Dinosaur Genes
I can't stand having my routine ruined. Shut up and hit the bench first.
Fortunately, the flat bench was still free. It was even the only empty spot left in the packed free-weight zone.
Damn...
I was about to lie down when I noticed the plates hadn't been racked. Three 20kg plates hung on each side.
Whoa... how much is this even?
The plates alone came to 120kg, and with the empty bar that made 140kg total. Anyone who could bench 140kg would clear 500 on the big three without breaking a sweat. Being a big commercial gym, it clearly had its share of monsters.
Fuck... if you're strong enough to lift that, at least rack the damn plates.
If you could move that kind of weight, the least you could do was put things away properly. I had to alternate stripping plates from each side three times before I finally got it down to the bare bar.
"Hup—"
I lay right down and set my position. The rough, scratchy texture I would normally have felt against the back of my head was gone. The benches at the military fitness center had the headrest completely worn through, and every so often I'd end up with scrapes on my scalp. Civilian life really was better.
Grateful for an intact bench, I warmed up with the empty bar.
"Hoo..."
Fifteen easy presses and my chest was already lighting up. I got up immediately and loaded a 10kg plate on each side. Resting while you rack plates—that was the golden rule. The empty bar didn't count as a set, so I lay straight back down and pressed fifteen more.
Maybe everything just felt better when I was in a good mood, but the weight seemed to move far more smoothly than usual. I set a one-minute timer on my phone and watched the people training around me.
Oh...
Someone who looked like a total veteran was squatting 200kg. I was stunned by a level of strength in a completely different league from the military gym, then glanced around at the others. Thankfully, that guy was just exceptionally strong. Everyone else was training with ordinary weights. After that I idly stared up at the ceiling, waiting for the time to pass.
...
"Excuse me!"
To my surprise, the staff member who'd shown me around the gym earlier came over and spoke to me. I looked at her, wondering what she wanted, and then she said something unexpected.
"Would it be okay if we shared?"
"Huh?"
"I need to bench too! Mind if we use it together?"
Beep-beep-beep—!
"Uh... sure, go ahead."
I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but when someone asks to alternate on a piece of equipment, there's no good reason to refuse. Since there was rest time between sets anyway, and now that I had a partner, I decided to try measuring my 1RM.
"Let me finish one more set first."
A full minute had already passed during our conversation, so I went straight into the second set. Same weight, fifteen more reps. It still wasn't my working weight, so it wasn't particularly hard.
"Hoo... go ahead. Want me to take the plates off?"
"Thank you!"
I stripped the plates from one side, and she immediately started her set. I couldn't say for certain, but her form looked pretty solid.
"Hoo..."
The moment she got up, I started loading plates again. I increased the weight, putting a 20kg and a 5kg plate on each side. Total: 70kg. That was my working weight—and my max. At the military fitness center, the 25kg plates had been bonded permanently onto the bar, so going any heavier had been impossible.
"Hup..."
Since this was my working weight, I paid more attention to my breathing than before.
"Whoa..."
Having the staff member resting next to me react like that somehow made me feel stronger. I hit ten reps with juice left over, so I pushed five more before racking it.
"What's your 1RM...?"
"I've only ever trained with this weight, so I don't know."
"What?! You press fifteen that easily and you've never tried going heavier?"
"In the military, you couldn't set it any heavier. Go ahead and do your set."
Even during conversations like this, you can't let your hands sit idle. I quickly stripped the plates and waited for her choice. The plate she picked was a green 10kg. I grabbed one from the other side and loaded it for her too. Her rep count dropped to eight, but she still finished the set with stable form.
As if she'd read my mind, she got right up and started removing plates. She grunted and struggled with the 20kg plates but loaded them without a word of complaint. Then my choice was a 10kg plate. Total weight: 80kg—a full 10kg jump.
"I think you could go even heavier!"
"It's my first attempt, so I'm taking it step by step."
"I really think you could load more..."
It wasn't like I hadn't thought the same thing, but gym life is full of weights that feel easy until you add just 5kg and suddenly get crushed under them. Back when I was a private, I'd attempted my first-ever bench press without any help and gotten pinned under 40kg. That memory had kept me humble ever since.
I swallowed.
My first weight-increase attempt in about a year. If I succeeded, I'd be lifting more than my body weight of 75kg—and I could finally drop the beginner title. In that tense moment, I regulated my breathing. Something felt off, so after several tries I finally packed my ribcage full of air and unracked the bar successfully.
Huh?
Swoosh—
Swoosh—
Clunk.
The moment I unracked it, I felt it. For some reason it felt lighter than the weight I'd been lifting at the military gym, and the second it touched my chest, I was sure of it. I ended up pressing my usual working-set count of ten reps. Even through the final rep, the weight barely felt like a burden. It was 10kg heavier than what I'd been lifting at the military gym, and the sensation made no sense at all.
"See...? You're pressing it so easily..."
The staff member next to me was grunting and struggling to strip the plates again.
"Right? That's weird..."
Apparently the plates I'd been lifting at the military gym had been way heavier than the weight printed on them.
I'm telling you, this shit isn't 25kg!
