#best barbells protein bar

[technicallyhappyarcade]

Best Barbells: How to Choose the Right Barbell for Your Body Type

Discover the ultimate selection of barbells tailored to your body type with our comprehensive guide. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned fitness enthusiast, finding the right barbell is essential for optimal performance and results. Dive into our expert advice, which demystifies the various types of barbells available, such as Olympic, powerlifting, and specialty bars, helping you understand their unique benefits. We delve into the key factors to consider, including weight capacity, grip knurling, and barbell length, to ensure a perfect fit for your specific needs. Empower yourself with the knowledge to make an informed decision and unlock your full potential during weightlifting sessions.

[cheat-workouts-7z]

cheat workouts PC NME+

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Barbell Incline Bench Press. Dumbbell Bench Press. 50 Best Chest Workouts for Building Muscle · 1. Barbell Bench Press · 2. Dumbbell Bench Press · 3. Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press · 4. Hips-Off, Single-Arm Bench. Chest Workouts. Target your lower, middle and upper chest with our wide range of chest workout plans. The workouts are created by fitness experts and come. Incline push up · 2. Flat bench press · 3. Incline bench press · 4. Decline bench press · 5. Pushup · 6. Cable crossover · 7. Chest dip · 8. Resistance band. For many gym-goers, chest workouts start and end with the bench press. While those are both fantastic exercises, however, for a truly pecs-tacular chest you need to extend your exercise repertoire. Two of your weekly workouts are chest-focused, while the other two are full-body training sessions. The chest sessions are workouts 1 and 3 on the plan and they differ in their approach to chest-building. The first session increases strength using a high number of sets but fewer reps. The second uses bodybuilding principles to form a chest workout where you do fewer sets but a higher number of reps with the aim of increasing size alongside strength. All four workouts are made up of five moves. The first two exercises are big, compound lifts done as normal sets. Go heavy with these and push yourself as hard as possible. Then the final three moves are a tri-set, so you rattle through the first set of 3A, then the first set of 3B, then the first set of 3C with minimal rest between them. Rest, then start the second sets. This is a training plan for experienced gym-goers. The chest workout plan below really requires a gym, because it uses a barbell with weight plates , dumbbells , a weight bench , a rack and a pull-up bar. Unless your home gym is impressively well stocked, you might also want to check out the home chest workouts underneath the plan for something you can do when gyms are closed. To get the full effect from these workouts, you need to stick to the four-digit tempo code for each exercise — check out our guide to tempo training to help you understand the numbers. The first digit indicates how long in seconds you take to lower the weight, the second how long you pause at the bottom of the move, the third how long you take to lift the weight, and the final digit how long you pause at the top. X means that part of the move should be done explosively. Keep each rep smooth and controlled so your muscles — not momentum — do the work. Success in this chest workout plan will come not only from following the workouts below to the letter, but by backing up your gym efforts in the kitchen. That starts with eating enough protein to repair and rebuild your muscles after a workout. However, many people do prefer the convenience of supplements like protein shakes or protein bars for getting 20g of protein in after a session. Also make sure your energy reserves are topped up by eating carbohydrates, aiming for wholegrain varieties to maximise the fibre you get from your food. Some will send a variety of healthy meals at once that you can reheat and eat when you wish, while others will deliver daily and cover all your meals and snacks with a menu designed to fit your precise training goals. These are, of course, more expensive than cooking for yourself, but it's certainly no more expensive than a takeaway habit and a whole lot healthier. This will get your body used to the movement patterns involved and prime the relevant muscles to fire when you add weight. Lie on a flat bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, then lower the bar towards your chest. Press it back up to the start. Sets 5 Reps 5 Tempo 10X0 Rest 60sec. Lie on an incline bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Sets 4 Reps 8 Tempo Rest 20sec. Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand by your shoulders. Brace your core, then press the weights up until your arms are straight. Lower them back to the start. Sets 4 Reps 10 Tempo Rest 20sec. Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand above your face, with your palms facing and a slight bend in your elbows. Lower them to the sides, then bring them back to the top. Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo Rest 60sec. Get into position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully. Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo Rest 60sec. Stand tall with a bar across the backs of your shoulders. Keeping your chest up and core braced, squat down as deep as you can. Drive back up through your heels to return to the start. Hold a bar with an underhand grip. Brace your core, then pull yourself up until your chin is higher than the bar. Lower until your arms are straight again. Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo Rest 20sec. Hold a bar with your hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Keeping your chest up and core braced, press the bar overhead until your arms are straight. Lower it back to the start. Hold a barbell with an overhand grip, hands just outside your legs. Bend your knees slightly, brace your core, then pull the bar up, leading with your elbows. Stand tall holding a light barbell across the backs of your shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart. With your core braced, bend forwards slowly from the hips, as far as your hamstrings allow but not past horizontal. Return to the start. This uses the same moves as Workout 1 but with different protocols — low sets and high reps to focus on increasing muscle mass. Sets 3 Reps 12 Tempo Rest 60sec. Sets 3 Reps 12 Tempo Rest 20sec. Sets 3 Reps 15 Tempo Rest 20sec. Sets 3 Reps 20 Tempo Rest 60sec. Stand tall with a bar across the front of your shoulders with elbows up. Keeping your core braced, squat down as deep as you can. Stand tall in front of a barbell resting on safety bars at knee height. Using a double overhand grip, bend down and deadlift the bar up, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top. Stand with dumbbells by your sides, palms facing forwards. Keeping your elbows tucked in, curl the weights up, squeezing your biceps at the top. Stand tall holding a dumbbell over your head with both hands, arms straight. Keeping your chest up, lower the weight behind your head, then raise it back to the start. Stand tall, holding a light dumbbell in each hand with palms facing. Keeping your chest up and a bend in your elbows, raise the weights out to shoulder height, then lower back to the start. It starts with just 20 press-ups today. If you like a medium-term goal to motivate your fitness efforts, give this a go. See the day press-up challenge. This is another workout built around press-ups — it really is a mighty exercise. With this one the aim is to do the workout twice a week for four weeks to strengthen your upper body. The workout contains five different press-ups to hit your muscles from different angles, and the recommended reps and rest change each week to keep you progressing — the numbers given below are for week one. See the press-up workout for big arms. This challenging session involves doing a variety of press-ups, taking as little rest as possible in order to stimulate growth in your chest muscles. See this press-up workout. PT Bradley Simmonds put together this workout, which works the entire upper body using bodyweight and resistance band exercises. Rattle through all six exercises, then rest for 60 seconds. Do three rounds in total. See this resistance band workout. Tack this quick press-up session on to the end of a longer chest workout, or do it by itself when you just want to blast your chest, shoulders and triceps. There are four moves in the workout, which you do in rounds with as little rest as possible. Three rounds will take around 10 minutes, and you can always add extra when you have more time. See the minute press-up workout. Sam Rider is an experienced freelance journalist, specialising in health, fitness and wellness. For over a decade he's reported on Olympic Games, CrossFit Games and World Cups, and quizzed luminaries of elite sport, nutrition and strength and conditioning. Shock your chest into growing bigger, stronger and wider with this multi-angle workout. Bored with the barbell? This fast-paced chest workout with dumbbells is designed to improve your balance and stability. Want to fill out your T-shirt? With this home workout, all you need is a floor to do press-ups on. Put this six-move weights workout to the test to build a bigger, stronger and wider chest to transform your torso. The one-arm press-up is a perfect test of co-ordination, strength and balance. Sam Rider. Grid List. Add lean muscle to your chest with this six-move workout. Do this bodyweight session to build a bigger and stronger chest. Build an upper body like a linebacker by using this NFL bench press technique. Coach Newsletter. Sign up for workout ideas, training advice, the latest gear and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands. Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. Thank you for signing up to Coach. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. The Best Cheap Fitness Trackers. Saucony Tempus Review.

[benberg1984]

BUILD ARM SIZE AND STRENGTH - Fat Gripz will help you build bigger, stronger arms. They work by wrapping around barbells, dumbbells, pull up bars and exercise machine handles and increasing their diameter

TIME-TESTED METHODS, NEW SCIENCE - Science has now confirmed what athletes and bodybuilders have known for decades - that using a thicker diameter bar causes much greater muscle activation in the arms which leads to incredible size and strength gains

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MILITARY-SPEC MATERIAL - The result of years of refinement of design and materials, Fat Grips are as tough as your most intense workout so you will never need to replace them. They are the ultimate dumbbell grips / barbell grips / grips for weight lifting / weight grips / bar grips / hand gripper / hand grip strengthener / grip trainer

GREAT VALUE - Grab your pair today - they cost less than a bottle of protein powder and will help you build muscle and strength for a lifetime

[fitnessfreaklover]

Best exercises for musle building?

