“Does anyone like burpees?”
His lips quirked, but he didn’t smile.“I can’t promise that you won’t have to do them at your combine, but I can assure you I’ll keep them out of your program as much as I can.”
“Much appreciated.”
He nodded.“Some people appreciate hands-on assistance, like to correct a stance, but others don’t like to be touched when they’re working out.Where do you stand?”
“You can touch me.”Misty had no objections to adjustments like the one he’d cited, and her answer would have been the same if they’d met literally anywhere else.
“Okay.Before we start, I’d like to weigh you and get some measurements.”
She was momentarily confused.“That is literally the last reason I want training.”
He nodded.“I get that, but it’ll give me an idea of how much we should be starting with in the way of weights.You don’t have to look, and I won’t say anything out loud, if you don’t want.”
Misty appreciated the consideration and followed him to the back.“How tall are you?”he asked as he closed the door.
“Five foot nine and a half.”
“Thanks.”He entered that into a digital scale before pulling away.“Step right up.”
After that was done, he guided her past the studios to an area at the back of the gym.Half of it was populated by all types of machines, and the other half was devoted to weights.He led her past that to an empty area where the floor was marked with measurements.“Sprint from here to the orange cone on my signal,” he said.
Misty got in position and took off on his “Go!”
The cone at the 100-meter mark was in sight before she knew it, and she beamed back at Spencer.He smiled back.“I saw some jumps on the list of fitness requirements.Why don’t we check on that while we’re here?Go back, get a running start, and jump forward.”
Misty got a flashback to track as she followed his orders.The long jump had never been one of her events, and it looked like that hadn’t changed since college.Spencer didn’t comment but directed her to a strip by the wall and had her do a vertical jump.Having not done that before, she had no idea how she’d just performed.Spencer wasn’t jumping for joy, and yet he wasn’t grimacing or shaking his head.She decided to take the latter as a positive sign.
His glance moved from her to his tablet.“You’re fast, and that’s going to serve you well.But how fast are you going to be with a 600-pound sled?Let’s go to the weight area to get a better idea of that.”
He led her to one of the weight machines and had her sit down on a bench with what looked like a footrest.“We’ll start with leg presses.Have you ever used one of these?”
As soon as he saidleg presses, something clicked in her memory.“Not since high school.”
“Let’s start with eighty-five pounds and see how you do,” he said, keying in the amount.“To refresh your memory, your legs are going to do all the work of pushing this forward.There’ll naturally be some core involvement, but if you feel like you’re putting too much of your back into it, let me know.”
“Okay.”Her feet met with resistance, and she pushed it out of her way.She wouldn’t have called it easy, and yet it didn’t seem overly onerous.
“Good,” Spencer said after five reps or so.“Maybe we can do a heavier weight next time.”
Misty smiled at that and at how she was doing so far.Maybe she’d underestimated herself and could actually do this.
“You’ll also need to get your upper body for this.”Spencer’s voice broke into her thoughts as she finished the set.“True, you’ll have three people helping you, but I understand you’ll be doing some of the work of carrying or pushing the sled.”
He moved to an area with free weights.“Lift this to your chest like so.”As he spoke, he stepped to a wider stance, picked up a 24-pound kettlebell, and hoisted it up to his chest.
He looked like he wasn’t doing anything more strenuous than picking up a cat, but the muscles in his arms practically jumped out as he lifted the weight.Misty was struck by the look of that, not to mention that of his ass as he worked.It was even firmer in person.
“Your turn.”Misty stepped up.She shouldn’t be ogling her trainer, especially not as a distraction for this.She put her feet in the same stance and reached for the same kettlebell, but was struck by how heavy it was.She felt her whole body going into it to get it off the ground and knew she wouldn’t be able to raise it to her chest as gracefully as he had.
“Stop before you hurt yourself, try this, and engage your core.”He tapped his toe to an 18-pound kettlebell.That one came up easier, but she couldn’t decide whether to feel reassured that she’d managed this or worried that she wouldn’t be able to manage the test.
With each circuit of weights they tried next, Misty felt her confidence ebbing.Spencer’s expression looked slightly pinched, which did nothing to reassure her.How was she going to be able to do this?
“Everything we did today was good.It shows us both what we need to work on and what maybe we don’t need to spend as much time on.And before you go...”Spencer pulled his phone out of his pocket.“I have your number from your membership, but I should give you mine in case you can’t make a session or you have questions.”
“Okay, thanks.”As her phone buzzed, it occurred to Misty that she needed to get out more or go back on the apps.What did it say if her new trainer’s number was the most recent one she’d gotten?A spring fling had ended when that TA at Hunter had gone home for the summer.