Come on~ it says 25 right here. I press it easily too, don't I?
You're the one with the dinosaur genes!!
The long-standing claim of Sergeant Kim—my military senior who'd started working out alongside me—had been true all along. Sergeant Kim, who'd been discharged before me, had probably realized he was right after getting out too. Thinking back on those military memories from just a few days ago, I set up the staff member's weight for her.
I loaded 15kg plates for a total of 50kg. I found out later that for a woman, even pressing 50kg is impressive. She barely managed three reps and got up.
If you're gonna do that, why even increase the weight?
I thought the volume was way too low, but there was no need to give unsolicited advice, so I just set up my own weight. I loaded the 20kg plates and was about to add the 15kg ones when she started loading something different on the other side.
"I think you can handle more, so let's go heavier!"
"No, but still..."
"I just want to see it too...!"
Benching 100kg in front of a woman with great reactions. It was definitely a tempting situation—and I was exactly the kind of guy who put his life on the line for meaningless things like that. Before I knew it, I was lying on the bench as if entranced. I lifted my head slightly, and the staff member was watching me with expectant eyes. Unlike the military gym, this place had safety bars, so I felt a little more at ease.
"Hoo..."
I packed my ribcage full of air and drove the bar up with everything I had.
Clunk—
The bar came off surprisingly cleanly.
Bang—
Bang—
...
"See?!"
"No way, how is this even working..."
I pressed 100kg for eight reps. Out of lingering anxiety I didn't go for ten, but I probably could have managed it.
Just how many kilos were those plates at the military gym?
I wondered if plates heavier than 25kg even existed, but knowing the master sergeant, he probably scavenged them from somewhere. Now it was the staff member's turn again. I left just one of the two 20kg plates on.
"You should go heavier too."
"What??"
"I think you can do 60kg. If you can't, I'll spot you."
"Hmm... okay!"
She agreed surprisingly readily.
"Hup..."
She boldly managed to unrack the bar. She brought it down to her chest and started coming up—then stalled, trembling.
"Just a little more! You've got this!"
I kept my hands under the bar, ready to grab it at any moment, waiting for her to press it out.
"Hup!"
Clang—!
The moment she fully locked it out, I pulled the bar and racked it for her. She sat on the bench gasping for air. I was planning to do 60kg myself too, so I waited a bit. Fortunately, before I could say anything, she went off to get water. I immediately lay on the bench, pressed fifteen reps, and got up.
"..."
When she came back, she was looking at me with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
"Hiiing... that was my first time..."
"What?!"
At words that could be badly misunderstood if overheard, I glanced around. Whether they'd heard what she just said or had been sneaking looks at the staff member all along, I could tell the attention was focused our way.
"How could you just casually press past my personal record like that!"
"Ahh... should I apologize?"
"Hmph.. no! That's not it... thanks for spotting me."
"Lie down already. You've rested too long."
"Eek..."
After a moment's thought, I just stripped both plates entirely. Looking anxious before, she now beamed as she lifted the empty bar. She finished in a flash and got up, and I immediately lay down and started right where she left off.
"Aren't you going to try heavier weights again?"
"I'll try next time. Taking the plates off is annoying too."
If I'd been alone I might have tried more, but with the weight already set at 60kg, loading it back up felt like a hassle. If I did my last set at max weight and then had to clean everything up, even I'd find the cleanup annoying—so going pyramid-style from now on seemed better. Especially with a staff member right there, racking the plates was mandatory.
"So what should we do next?"
"Huh?"
"Huh? Are you done working out?"
She was asking about my next routine. When I didn't answer right away, she asked if I was already finished.
"Not exactly, but... you want to keep going together? I was going to use some machines and then do triceps on the cables."
"Ah... since we already started, how about we keep going together?"
"Yeah, sure..."
I wondered if we really needed to share machines that weren't even crowded, but refusing at this point felt awkward, so I agreed.
...
"That's not it... let me show you first!"
It turned out to be surprisingly helpful. There were no machines at the military fitness center, so these were all pieces of equipment I was using for the first time. Thanks to a woman who worked at the gym and trained every day, I picked up the proper form quickly. Even after finishing the bench, I essentially got over an hour of free personal training.
"Great work today~"
"Yeah, thanks for teaching me today."
We said goodbye in front of the locker room, and I went straight into the shower and cleaned up.
Wider than the military showers...
Not only was it spacious, but every stall even had shampoo and body wash provided. Impressed by the facilities, I enjoyed a leisurely shower.
"Hoo..."
Drying my hair, I checked out the chest I'd targeted today. Unlike my cursed face, my body had been blessed with good genetics, and I sported a perfect chest shape. And now that I finally had a face to match the body, my desire to train surged even more.
I should come earlier tomorrow.
The evening slot today had been way too crowded, so I resolved to come during the daytime starting tomorrow, and headed outside quickly.
Ziiing—
"Hwaah..."
Still carrying residual heat from my body, I met the cold outdoor air.
This is pure bliss...
"Um..."
As I stood with my arms spread, soaking in the cold wind, someone approached.
"Hehe... feeling good?"
It was the staff member I'd worked out with.