However, here are some additional compound exercises that can be effective for gaining muscle weight.

Leg press: for legs

Leg extension: for quads

Leg curl: for hamstrings

Calf raises: for calves

Pull-downs: for back

Barbell bicep curl: for biceps

Tricep pushdowns: for triceps

Barbell shrugs: for traps

Lateral raises: for shoulders

Front raises: for shoulders

Bent-over raises: for shoulders

Seated rows: for back

T-bar rows: for back

Deadlifts: for legs, back and core

Barbell lunges: for legs

Hack squats: for legs

Standing military press: for shoulders

Incline bench press: for chest, triceps and shoulders

Pull-ups: for back, biceps and shoulders

Chin-ups: for back, biceps and shoulders

Dips: for chest, triceps and shoulders

Dumbbell rows: for back

One arm dumbbell rows: for back

Barbell rows: for back

Barbell deadlifts: for legs, back and core

Dumbbell bench press: for chest, triceps and shoulders

Dumbbell flyes: for chest

Dumbbell pullover: for chest

Dumbbell shoulder press: for shoulders

Dumbbell lateral raises: for shoulders

Dumbbell front raises: for shoulders

Dumbbell curl: for biceps

Preacher curl: for biceps

Concentration curl: for biceps

Tricep extensions: for triceps

Skull crushers: for triceps

Lying leg curl: for hamstrings

It's important to remember that progressive overload is key to gain muscle weight and you should also aim to eat enough protein and calories to support muscle growth.

[ihis]

IHiS Get In Shape Today

IHiS Expert tips provider. Fitness has so many possibilities as to what you can use, do, and how you can apply it to your own goals. It is rare to find somebody that will have a routine just like you, so why not take advantage of that and create a fitness routine that works for you? This article can help you.

If you're lucky enough to live near your local grocery store, an easy way to get a workout is to walk to the store on your day off instead of taking your car. Grab a basket once you're inside-- getting a cart will make it easy to choose more items than you can easily carry. You can always make multiple trips, or bring the family so everyone can grab a few bags.

The best fitness tip for recovering from an injury is to try to get out there as soon as you feel healthy. You want to minimize your down time, so it is best to get back out there as soon as you can, but to cut down the strength of your workout considerably. Test yourself and stop if you feel any pain.

A high calorie diet will allow for you to fully utilize your workout. You will be using the calories to provide energy and make your workout last longer. This will allow your muscles to grow because the intense workout causes small tears and once healed makes the muscles stronger and also increase in size.

Bench presses are a simple weighted exercise that you can do to work out your chest muscles. All gyms have bar weights for doing bench presses, but if you have one at home, you can do it there, or use dumb bells to replace a bar. Simply lay on your back on a weight platform and lift your arms into the air while holding the weight. Then lower your arms.

Clog dancing is a fun way to get fit, lose weight, and reduce stress. The basic motion to clogging is to bounce up and down by bending at the knees and pushing downwards through the feet into the ground, then rebound upwards. As you rebound upwards, shuffle your foot forward and loosely brush your toes against the ground. Clog dancing should be performed on a smooth surface with hard-soled shoes.

You should consider cardio fitness exercises as part of your training. These exercises refer to one of the most important organ systems of our bodies: the heart and the blood vessels. Cardio fitness training helps to keep a healthy weight and reduces the chance of chronic diseases by temporarily increasing the body's need for oxygen.

Eggs are a great way to start your morning and they provide you with the essential protein that is necessary to extend your workout. Also, eggs are a great type of food to consume if you want to feel full during the course of the day, which can prevent you from resorting to junk food.

IHiS Best service provider. If you are trying to grow muscle, be sure to eat meat. You should consume about four to eight ounces of meat daily. Beef, chicken, turkey, and fish are some types of meat that you can eat. If you eat meat during the time that you are trying to grow muscle, you can gain significant muscle.

When trying to increase the muscles in your legs, a good way to do this is to try some lunges. Put barbells in each hand of any weight, and take a knee then extend your other leg out and take a knee with the other leg. This builds leg muscles.

Push-ups can be a good activity for someone trying to maintain or improve his or her own, personal fitness. Push-ups can be done in many different locations, such as the home or office. Also, there are a variety of push-ups that can be done to work different muscles. Push-ups are a good way to work on your fitness.

To increase your balance, try standing one-legged on a sofa cushion while passing a medicine ball from one hand to the next. This is harder than it sounds and will increase your coordination, balance and overall body control. For an advanced technique, try closing your eyes during the exercise.

If you plan on working out for more than 90 minutes, you need to to eat an appropriate meal beforehand. This will help fuel your workout and keep your stomach satisfied while you are working out. Try yogurt with granola and pecans and almonds, a banana with peanut butter spread on crackers, or scrambled eggs with vegetables and whole grain toast.

Focus on a plan and stick to it. Working on plans such as a upper body/lower body split can be beneficial to serious fitness because it helps portions of the body rest on off days. Muscles are living cells and grow during periods of intense stress, exercise in this case. This growth, however, requires a rest period; the rest period is an important feature of our body that upper/lower splits make a note of.

A great way to motivate yourself to keep up with your fitness is to track your results. About once a month, weigh yourself, and take all your measurements to see how much you have improved since you started. This is good because you will see actual tangible results of your accomplishments.

You can use simple things around your house to do exercises when you can't go to the gym. Do push-ups against the wall. A chair can be used as a steadying point for doing leg lifts. Lift heavy objects like jugs of milk or canned goods.

For better fitness, incorporate squats into your routine. Squats may not be enjoyable, but they do get results fast. To do a squat correctly, place your feet shoulder width apart, with your back straight, and bend your knees to ninety degrees. Keep your knees behind your toes. Stand up straight, and repeat. Do three sets of ten to fifteen repetitions.

IHiS Top service provider. Isn't creating your own personal fitness routine exciting? As you have seen in this article, there are a lot of ways this can be done and no two routines will yield the same results. There are also lots of customizable options that can work with your body, health, and budget.

[alicesnest]

How To Get A Defined Back – The Ultimate Guide

Do you wish your back was bigger and stronger?

Wondering How To Get A Defined Back?

Work out your back with these tips and tricks! Don’t forget to use a Workout Plan Calculator to analyse your progress.

Overview

Unlike most magazines, Men’s Health magazines never photograph their cover stars from behind – and there’s a reason behind this. We know that men prefer to see abs and arms, chest and shoulders, not backs. When it comes to working out, you should pay the same attention to back exercises as you do to any other muscle group.

Defined Backs Are Important: Why?

An individual’s back is an important part of their body. Having a defined back helps with posture and makes you appear taller and more confident. A defined back also makes your clothes look better. Training your rear can help you prevent injury, help you pull more weight in all lifts, and help you develop the desirable V-shape.

Defining Your Back With These Exercises

Weightlifting and Shoulder Superset Workout are two popular ways to work your back, but other exercises can help you achieve the results you want. Some of them are:

Lat Pulldowns:

Performing lat pulldowns is one of the best exercises for your back. You will work your back’s lats muscles in this exercise.

High Pulley Cable Row:

Another great exercise for your back is the high pulley cable row. Pull a high pulley cable row with a resistance band. Make sure you choose a level that challenges you without compromising your form. This movement works with your lats and rhomboids, which are key muscles for good posture.

Dumbbell Pullover:

Another exercise that improves back posture is the dumbbell pullover. This exercise requires a yoga ball or bench, as well as a moderate-weight dumbbell. If you're a beginner, start with 10 or 12 pounds. It won't just target your lats; it will also work your core.

French Press Exercises:

In general, French Press Exercises are practiced to extend the triceps. Most people do not realize that it also shapes your back. During this strength-training workout, you lie or sit down on a bench and then extend your arms upward while holding a dumbbell (EZ bar or barbell) behind your head.

These are just a few examples of great back exercises. To target all the muscles in your back, make sure you mix up your routine. You can also use a Workout Plan Calculator to calculate your daily workout schedules and muscle gain practice. It will give you a more definite guide on your progress.

The Best Diet For A Defined Back

There are many diets that people might consider for their defined back. But the best diet for a defined back is one that is high in protein and low in carbs. This diet will help you to maintain a healthy weight and keep your body composition consistent.

For more details visit our website tfclarkfitnessmagazine.com/.

[fibergreensreviews]

FiberGreens Reviews - Effective Ingredients?

Fitness is important on many levels. It helps your body to function inside and out. When you are in shape, you feel better about yourself. You have more energy to do the things you enjoy. Staying fit can really improve your life, so let's look at some tips that can help you become the picture of health.

