Page 19 of Resistance Training
“Mitch.”
“I don’t want to call you Mitch. You’re Brad.”
“Mitch is my nickname here. It’s who I am here.”
“Well, my nickname for you was Bradley. It still is. Your nickname for me was Sparky. I would be fine with you calling me that here.”
“I won’t.”
“Well, I’m not calling you Mitch.”
“Then go ahead and call me sir.” He strides over to the dumbbell rack. “You ever lift weights at all?”
“Not really.”
“Let’s try eight pounds to start,” he says, handing me two eight-pound dumbbells. “How’s that feel?”
It feels kind of heavy, but I say, “Easy-peasy.”
“Yeah? You want to try ten pounds? You’ll be lifting out to the side, shoulder height. You should use lighter weights for that.”
“Bring it. I want the tens.”
“You got it.” He hands me another pair of weights, which are surely twenty pounds each, but I do a couple of bicep curls with ease.
“Not a problem.”
“Great. You can always go lighter.”
“Won’t have to.”
He grabs the dumbbells marked30and demonstrates the lateral raises and shows me the proper stance. “You’ll do ten ofthese at this pace.” Then he demonstrates lat pull-downs, rear delt flies, and overhead press. “Ten of each. I want to see perfect form. If it’s too easy, you’ll get heavier weights. If it’s too hard to finish the sets, there’s no shame in lowering the weight.”
“I always finish things off when they’re hard.” I did not mean for that to sound dirty. “I mean difficult. Even if it’s emotionally difficult.”
Stone-Faced McGee remains stone-faced as he says, “Okay, let’s build shoulder width for that V-taper. Ten reps. Tilt forward a bit more. Less. Good. One… Two…”
I should not have chosen the ten-pound weights for my first session.
However.
I don’t give up.
Because when I commit to something, I fully commit.
Even when my arms are on fire.
Even when he’s being a stubborn ass.
“Higher,” he says, with an annoyingly calm voice. “In line with your shoulders.”
I grunt that that is what I’m doing, only I don’t say it with words.
“Don’t forget to breathe. Your muscles need oxygen.”
I suck in an angry breath.
“Inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up.”
