Page 5 of The Weight Of It All
I nodded and wiped my face down with my towel. “Yeah. That was great,” I managed to say. “Thanks. See you tomorrow?”
Reed fought a smile. “Uh, that was just your warm up.”
God help me.“Well,” I panted. “Consider me sufficiently warmed up. Overly warmed, actually. Hot, if I’m being honest. I think I’m going to expire. As in, drop dead.” I walked, somewhat shakily, over to the closest weight bench and sat on it. My heart was still trying to kill me. My lungs felt like they were fighting for room in my chest.
Reed clapped his huge hand on my shoulder. He was really rather touchy-feely. “Come on, on your feet. You’ve got more in you yet.”
I put my hand up, still trying to catch my breath. “One sec. My lungs are broken.”
He snorted out a laugh. “Come on, get up.”
Somehow, I stood. Reed took me over to a StairMaster machine. “Oh, I’ve seen these in action before,” I said. “In Hugo’s House of Pain, except the guy was strapped on and he was naked and?” Reed’s eyes went wide. “?and thatwas a long time ago. I’m not into leather; it was just one night. Sorry, what were you saying?”
Reed slow-blinked then started to laugh. It took him a moment to stop laughing, not that I minded because the longer he laughed at me, the less time I was gonna be on that exercise machine.
Still smiling, he shook his head. “Okay, step up on it for me.”
I did that.
“Hold onto the handles,” he said. I did that, and he continued to explain, “The elliptical is a cross-trainer. You will use lower body and upper body. It’s great for cardio, similar to the treadmill but with no impact.” He rattled off the physical benefits, to which I simply nodded and smiled?in a slightly horrified kind of way?then he went through the settings on screen and set it for two minutes. “Just a short one today. I just want you to get a feel for it. You ready?”
“Not at all.”
He chuckled and hit start. Fuck. It was like climbing stairs while holding ski stocks or two Gandalf staffs.Thou shall not passwas too bloody right. I’d never make it in Middle Earth because two minutes on this frickin’ machine almost killed me. Fuck going to Mordor. I couldn’t even go around the block.
The machine finally slowed, and I stepped off. My legs were past the consistency of jelly and were more of a slush, and my lungs were on fire. I was surprised I wasn’t breathing out smoke.
Reed saw that I was finished and came back over to me, his smile wide. “How was that?”
I put my hands on my knees. I mean sure, I was out of breath, but if I didn’t hold my knees, I’m certain my legs would’ve buckled. “I’m sure this violates the Geneva Convention.”
Reed’s smile became a grin. “You’re really funny.”
I stared at him. “I’m being serious.” I stood up straight and my heart, lungs, and ribs protested. “Ugh. Jesus Christ. And this is supposed to be good for me?”
“You’re doing great,” he said quietly. “First time’s never easy.”
“Yeah. That’s what he said.”
He stared at me, then barked out a laugh. “I see what you mean about the no filter.”
I waved my hand at him, still trying not to die of aerobic asphyxiation. I took as deep a breath as my lungs would allow, then another, until I was somewhat sure I was going to live. And I had to do this. If I wanted my life back, I had to quit bitching and get it done. “Okay, so what other torture devices are there?”
Reed grinned victoriously. “Over here.” He led me to some metal frame contraption that had cables and pulleys. “This is called a cable and pulley machine.”
“The person who invented it didn’t have an extensive vocabulary, did they? Or an imagination.”
His warm smile matched his eyes, but he ignored my comment. “This is for the strength part of your workout program. Stand here like this,” he said, standing under the frame. He held the two separate handgrips and proceeded to pull them back and forward effortlessly; his arms and shoulders bulged and flexed with each movement. He then went on to do a range of different positions and exercises, telling me which muscles benefited from each one. “The weight is set at forty kilos, but that’s what’s good about this machine. You can set the weight to suit anyone. What do you think you can lift?”
I tried to do the maths based on full martini glasses, because I lift those without any problem, but Reed changed the weight to ten kilos before I got done counting.
“We’ll start you off light. I really just want you to get thetechnical aspect down pat first. To make sure you’re using the equipment correctly so you don’t injure yourself when you work out when I’m not here.” Reed moved to the side, giving me room to take his place. “Okay, your turn.”
I did as he did, then somehow managed to get through everything he told me to do, using muscles I hadn’t used in… well, ever. He put his huge hand on different parts of my body as I did the different movements. Biceps, triceps, pecs, deltoids, lats. Then he showed me proper stretching techniques, doing each one with me.
I was on the floor with one leg underneath me, the other bent behind me, apparently stretching my quads but really just looking like an overweight pretzel. “Oh God, this is going to hurt tomorrow.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile. “Yes, it will. And the day after will probably be worse. But you’ll get better every time, and in a week or two, you’ll be fine.”