If you are new to FiberGreens Reviews fitness, start slowly. It may be tempting to push yourself beyond your limits, especially with the enthusiasm that comes with beginning a new fitness regime. Pushing yourself too quickly is the fastest way to get yourself injured, as your body is not ready to deal with the added stresses you place on it. Injuries can sideline you from your workout for weeks, so start with small and realistic goals and work up to more demanding workouts.

Cardio training is another vital piece of the total fitness puzzle. Cardiovascular exercise - exercise that elevates the heart rate and respiration - burns fat, improves performance and contributes to overall health and fitness. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that cardio is the most effective kind of exercise for keeping fit - although it should not be anyone's sole form of exercise.

A great fitness tip ProstaDine Reviews for runners who experience sore calves would be to sleep on your belly and let your feet dangle off the bed. Over the course of the night, your calves will stretch out just from being in this position. Of course, stretching, warming up and cooling down are also going to assist you with this.

One way to get the most out of your fitness routine is to be sure to feed your muscles carbohydrates and protein shortly after working out. This will ensure that your muscles are replenished and also that they are not sore for the next day. A good idea would be to keep an orange with you in your workout bag, and possibly a can of tuna fish once you are out of a public area.

Have a timer handy when doing exercises at home. When using an exercise ball it is helpful to time each exercise so you know how long you are in each position. Holding each position for a specified length of time helps you build muscles and reach your fitness goals.

To improve the appearance of your shoulders, you should use weights. Dumbbells are great for shoulder exercises like push presses and lateral raises. Presses with barbells can also yield very good results. Using weights will build up the muscles in your shoulders and give them a more toned appearance. For the best results, be sure to lift weights at least twice a week.

Bench presses are a simple weighted exercise that you can do to work out your chest muscles. All gyms have bar weights for doing bench presses, but if you have one at home, you can do it there, or use dumb bells to replace a bar. Simply lay on your back on a weight platform and lift your arms into the air while holding the weight. Then lower your arms.

When you exercise, be sure to wear comfortable clothing. Even if you feel pressured to wear the newest gear, you should always be comfortable. Wear loose fitting clothing that allows you to move easily and won't embarrass you. You need to be focused on your workouts, not what the latest fashion styles in the gym are.

Try not to exercise when you're sick. When your body is sick, it's going to be putting most of it resources to work making you healthy again. If you're exercising your body won't be able to put its full resources toward building muscle. Instead, you'll be using up resources that could be fighting your sickness leaving you sick longer.

To maximize your biceps when working out, try to flex your wrists more. You need to extend them slightly backward when exercising your biceps and keep holding them that way until the exercises are over. This is the best way to fully maximize the benefits of your standard arm curls.

Remember to eat lots of meat during your training. Meat has a lot of protein in nit, which will increase muscle mass and speed up recovery time. A group of male lifters who ate meat gained much more muscle mass than a group of male lifters who did not eat meat.

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Do not exercise on an empty stomach. Be sure to fill your gas tank before you start your workout. It is best to eat a healthy carbohydrate, 30 to 60 minutes before exercising. Some great ideas for pre-workout snacks are yogurt and fruit, a small bowl of oatmeal or a banana.

These tips can help you in a variety of ways. Try out the ones you like. Stick to a healthy routine and you will see results. Afterwards, you will find that it is much easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle Your quality of life will improve, and you will feel better about yourself all around.

[dietplan5]

Tips to get the most out of your muscle building efforts

The same is true for muscle building. To be a success, you need the right tools. This article will show you how to build a successful regimen. 25 foods to lower triglycerides

To maintain a healthy diet, you need to ensure that you are eating enough vegetables. Vegetables contain nutrients that are not found in protein-rich foods and proteins. Vegetables can also provide a lot of fibers. Your body will work more efficiently if you consume fiber.

The bench press, squat and squat are the most important exercises. These three exercises are essential for building solid muscle. These exercises have been proven to increase strength and muscle bulk as well as improve overall fitness. Include these essential exercises in your workout.

If you want to build muscle, you need a lot of protein. Protein is the main building block of muscle.

For muscle building, carbohydrate is essential. For every pound of training, you will need to consume two to three grams of carbohydrate per day.

You should not exercise for more than 60 mins. Your body will make more stress hormone, the stresshormone, if you go beyond that. Cortisol blocks testosterone, which can cause muscle-building problems. For best results, make sure you do your workouts for less than an hour.

You should do your stretching after you exercise, to ensure that your muscles are well-rested. For those over 40, stretches should be held for at least 60 seconds. After you've completed your muscle-building program, this will prevent injuries.

When you're doing a workout, train opposing muscles. Try the chest and back together or quads and the hamstrings. This allows you to give one muscle group a rest while you train the other. It also prevents you from training unevenly or creating muscle imbalances. This will allow you to increase your workout intensity while decreasing the time spent building muscle at the gym.

Add plyometrics to your exercise routine. This exercise stimulates muscle growth by developing fast-twitch muscle fibers. Because they use acceleration, plyometrics look very similar to ballistic movement. Plyometric pushups are a good example of this. You let your hands fly off the ground and then explode as high as possible.

Consume a lot of protein both before and after exercise. This can be done quickly by simply drinking a large glass of milk.

You must be careful about how many calories you consume in order to build muscle. Bad diets can make you fatter than you gain muscle.

Because some exercises are dangerous if you have excess weight, be careful which ones you choose to focus on. Split squats can cause serious injuries, such as dips, split squats and split squats.

You don't have to tone your muscles.

You can try a different type bicep curl. Because they don't move the bar or weight beyond the parallel point, bicep curls are not as effective as the alternative. This problem can be fixed by doing seated barbell curls from a seated position.

Avoid excessive alcohol consumption when building muscle. Alcohol causes the breakdown of muscle tissue.

Creatine is a natural muscle recovery agent that can be used to help your kidneys function better.

Try to consume at least 20g of protein per meal to meet your daily protein requirements. You can spread out your protein intake to meet your daily protein requirements. For example, you could eat six meals with 30 grams of protein each.

Creatine supplements can be added to the diet of adults who want to build muscle. Creatine supplements can increase energy and help build muscle mass. Experts in weight loss have used this supplement for many years. Avoid taking any supplements if you're still a teenager.

Before starting a strength training session, consume 15-20 grams of whey protein or another high-quality supplement. This will fuel your workout.

It's a great way to keep motivated when you workout with friends. This will increase your energy and help you build more muscle.

Regular stretching is key to any muscle-building program.

Remember to eat before and afterwards a workout. You should eat a snack high in protein and low sugars to recover from a workout.

When you start lifting weights, don't forget healthy fats. Many healthy fats are necessary for building muscle. You will slow down the process of building muscle if you cut out the wrong fats. Another benefit is the correlation between testosterone levels and fat.

A gym has a wide range of equipment to help you get the best out of your workouts, but they also have professionals who are experts in bodybuilding. If you have any questions, they are happy to answer them.

You can use information to help you achieve any goal. Muscle building will be much easier and more efficient if you have the right advice and tools. You can be confident in reaching your goals if you apply the information from this article to your workouts.

[valaruakars]

Let’s Get Physical (Part 2)

Viktor/F!Reader || 4.6k || Modern!AU + Gym!AU || SFW (for now!)

A beefy gal looking for a better place to workout, your friend Jayce invites you over to his home gym. He offers you everything you could ever want: great equipment, great company, and a ridiculously hot roommate who might just hate you. 

Part 1 

The next morning finds you sore from the waist down. That sensational burn in your thighs has you hissing as you fold yourself onto the couch, banana in hand and a protein shake tucked into your elbow. With a lid, of course, given your penchant for clumsiness.

In your groggy state, you’ve taken to mindlessly scrolling through your socials, trying to wake up. Kitten reels of the cutest order, vacation pictures from people you hadn’t spoken to in years, and far too many targeted ads pass by in colorful flashes beneath your thumb, yet nothing piques the interest of your fickle brain. Nothing could be that engaging when it’s dawn and your heavy body craves oblivion.

Maybe the couch is too comfortable, or the morning sky is too drowsily overcast, your living room washed in cozy shades of gray.

Your eyes feel heavier and heavier. You slouch lower into the cushions and tuck a plush blanket into your lap, poised to fall asleep again.

A mealy bite of your breakfast helps just a little. But a reel of Jayce showing off his push-up form? That helps a lot.

It gets your mind firing on at least half its cylinders. Reminds you of something you’d meant to do last night, except that Jayce had run you so ragged that the moment your head hit the pillow, you went out like light.

Just some light social media stalking. Everyone does it.

You tap through Jayce’s story first on the off chance your curiosity can be sated quickly. But it’s all fitness infographics, a cute little flexing boomerang time-stamped right before you arrived yesterday, and a shared picture from late last night captioned with three huge heart emojis. Of the most stunning woman, a serene smile on her lips, sitting on a yoga mat in lotus position.

