some gains. See you then." Caspo hung up and threw his empty cup in the general direction of a trash can. It bounced off the top and landed in the grass behind the path. Sighing to himself, he sulked over to the litter to properly dispose of it.
…
The sun was setting as Oscar stood in front of the steps to the gym. He had a hand towel slung over his shoulder, and a metal water bottle in his hand. Checking his watch, he looked around for Caspo. It was already 5, and there was no sight of him. Oscar was about to use his absence as an excuse to chicken out until he heard a voice from behind him.
"Oscar! You actually made it, huh?" Caspo called out with his signature boisterous tone.
"Oh, hey Caspo." Oscar replied, turning to face him as he approached. "Thanks for coming out here."
"I'd be here anyway, dude. It's nothing. Now, let's head on in, it won't do us any good standing on the steps when they have stair machines inside!" He chuckled to himself as he jumped the steps two at a time. Oscar didn't move at first, with fears of embarrassment gently nagging at the back of his skull. However, for fear of being judged by passerby, he tentatively broke his golem-like stance and ascended the stairs.
Opening the door, Oscar was in awe taking in the two massive open floors of the gym, with countless machines and equipment lining their walls. After they checked in with their IDs, Oscar turned the turnstile and entered the gym floor. He followed Caspo's lead, passing by various pieces of cardio equipment. The gym was decently full at that time, as Oscar noticed when gazing over the railing of the 2nd floor entrance. The racks and machines below were busy with people adjusting weights and working their routines. Staff meandered through the crowds to restock the wipes used for cleaning equipment. Students jogged the indoor track and the treadmill machines the two walked by, most of them with some sort of earphones in for music. Eventually, Caspo had them stop at an open area of the floor with a large mat stretched over it.
"Here, I always start by doing stretches beforehand." Caspo explained, setting down his towel and water bottle. Oscar did the same, and the two began a short stretch routine. Oscar was by no means a flexible person, but he made due and didn't complain during the variety of arm, leg and core stretches. He had also brought his airpods with him in his pocket, but didn't wear them so he could listen to Caspo's instructions. At least, that was one of the excuses Oscar gave himself.
"The school's main gym here is huge compared to the athletes-only place on the other side of campus." Caspo commented as they finished up the routine.
Oscar grinned. "Oh, what sport do you play?"
"I tried out for Basketball last year, but I left it after a few months." He responded dismissively.
Oscar could definitely tell, as Caspo was more than half a foot taller than him. "What made you stop?"
"I just didn't like the atmosphere, or the organization structure or whatnot." Caspo shrugged as they began walking towards the weight racks.
Oscar cocked his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"The people there didn't know how to chill, dude. The schedules were strict, there were restrictions on what I could do, I had no free time, yada yada. If I'm going to go to a gym, I'll make my gains for myself and no one else."
"Well, way to stick with your values, I guess." Oscar commented, still confused by this former athlete's thought process. The two students then approached the rows of benches and weights, and a spot of luck hit them when a bench was freed up from another group leaving.
"Have you lifted before, Oscar?" Caspo questioned, while approaching the rack of plates.
"Nope…" Oscar averted his gaze, moving his hand behind his head in embarrassment. However, another thought struck his mind. "Are we only focusing on arms?"
"Nope, you need to work with all parts of the body. Your core, legs, arms, heart, everything. I always start with arms first, but to each his own." Caspo explained as Oscar nodded. "Even if you haven't lifted before, we'll fix that right now." He gazed over Oscar's body shape to determine what he could handle lifting. "I think I'll start you off with 50 pounds total. It's not much, but it's about what I had when I first started." He picked up two 5 lb plates from a nearby rack, while grabbing two 40's for himself. "I admit I have been slacking off on my routine a bit, but I guess this is an incentive for the both of us, eh?" He grinned as he mounted his plates on the bar. He motioned for Oscar to approach as he adjusted the bench's seat to more of a decline. "I want you to spot for me."
"What do you mean 'spotting'?" Oscar asked.
Caspo sat down on the bench and pointed to the head of the bench's pressing rack. "You stand there, keep a good stance with your feet and be ready to help assist me in catching the bar if I say I need it. Of course, I won't need it, but it's always good to be safe." He gloated.
"Fair enough." Oscar went along with it as he took his position. Caspo got a grip on the bar, and was about to lift it off of the rack's hooks when he turned back to him again.
"Also, watch my form while I lift. No matter how much effort you put in, you can't hope to make progress with a shitty form. While I do my reps, Watch my grip, where I bend, my angle to the bench, the whole nine yards."
"Alright." Oscar replied nervously. This is a lot more intricate than I thought it would be.
Caspo began his reps, and made decent progress before beginning to struggle at around 10. He pumped out another three at a slower pace, before muttering "shit" under his strained breath. Oscar realized what was happening and moved to grab the bar, which was still halfway up. Caspo quickly re-racked the bar before groaning in disappointment. "Okay maybe I've been slacking more than I let off on. Give me a minute and I'll try again."
"Do you want to use lighter plates?" Oscar offered.
"Hell no." Caspo scoffed. "No way I'm giving up my 40's. Hell, I should be at 50's by now." He exaggerated. After a minute of calming himself, Caspo tried again, this time completing all 15 reps with some difficulty. After a few more sets, the two swapped the plates and Oscar took his place on the bench.
"Wait a minute, you said I would start at 50 pounds. I only see two five pound plates on the bar." Oscar pointed out.
"You know the bar itself weighs forty pounds, right?" Caspo raised an eyebrow at the newbie.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that."
"Remember, take it slow with these, and keep your form. The key is to be steady." Caspo emphasized as Oscar wrapped his hands around the metal bar's grips. He steadied his breathing as Caspo helped lift the bar off of the rack and settled it upright in the proper angle. The freshman carefully retracted his arms for the first rep, allowing his new mentor to correct minor mistakes in his angle. When he went to raise it up, however, there was more resistance than he thought. Pushing through it, Oscar managed to do around ten reps before getting stuck. He tried again after a minute, but this time he couldn't even reach ten again. He could only reach seven reps on the third set, and his frustration was clearly visible.
Caspo noticed Oscar's expression. "Don't get upset. I hated my performance when I first started. Plus, your arms wear out more each set you do, so you need to pace yourself."
"But these are only 5's." Oscar groaned, glancing at the people around them with plates heavier than both his and Caspo's combined.
"You'll get there, dude. The main thing is consistency. If you're patient and keep coming back, you'll get your gains." Caspo beamed. "Now, give me two more sets and I'll teach you some bicep exercises."
"I thought we were already doing the arms?" Oscar questioned.
"You know there are multiple muscles in your arms, right?
"There are?"
Caspo shook his head. "We've got a long way to go."