In tiny white letters under the picture: Mel.Medarda.

You click through to her profile. Find yourself looking at a collage of beautiful pictures that raise the age old question: Do I want to be her, or do I want to bang her?

Plenty of them feature Jayce, standing close or with a massive arm slung around her waist. That and the way he looks at her, with the dopiest puppy eyes you’d ever seen? Definitely his girlfriend. 

Toned and lithe to his broad-shouldered brawn, they make a gorgeous couple.

But you were getting distracted.

Navigating back to Jayce’s profile, a quick glance over the rows and rows of tiles reveals nothing eye-catching. Mostly him solo, or with familiar faces. The sane thing is clearly to start scrolling through them one by one, reading the captions as you try to scratch that itch in your brain. 

You just like to know things. Totally normal.

You scroll and scroll and scroll, skimming over comments from your mutual friends too, until you find a piece of what you’re looking for.

It’s a caption beneath a black and white picture of Jayce in the garage, dimly lit at night, squatting low with a barbell spanning his shoulders. Probably around two hundred pounds loaded onto the bar, but he’s clearly trying to look cool by graduating the stack of plates instead of using two fifties on each side. “Very cool,” you snort, delving past the part where he waxes poetic about ‘dedication to the grind.’

What you care about is just below that, right at the end.

‘Shoutout to the best roommate/photographer a guy could ask for!’

And below it, a comment chain between Jayce and Vi.

knockoutVI: how can i book viktor for my next meathead photoshoot?

j_talis: He’s pretty busy and probably going to say no since you called me a meathead. Very rude :(

Roommate.

Viktor.

Got it.

You tap on the picture to see if he’s tagged, but nothing pops up despite the fact that technically he’s in it too. The faintest blip, you notice, pinching your screen to zoom it in. He’s hidden almost entirely by the reflection of the flash, and what little of him is visible has been distorted by his poor positioning on the seam of the mirror. Makes it look like he has three tiny legs. 

It tells you nothing about him, besides that he likely isn’t a boulder of a man like Jayce.

Ten more minutes of digging, and you find nothing else telling; nothing to link you to this mysterious roommate’s page. You scroll up and consider looking through Jayce’s following list, but the number is four digits and you don’t actually care enough to waste that much time.

Sure, you want to know who’d been watching you last night, but you’ve mostly gotten over it. If you were Viktor, you’d probably be curious about a stranger at your house too. 

No harm done. You’re not ready to make assumptions about him quite yet.

You’d have to meet him first.

—-

Over the span of two busy weeks, you head to Jayce’s three more times. Once in the morning, twice in the evening, and still you never encounter his illusive roommate. Always there, never seen. Jayce hadn’t said much about him either aside from an initial, offhanded warning to be mindful of Viktor if you ever came alone, but you hadn’t yet.

You’re with Jayce again that weekend.

Eight AM, Sunday morning. Overcast again and finally a bit chilly, but that hasn’t deterred him from a crop top. You could’ve slept in, stayed in the warm cocoon of your duvet, but show up anyways. What was that about dedication to the grind?

But, to be fair, it has nothing to do with that.

No, it has much more to do with the invitation to an early brunch afterward at a spot you’ve always wanted to try, to meet up with Mel after her yoga class. Intimidating, but at least there’s going to be bottomless mimosas for your nerves. You’ll submit to an hour of core torture for that, easily. 

Jayce has you listening to his eighties hits playlist, set to a considerate volume, from the moment you step into the garage. Not that you have a complaint about today’s choice. They’re fun classics to sing along to when you can actually breathe, and the energetic synth is exactly what you need to wake up and get into gear.

That, and the body-weight exercise circuit you’re thrown into after your bag gets properly put up and you’ve finished chatting about your week—alternatively known as stretching out together. The sluggish feeling dissipates quickly as a blissful mix of adrenaline and endorphins flood your system lunge after lunge, into the weighted portion of your workout.

Just over halfway through, you take a quick sip from your water and notice there’s a timer pulled up on Jayce's phone. You’re in for it then. 

“Alright—hold a plank. Ninety seconds or longer. I’ll time you first, then we’ll switch. Easy right?”

“Pfft, yeah.”

Well, okay, maybe two thirds of that increment is easy, but you’re not about to share that secret. 

“Great, then I’m sure you can do it with a weight on your back! Ten or fifteen?”

“Neither.” You scowl at his wicked grin just to be contrarian and squat down on your haunches. “I’d like to live to see a stack of pancakes, thanks. Maybe even be able to laugh at your lame jokes too, unless you’re really out to murder my abs.”

“Ouch, someone’s mean this morning,” he pouts. “Now we’re doing it again at the end, just because you said that.”

“Fine by me,” you shrug, dreading it privately, dropping onto your forearms to bear your weight into the gritty, rubber floor tiles. “Let’s go.”

“Starting… Now!”

The full body tremors come on quickly as you dig the balls of your feet into the floor, trying to compensate for the worn treads of your shoes, with your back parallel to the ground and your head down. 

Funny, how time only seems to slow when you’re doing something as miserable as this. 

You resort to tapping your fist against the ground to the beat of Sweet Dreams, trying to distract from that deep burn rapidly building in your abs. 

Jayce distracts you, instead.

“Hey! You leaving?” he suddenly shouts.

Your instinct is to ask him, breathlessly: “What?” Especially since you hear no other response over the music and the throbbing rush of blood in your ears, and see nothing but the floor in front of you, facing the wrong direction. 

“Not you,” Jayce laughs, brushing you off. “Focus. Twenty seconds in.”

But you can’t

With sudden clarity, you know who he’s talking to.

Certainly not you as he raises his voice again, a little distracted by having two conversations and watching the time creep by. “Wait—You are?!” 

Again, no response, but Jayce says, “Okay! Drive safe!”

And then, to you, as you contort your body to hold the plank and look behind you down the driveway: “Hey! No cheating! Get your ass out of the air.”

“Oh, fuck you,” you hiss, and Jayce, the cruel bastard, only chuckles at your suffering.

You fight to control your breathing as the burn escalates and you genuinely think about being a quitter. Talking has done you no favors.

Instead you listen. To Jayce, counting down in fifteen second increments. To the music, its steady beat keeping you grounded. To the sound of an engine sputtering to life, and tires grinding against the concrete.

“Ten more seconds, unless you want to try and hold it longer?”

You can only shake your head pathetically as a hefty bead of sweat slides down your temple.

“And… Done!”

Typically you’d just collapse into a gelatinous pile, face down on the floor. But you were just so curious. 

With deep, heaving breaths, you push up to your feet. Steadily, so you don’t stagger with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. Slowly, so that you don’t look overly enthusiastic to get a glimpse of his roommate.

You’re too late, though.

All you see is his car backing down the end of the driveway, a glare on the windshield. 

And then he’s gone.

You’re staring. Too concentrated, until you’re aware of the tension in your face enough to release the little furrow from your brow. Too long, and Jayce notices.

He’s already looking at you with a smile when you pivot toward him, ready to get back to work. Typical of him, sure, but the arch of his scar slashed brow turns it quizzical and expecting. You get the sense he knows something you don’t.

More like he knows someone you don’t and frankly? It’s started to bother you.

“Aw, he doesn’t want to work out with us?” you pout, casual and flippant, teasing your way around the question you really want to ask.

That is: Is your roommate a total weirdo or what?

You worry briefly that he can read your mind, the way he cringes at your question, grits his teeth and sucks in a breath right through them. But he recovers quickly and stutters out an awkward laugh, scratching at the stubble on his cheek. Looking distantly down the driveway, he says, “He um… He really can’t. It’s not his thing.”

“Oh…” you mutter, at a loss for words with the distinct, shameful impression that you’ve said the wrong thing. Not sure how to interpret Jayce’s response, you try, neutrally enough, “I get that, it’s not for everybody.”

He shrugs it off in that easy manner. “Y’know, I’ve really been meaning to introduce you, but—” Jayce looks down at his phone in hand, its screen thoroughly shattered despite the bulky, black case. Then to you again, brighter than before. “Wait, why didn’t I think of this before? Hang on just a second.”

He starts tapping at it. 

A text? 

But as soon as the music cuts off, right at the chorus of ABBA’s Lay all Your Love on Me— which, great song, that’s a shame—you realize exactly what he’s up to.

It rings twice over the bluetooth speakers before Viktor picks up.

“Yes, Jayce?”

There’s a weary quality to his voice. He sounds put upon, the sigh implied, as if Jayce has been petulant, blowing up his phone all morning. 

Jayce isn’t phased by that. Not in the slightest.

He does take Viktor off the speakers though, holding the phone to his ear and gesturing for you to wait just a minute with the flat of his calloused palm. All before you can hear enough to decipher that curious accent, which is disappointing. 

“—Yeah, sorry, I’m here. Listen, what are you doing…” 

Jayce wanders out of earshot, just out of the garage. If you strain to listen—which you, nosy thing, absolutely did—you can pick up a few words and phrases.

“…hour…” 

Yes, brunch is in an hour. 

“…want you to…” 

Meet me? Pretty likely. 

“…being difficult…” 

Oh interesting, is he now?

You hear nothing more after that.

But you can guess the outcome by Jayce’s final stance after a few minutes of failed negotiations. Phone to his ear, fist on his cocked hip—very pissed off suburban dad of him, standing in the front yard like that.

He mashes the end call button with a meaty thumb. Heaves a sigh that’s all shoulders before he turns and hustles back toward you, looking overly cheerful about whatever just transpired.

“Everything alright?” you ask gently.

“Yup, great! All good!” he says with a smile that heralds an eye twitch, though it never comes. “I couldn’t get Viktor to come with us. Full schedule, apparently.”

“It is short notice, Jayce.”

“Yeah… I know,” he says, fraught with an unfamiliar tension. Like there’s a lot he isn’t saying, and it weighs on him. “It’s just disappointing. I think you’d get along great if I could get you two in the same room.”

“What makes you think that?” 

“Just a feeling,” he shrugs. “Or wishful thinking, maybe. I always want my friends to be friends with each other too. Easier to get everyone together that way. Speaking of which…” He hands you his phone, timer pulled up again. “Last thing before we get back to it: I’m throwing a Halloweeen party at the end of the month. Low key, costumes optional—it’s gonna be fun and I think you should come.”

“Big party?”

“Medium party, if I have anything to say about it. But hey, no pressure. Think about it.”

“I’ll let you know for sure, but it’s probably a yes.” 

It’s definitely a yes, let’s be honest. You have no other invitations to consider. 

Back on task and keen to see him suffer, you taunt him with a shake of his phone. “Now, if you’re ready?”

“Definitely am,” he says, and proceeds to put your sweaty struggle of a plank to shame.

—-

The week blows by after that. You blink and it’s Friday again. Though, with nothing better to start the weekend with, you pull out your phone and fire off a quick text to Jayce.

[3:58pm] Headed over after work to squeeze in some cardio. You in?

He’s assured you that you can use the gym whenever, but it feels right to get his blessing. Better to ask first than find out the hard or even embarrassing way that there might be an exception to the rule.

But… No response. 

Just radio silence from Jayce until an hour later and you’re sprinting to your car in the pouring rain. Then, of course, it vibrates in your pocket. Damp and chilly, clothes soaked through as you clamor inside, you still check your phone before you crank the ignition and turn on a little heat. 

Priorities.

[Jayce Talis, 5:12pm]: Gonna be out with Mel, sorry! Have fun :)

He gets a simple smiley face and a thumbs up in return. 

Prepared with an extra pair of leggings and sneakers in your car, you head straight over after that.  

Alone today, you’ll be brave too. You’ll wear the cute, translucent crop top that has, up until now, been shoved deep into your closet for fear of drawing attention to parts of your body that could stand to be more refined. Like you aren’t good enough, toned enough, shredded enough to wear it yet; like confidence is something to earn and the finish line keeps shifting farther away. But if Jayce can do it?

So can you.

He’s a lesson in self-confidence, and you’re an eager student.

When you pull up, you see immediately that you’ll be well and truly alone today. There’s no cars in the driveway, no lights on in the house.

You do another soggy sprint through the rain and wind up wetter on your left side as you punch in a garage code you’re still trying to memorize and mess it up a good three times before it takes. You have to shut it promptly behind you to keep the water from seeping beneath the floor tiles, but with the summer humidity now past, the garage is pleasantly cool. And as it heated up—or, well, you heated up—there’s always the fan.

But first things first, you let yourself into the house.

You’ve never been inside before. And it feels odd that the first time is in dead silence, without Jayce, like you’re an intruder in his home. 

Their home, you keep having to remind yourself, because stranger or not, Viktor lives there too.

It occurs to you, then, that it might be inconsiderate not to let him know that you’re coming too. Something to bring up to Jayce next time you’re together—it doesn’t sit well with you that his roommate might think you’re rude. 

At least this time, if Viktor comes home first, he’ll know you ‘re here by your car in the driveway. He has to know it at this point, even if he knows nothing else about you.

You hurry down the short hallway into the first door on your left, wet shoes squeaking comically on the hardwood floors as you go to change in the tiny powder room off the garage. 

Nothing fancy, but it’s probably the most boring room in the house. Clean and simple and tidy, but is it all this way? You have to ignore that shameful urge to explore further. It feels like a betrayal of trust, though you’ve been explicitly permitted as far as the kitchen to get water or a snack.

If you ever want to be righteously nosy, you really need to stop coming so prepared.

Back in the cool sanctity of the garage, you plop onto the padded floor to do a few simple stretches and meditate briefly on your plan for the next hour, give or take. Cardio, for sure, but the sweet, sweaty temptation of upper body work calls out to you from the weight racks. A few rounds of chest presses, bicep curls, and tricep extensions with mid-range dumbbells should make a great addition to the evening, nothing too taxing or dangerous. You’ll probably add more to that circuit after time to consider it on the treadmill, knowing yourself a glutton for punishment of your own creation.

You hop on the treadmill, setting the speed to a crawl to walk and tap away at your phone; to connect it to the sound system, as Jayce has shown you how, to play your favorite workout playlist.

It’s not noticeable at first. 

The volume is considerably lower to start, even as you up the speed from a snail’s pace to a healthy powerwalk, warming up your joints for the impact to come. 

But after you press 6, the belt moving faster, your feet slamming down on it, your heart beating harder and your breath coming quicker, you have to make it louder. And you can tell, then, that someone had changed the ratios to boost the base.

It was fucking fantastic.

You feel it in your bones, feel it hammering in time with your heart. It makes you feel like you can sprint faster, push harder; do more and more and more until you’re gasping for breath and loving every second of it. But you aren’t there yet.

In short little bursts—sprint to walk, walk to sprint— you keep upping the speed and the volume in increments as you fight to hit your top mileage, even for a second. That’s the goal before you can allow yourself a long recovery lap.

You finally, finally reach for that number on the control panel.

And then you’re catching yourself on the handrails instead.

Stumbling bodily.

Scared shitless.

Because out of the corner of your eye, you see the door to the house wrench open. You hear your name over the music, shouted like you’ve never heard it shouted before.

It’s the accent, laced with frustration, curling hatefully the vowels of your name.

It’s Viktor.

You fumble in quick succession to turn the treadmill off, then the song. It leaves the sound of your heavy, labored breathing and rain pelting the metal garage door echoing through the space. It’s a strange, awkward ambiance made worse by your gasping inability to speak.

You try to mitigate it, lifting your arms and lacing your fingers behind your head. Your shoulders, your biceps ache with lingering soreness, and your shirt rides up far too high, but your lungs have more room to expand within the vice tightness of your ribcage. 

It helps, just not fast enough.  

You feel strikingly uneasy beneath his stare and more than a little embarrassed. So you say—or rather, try to say: “I’m—! I’m so sorry…” Do you look like a fish out of water, sucking in air through its mouth? You feel like it. Your lungs burn. “I…um, I just…”

“Catch your breath,” he says. His voice is even and merciful, but it doesn’t disguise the displeasure simmering just below the surface. It’s all in his eyes and the heavy, low set of his brow. A look that pins you in place, heavier than any weight in that gym, even if it doesn’t settle on you for long. 

He waits—patiently or not, you can’t tell—and comes no further past the threshold.

Staring is rude, but try as you might, it’s hard not to look at him overmuch. He’s the embodiment of that voice on the phone. 

Put simply: He looks like shit. 

He’s got eyes rimmed with sleepless purple, like he’s never seen more than three hours of rest in a night. Painfully thin through a graceful face, framed by dark hair that could stand to be washed. Probably skeletal under that sweater, too. He’s not three legged either, as it turns out; it was his cane distorted in the picture that he both was and wasn’t in. 

Yeah, he’s not anyone you’d expect to hang around literal health nut Jayce Talis. 

Let alone live with him.

But he’s… attractive beyond the physical neglect, if wispy nerd is your type. 

Which it is. 

You sigh—because you can breathe again, of course.

“Okay… Okay, I’m good,” you finally tell him, hands dropping down, useless at your sides, as self-consciousness creeps up. It whispers a reminder of what you’re wearing; of how flushed your face usually gets when you run; of how disgusting you feel drenched in sweat. Suboptimal conditions for meeting someone new, but you muster up a pathetic, “Hi,” and wave with a wiggle of your stupid little fingers.

He looks so unimpressed, leaning heavily against his cane. Worse, he hardly even looks at you, like you’re the least interesting thing in the room. 

You want to wither and die on the spot.

“If you could keep the volume down?” he says without preamble—not hello or nice to meet you, not even his name. It’s phrased like a question, but it’s certainly a demand that he has every right to—you can’t deny that. He adds a clipped, “Please,” as an afterthought, but it comes too late to soften his blunt approach.

“Oh, yeah, I’m really sorry about that…” You laugh nervously in the way Jayce often does to diffuse tension, but with none of his success. It’s probably a mistake to try a conversational approach, knowing nothing about him other than he’s cute and very unhappy with you, but your mouth just moves since it can’t seem to shut up. “When did you get back?”

“What?”

“I just didn’t know you were back from… Um, y’know, wherever it was,” you gesture vaguely, feeling more helpless by the second. 

“I never left,” he says, matter-of-factly, like you should’ve already known. Makes you feel entirely to blame for your ignorance, though you aren’t—just very out of your depth. “I doubt you would’ve heard anything, regardless.”

“Not unless you walked straight through here. I just… I get so into it sometimes that I can’t tell how loud it is. Especially when I’m alone.”

He shrugs, carefully neutral, “Jayce is the same.” 

Does that translate to I understand? Or is he calling you both inconsiderate in a two birds, one stone sort of way?

You aren’t sure. But you offer him an olive branch anyways.

“Would it help if I brought headphones next time?”

“If you’re that inclined toward hearing damage, then yes,” he says, dry but not devoid of humor if you catch his tone correctly. “Otherwise, I don’t mind the sound system. Use it if you like, I just prefer not to hear it across the house.”

You feel lighter, reaching a tentative understanding. It was only a poorly timed accident, you hadn’t meant to disturb the peace. No harm done. Not a damnable offense. 

“Fair enough,” you nod, smiling at him, small and convincing and giddy, deep down. “I’ll do better.” 

But adrenaline and that jittery thrum of anxiety made for a bad mix—made you do odd, unthinking, impulsive things. 

You set the speed to low again, sensing the natural end of the conversation. And you—why, idiot? Why?— throw him a goofy, thoughtless little wink as you say, “Promise not to bother you again tonight.”

He nods curtly to that, and you could swear the thinnest wisp of a smile twitches his lips.

But you have to be mistaken. Surely you saw it wrong, because then he says, “Not at all would be ideal, but thank you,” with the audacity to sound good-natured about it. 

You, blinking mute with shock, can only stare as though he’d come close and slapped you. He might as well have. That stings, and if you hadn’t felt self-conscious before, you surely feel it now—that overwhelming urge to curl into yourself.

You finally can read him then, for the shame on his face. Like he’s accidentally said out loud what he’s been thinking; like he’s accidentally revealed his budding dislike of you, to your face instead of behind your back. Privately to Jayce, you can only assume.

He can’t look at you again after that.

It pretty much proves your assumption, the way he turns and wordlessly skulks back into the house. 

Leaves you standing there, berating yourself for fucking it all up. For not saying the right things. For, despite it all, feeling that familiar, constricting ache in your chest, though you haven't felt that sensation in a long time. Not looking at another person. 

This has to be salvageable. It just has to be.

And it can't get worse than that, right?

…Right?

[aphroditestummyrolls]

Pre-work/I need to take my meds snack (barbelles are a little expensive, but they are the best protein bars 👍 10/10)

[recurring-polynya]

In tHiaM, Renji mentioned a fictional fateful encounter in which he and Rukia met in the circus. I can picture this deeply. The Rukon has circuses. It has gritty knife throwers, it has scrappy beast tamers, it has a lovely doe-eyed tightrope walker who does stunts so dangerous your hair'd turn white just watching her. It is for Renji's birthday so he should get Rukia being extremely badass and saving his life from a rampaging circus bear. Ideally, Kenpachi is there.

A lot of times, I’ll have some idea for a story, and I’ll do a bit of research and find out that the thing I wanted to do absolutely does not exist in Japanese culture, and I was completely sure that when I dug into it, Japanese circuses would not be a thing, or they would be extremely different from Western circuses, but as it turns out, circuses were absolutely a thing in the Edo era, and they had acrobats and strongmen and horseriding and more. I had so many tabs open about circuses, and almost none of it actually made it into this fanfic.

Anyway, THANK YOU ALOPEX, you know what I like to write, and what I like to write is Renji telling rambling stories of questionable veracity. I put in some lifting for good measure. This might be the most perfect Renji birthday story.

If it isn’t immediately evident, this takes place in the middle of the Advance Team Arc, or more specifically, in the middle of my Advance Team Arc story, See You on the Other Side, where Renji tells Chad a different RenRuki origin story that’s basically the desert bandit subplot from Crouching Tiger, and also a story about bees.

Read on ao3 | ff.net

🏋️‍♂️   💪   🤡    🎪    🐻

Renji hefted the last bumper plate onto the end of the barbell and tightened the collar. Chad watched him with narrowed eyes.

“You sure you want to try this?” Renji asked. “One thousand pounds. It’s the weight limit for this bar. Once you beat this, we gotta go back to Urahara’s place and pick up big rocks.”

Apparently, Chad worked part time at his gym, which meant he had a key, which meant that he and Renji could go in at two a.m. so that Renji could teach him how to lift absurd amounts of weight with his reiatsu. It was pretty convenient, as long as you didn’t mind lifting weights at two a.m. Renji loved lifting weights at two a.m.

“You just don’t want to tell me another story,” Chad replied, flexing his shoulders in anticipation.

“Whatever, I got a million of them.” Renji took a few steps backward.

Chad flared his nostrils and stepped up to the barbell. He squatted down and curled his fingers around the grip. He took three deep breaths as he stared straight again. Leading with his hips, he straightened up in a smooth, textbook perfect movement, the sinews in his neck popping out, the air around him boiling with power.

Renji wished he could drag Chad over to Squad Six, so those spoiled weenies could see what hard work actually looked like.

Chad dropped the weight and a huge breath burst out of him, his eyes widening in relief. “I did it,” he gasped.

“You did it, buddy!” Renji shouted, pointing at the barbell. “You’re a machine! You didn’t even make it look hard!”

“It was hard,” Chad managed.

“I don’t believe it!” Renji continued. “One thousand pounds! You’re incredible, dude!”

“What do you mean, you don’t believe it? You told me to do it.”

“I mean, when I told you we were gonna work for the big one-kay, it was, you know, a stretch goal. I didn’t expect you to get there so fast!”

“You said you would tell me another story when I hit it! I assumed it was a reasonable goal.”

“I keep making unreasonable goals and you keep hitting them, so I’m just sort of winging it, now, t’be honest! I’m actually really bothered how much you are motivated by my dumb stories. If I had any human money, I would just offer to buy you tacos or something.”

“I can make my own tacos. I like the stories.”

Renji sighed. They didn’t have tacos in Soul Society and he was determined to eat as many tacos as he possibly could while he was stationed in the Living World. “Go get cleaned up, and I’ll put the weights away and try to decide which story to tell you this time. I did bring us some protein shakes. I can’t vouch for them, because they’re made out of stuff I found in the Shouten, but it’s important to get some calories in you after lifting. ”

“I’m sure they’re fine. I like your protein shakes. Oh, and I know which story I want to hear--how you met Rukia.”

Of course he did.

Renji was a man of many stories. He had so many good stories. He had Inuzuri stories that were full of mischief and dirtbaggery. He had Squad 11 stories that were full of headbutting and idiocy. He had interesting stories about his clever friends Izuru and Momo and funny stories about his goofy friend Shuuhei and horrible stories about his horrible friends Iba and Madarame. But Chad had asked him once how he met their mutual friend Kuchiki Rukia, a very reasonable and natural thing to ask, and Renji had responded with a ridiculous story that was very obviously not true. Now, all Chad wanted to hear was ostentatious lies about how he, Abarai Renji, had met the incomparable Kuchiki Rukia.

Renji racked his brain as he racked Chad’s weights. This would probably make the eighth or ninth Renji-Rukia origin story, he’d honestly lost count. He was running out of material. There was a bulletin board next to the weight storage rack, covered with flyers for a weightlifting tournament in Naruki City, the Karakura High kendo team, tumbling lessons. Renji stared at the picture of the girl in the sparkly leotard on the last one. He thought about how he and the gang used to make up stories of how they were gonna make it out of Inuzuri some day. He thought about Rukia’s absolute favorite, the one she told over and over, the way it got bigger and sparklier every time she told it.

Chad returned, a tracksuit zipped overtop his workout clothes. “Need help?” he asked.

“This is the last one,” Renji replied, hefting it up onto the shelf. “You can put the bar away, though.”

Chad did.

It was kinda nice, Renji thought, being in a gym in the middle of the night with Chad. It reminded him of hunching over his dorm room desk across from Izuru, cramming for written exams. It reminded him of achy muscles in a dim Fifth Company dojo, trying to figure out the mechanics of Zabimaru’s shikai deep into the wee hours. It reminded him of long runs with Ikkaku as the sun was just peaking over the city walls. The hours between dusk and dawn were a pretty good time for doing things, in Renji’s opinion.

“So, did you remember? How you met her?”

“Of course I remember!” Renji protested. “You think I would forget something like that?”

“You do get hit on the head a lot,” Chad rumbled gently and it took Renji a moment to realize he just got dragged. Chad was actually a really funny guy, you just had to pay attention.

Renji plopped down on a pile of mats and started rummaging around in his backpack for the two bottles of questionable nutritional substance he had mixed up earlier. “Well, I certainly remember the time I ran away from home and joined the circus, I’ll tell you that.” It was a good opening line, and he paused a few seconds to get the full effect.

“The circus?” Chad echoed skeptically, sitting down next to Renji and accepting his smoothie.

“The circus,” Renji replied after taking a long swig. It was very, very strawberry flavored. “So. I think I mentioned once that when I died I got sent to the shit-end of Rukongai. District 78 of the Southern Quadrant, where your best hope is to die soon and catch an express trip back to the Living World. I was too dumb and stubborn for that, though, so I was always on the lookout for a way out. Now, it’s pretty hard to move between districts in Rukongai-- it’s illegal without a special permit, see, and special permits get harder to get the further out you go. But there are a few kinds of permits that allow you to travel all up and down Soul Society, and one of those is for entertainers.”

This was more-or-less true. It was true in theory, but travelling shows never made it out to the deep Rukon-- there was no profit in it. Rukia used to swear up and down that a circus had made it to Inuzuri once, basically just passing through on their way to capture wild animals from the magical wilderness past the end of District 80, but she had seen it. Rukia was older than the rest of them, and she used to talk about it in such nauseating detail that they had no choice but to believe her.

“When I saw the posters plastered up all over town, my first thought was that it was an opportunity to pick up some quick kan as temporary labor. My primary job skill at the time was picking up heavy objects, you see, perhaps moving them from place to place. Circuses always need help with set up and tear down. I mean, do I look like a theater kid?”

Chad stared at him pointedly.

“I don’t know why I asked that,” Renji quickly corrected, “but also, keep in mind that I am Like This because I was in the circus, not the other way around. Anyway, my instincts were correct, and I found myself gainfully employed, carting crates and also tying and untying knots, another of my many talents. But then two things, or rather two someones made me decide that I needed to hitch my star to this ridiculous pageant. The first, I will admit, was a complete castle in the sky, but what is being an adolescent boy about if not chasing after hopeless dreams?”

Chad frowned. “Well. There’s school.”

“There is no school in Inuzuri, actually, and perhaps that would have kept me out of trouble, but instead, I became absolutely entranced by the glittering star of the show-- a tightrope walker of exceptional agility, grace, and beauty. Her most defining characteristic, though, was her audacity. There was no trick too dangerous for her. She somersaulted through hoops of fire. She juggled daggers. She’d stop halfway across the tightrope, pull out a tokkari, and pour herself a saucer of sake and drink it, while the audience gasped.”

“It was Kuchiki,” Chad guessed, the corner of his mouth tipping up into his shy grin.

“It was Rukia,” Renji agreed, “but imagine Rukia in head-to-toe spangles, with bells in her hair and glitter painted around her eyes, 20 feet in the air. She was unreal. She was an apparition, a spirit. I was desperate to meet her.”

“Did you?” asked Chad.

“Chad,” said Renji.

“What?”

“Did you just… did you just ask me if I ever managed to meet Rukia? Your friend and mine, Kuchiki Rukia? In the middle of this story about how I met Rukia?”

Chad thought for a moment. “It’s two a.m. and I just deadlifted a thousand pounds.”

“That’s fair, and the answer is yes, eventually, I did meet Rukia and she saved me from being eaten by a bear, but we’ll get to that. Are you drinking that protein shake?”

“Oh, sorry! It’s really good, I just keep forgetting because this story is a good one.” Chad took a long sip. “Hey, Abarai?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry to interrupt again, but I have a question about the bear.”

“The bear is later.”

“Yeah, I realize that, but does the bear die?”

“Huh?”

“I’m just asking up front, because I don’t like stories where animals die, and if the bear gets hurt or dies, maybe could you skip over that part?”

“Oh! No, the bear is fine. Well, he’s probably reincarnated back into a living bear by now, he was pretty old even then. I exaggerated a little to make it sound dramatic, he probably wouldn’t have eaten me in any case.”

“Okay, you can go back to the story now, I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.”

“No, no, it’s cool. I’m glad you checked in.” Renji took a deep breath through his nose and mentally rearranged his story so that Rukia no longer defeated the beast in a dramatic knife fight. “Right. So, as I said, there was a second person at the circus who influenced me greatly and that was the most famous strongman in the entire Rukon, Zaraki Kenpachi--”

“Wait, Captain Zaraki? Big guy? With the bells in his hair?”

Oh, shit. “Uh, yeah. That’s a circus thing, you know. Hair bells. You, uh, know Captain Zaraki?”

“Yeah, Orihime made friends with him, and he broke us out of prison, but then we split up because there was someone he wanted to fight.”

“That sounds like him. Anyway, yeah, he’s in this story, too. I used to be in his squad, you know?”

“I gathered that from the way Madarame and Ayasegawa talk to you.”

“He helped me get in the Gotei, you see. Because of our time together in the circus. That’s a different story, though, we’re focusing on circus times, here. He wasn’t even the Kenpachi, yet, actually. One of the reasons he’s so strong is because before he was a fighter, he lifted things, heavy things. He did all the typical strongman stuff-- bending iron bars, biting through teacups, tearing packs of cards in half, but his most famous trick was balancing bamboo poles on his shoulders and then various acrobats and other performers would scramble up on them and do tricks from on top of him. He was wildly popular, pictured on all the posters. People would come to the circus just to see him. I did not have a lot going for me at this point of my life, but I was strong, and when I saw this guy, it occurred to me that if I could get him to take me on as some sort of apprentice, I might finally be able to use my strength to get out of that shitty town.”

“Seems like a good plan.”

“It did. It seemed like a good plan, except that Zaraki had a very busy schedule of getting drunk and napping when he wasn’t lifting things, and he was absolutely not interested in Inuzuri punks who had been hired to move crates around.”

“So, what did you do?”

“Well, speaking of Inuzuri punks, I may have been a fairly honest and hardworking fellow, but one day, a couple of my reprobate neighbors decided to sneak in and try to get a glimpse of some of the wild animals. The fellow who looked after the menagerie was a little guy by the name of Mameji. Very kind and loved the animals deeply, but not very good at standing up for himself. I barely knew him, but I don’t like bullies, and I owed most of those guys a punch in the nose anyway. Mameji was pretty grateful for the solid I did him and asked if there was any favor he could do me in return. Naturally, I asked if he knew Zaraki, but unfortunately, he was terrified of the guy, so I told him I was just happy to do a good deed and make a friend.”

“You should have asked him if he knew Rukia. Rukia likes animals.”

“You’re very smart, Sado, but remember that this story is about me, not you. It didn’t matter anyway, because the next day, he comes to find me and says there’s someone who wants to talk to me. I can’t imagine who he means, aside from holding out hope that maybe he did know Zaraki after all and was just slow-rolling me.”

“But it was Rukia.”

“It was. Mameji leads me over to the area where the animals are kept, and there, in a blue kimono embroidered with silver stars and crystals in her hair, was The Fearless Rukia.” Rukia’s circus stories were usually at least seventy-five percent descriptions of her outfits, and Renji felt obligated to keep up that detail. “‘You helped my friend out,’ she says to me. ‘I appreciate that.’ And I replied something very smooth and suave, like, ‘I like the way you do cartwheels’ or possibly just “Guuuuuuh.’ And then she says, ‘I hear you’re interested in Zaraki, what’s up with that?’ and as you know, I’m much better at talking about muscle stuff, so I explain about picking up heavy things and Inuzuri and my ambition to join the circus and she just listens carefully, nodding from time to time. She makes me pick up a few barrels and then Mameji, for good measure, and finally, she nods and says, ‘You’re pretty strong and I like your hair. Come back here tomorrow. I’m going to help you impress Zaraki.’”

Chad’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“So, the next day, I came back, like she said, and Mameji was there, too and they’ve got this big sack of yams. I’ve told you before about eatin’ in Soul Society, right?”

Chad nodded and belatedly took another gulp of his shake.

“My initial thought was that they were gonna try to bulk me up. Raw yams may not sound very exciting to you, but after years of living on near-moldy rice and the occasional sad vegetable or bony fish, I was watering at the mouth. ‘You’re gonna feed these yams to Sunny,’ says Rukia. ‘Who?’ says I. ‘His stage name is Brawler,’ says Rukia, ‘But he’s a good boy so Mameji and I call him Sunny. It’s a joke. Because he’s a moon bear.’ Brawler, you see, was the second scariest thing in the circus, right after Zaraki-- the biggest, ugliest moon bear you can possibly imagine, probably 200 kilograms. A lot of circus bears do tricks-- balance on balls or some shit, but Brawler’s only trick was looking mean as Hell. Sometimes they’d throw him a deer haunch and he’d eat it in a real gross way, I guess people like seeing stuff like that. I, like most people growing up on the southern border of the Rukon, had a healthy fear of large carnivores, but I had a much larger fear of looking like a weenie in front of Rukia, and I was determined I was gonna do whatever she told me to. The first time wasn’t so bad-- I just tossed the yams in and he snuffled over and gave me the hairy eyeball before snorfling them up. We did that the next day, too, but the day after that, Mameji took me into his enclosure to give him his yams. I was a little surprised, you see, because I would have expected a bear like that to eat meat or something like that, but he sure did like those yams.”

“Moon bears are omnivores,” Chad supplied. “They like sweet things.”

“You’re right, and I later found out that Sunny did get meat and other stuff at other times of day, but yams were his absolute favorite thing. Again, Rukia did not tell me this, because Rukia often neglects to tell me important things. I found all of this to be absolutely terrifying, and I probably would have given up and stuck to my crate moving, except that Rukia and Mameji were just about the nicest and amazing people I had ever met. They let me hang out with them for a bit and they told me stories about traveling with the circus and I told them about Inuzuri. They introduced me to their other friends, Fujimaru, who could do all sorts of knife throwing tricks, and Kosaburou, who had the most beautiful singing voice you could possibly imagine. By the time Rukia asked me to give Sunny the yams right out of my hand, I was doin’ it, not because I was desperate to get out of Inuzuri, but because I was desperate to do anything to stay with my new friends.”

Renji paused and pretended to be interested in his protein shake. Usually, he tried to fill these stories with a lot of daring-do and badassery, but he’d gotten a little off-track when had to junk his big exciting Rukia versus Bear fight scene. All he could think of was lying around the squat on miserable rainy days, one-upping each other with stories about their ridiculous circus acts. He hadn’t thought about those days-- hadn’t let himself think about those days-- in years. What a sap he was turning into. Maybe it was because Rukia was back in his life. Maybe it was because there was a war coming, a war he might not make it through. Maybe it was because it was two a.m.

“I know how that feels,” Chad said very quietly, so quietly that Renji almost didn’t catch it, and it occurred to Renji that maybe sometimes it helped to hear a sappy story at 2 a.m.

Renji snorted softly. “So, the day before the circus was set to pack up, Rukia explains her big plan to me. Up until now, I’ve sort of been assuming that this is all an exercise in building courage or some gonzo shit like that, but it turns out it’s very straightforward. Zaraki’s dream the whole time he’s been in the circus is to pick up Sunny as part of his act, except that Sunny has zero interest in being picked up and ends up chewing on Zaraki’s head every time he tries. If Zaraki had ever bothered asking Mameji for help, maybe he could have tried the old yam trick himself, but then this wouldn’t be much of a story.

“I wait ‘til the big guy is done with his nap and is prepping for the night’s performance, inventorying his lead pipes and such, and I go up to him and I say, ‘Zaraki the Great, I am very strong, you should take me on as your apprentice!’ Now, Rukia had seen people do this to him before, and she knew that he always came back with ‘Oh, yeah? Do something to impress me, then.’ Of course, I was prepared, and I said, ‘I am going to pick up Brawler, would that do it?’ and Zaraki laughs in my face and says ‘If you can do that, I will definitely take you on, kid.’”

Chad’s face had split into a huge grin and he leaned forward in anticipation.

“We go over to Sunny’s pen, and of course, Mameji’s already given him his dinner and he’s feelin’ real fat and happy when he sees his old yam buddy Renji coming. I slip him a yam that I had tucked in my sleeve and I start rubbin’ his side, which is a thing we’d been practicin’. He leans into it, ‘cause he was a big, itchy boy, and I just… flipped him and picked him up like a baby.” Renji made a scooping motion to demonstrate. Chad’s face absolutely lit up. “He was incredibly heavy and also he did not really like that,” Renji continued, “but I put him down right away and gave him another yam and he forgave me. Zaraki was laughin’ his ass off, but he kept his word and got me signed on as a Strongman-in-Training. We went on to have many more adventures, both me an’ Zaraki and me an’ Rukia an’ Mameji an’ Kosaburou and Mameji.”

“And Sunny.”

“Sunny continued to be a hideous, angry bear for the crowds, but I kept giving him yams and never picked him up again and we were great friends for the time we spent together in the circus.”

Chad sat back, smiling his usual inscrutable smile. “Thank you, Abarai. That was a really good one.”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at him. “Was it?”

“Yes. It had friendships and a nice bear and I felt like Rukia would really appreciate the effort you put into describing all her outfits. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t true, but it was a good story.”

Renji heaved a big sigh, as though he’d honestly thought Chad was gonna buy it this time. He stretched his arms and legs out in front of him. “Let’s go home. I could go for a few hours of sleep before the Shouten Shouting starts. You’re taking a rest day tomorrow, but don’t forget to stretch.”

“The last time I had a rest day, you came over and you taught me some stuff about reiryouku.”

“Did I?” Renji frowned.

“Can we do that again? You said you would try to explain how flash step works.”

Shit, he did remember promising that. He’d just gotten overenthusiastic because it was nice to be the guy who knew things for a change. On the other hand, he also remembered the enthusiasm of going to school for the first time and wanting to know everything, and could hardly fault Chad for the same. “Sure,” he agreed. “After noon.”

“Let’s make it noon,” Chad amended. “I’ll make you tacos.”

“That,” replied Renji, “is a deal.”

[healthcareblog000]

Vidyut Jamwal Body Workout Schedule At Home Or Gym & Diet Plan

Vidyut Jamwal Workout - Vidyut Jammwal is one of the finest actors in the Bollywood industry. There are very few actors in Bollywood who are popular among the youth for both body and amazing acting and there is no doubt that Vidyut Jammwal is one of them. His body attracts and inspires many youngsters. There are many people who want to build their body like Vidyut Jammwal. If you are also one of those people who want to make your body attractive like Vidyut Jammwal, then from here you will definitely get all the tips and tricks to make such a body. Here I am not going to tell you any of my tips and tricks, but I will tell you the personal workout and diet schedule of Vidyut Jamwal. If you too follow this amazing schedule then you can definitely achieve body fitness like Vidyut Jammwal. Before the workout and diet schedule, you must be aware of the current body measurements of Vidyut Jammwal. Vidyut Jamwal Body Measurements - Vidyut Jamwal Height 5’11” (180 cm) Vidyut Jamwal Weight 154-158 lbs (72-78 kg) Vidyut Jamwal Chest 42”-45” Biceps 15.5”-16” Waist 32” These are the common Physical Measurements of the Vidyut Jamwal. He keeps changing his body measurements according to the upcoming projects. But these are the common measurements of Vidyut.   Some Interesting FAQ Question - Does Vidyut Jammwal smoke or Drink Alcohol? Answer - No Question - Does Vidyut Jamwal is Vegetarian? Answer - Were, is not now  

Vidyut Jamwal Workout

First, discuss the Gym workout plan that he follows. He only trains his body only 4 days a week. Monday- Vidyut Jamwal Back and Biceps Workout - Cable row - T-bar row - EZ-bar curls - Hammer curls - Reverse barbell curls - Chin-ups & Pull-Ups - Pushups & Its Types (He Generally Does Advanced Level Push Ups) Tuesday- Vidyut Jamwal Chest, and Triceps Workout - Barbell bench press - Dumbell Flies - Incline bench press - Rope push-downs - Cable flies - Skull crushers - Triceps Extensions - Triceps kickbacks Wednesday- Vidyut Jamwal Legs Workout - 20 minutes Run on the treadmill - Dumbbell lunges - Dumbbell reverse lunges - Stiff leg deadlifts - Barbell Squats - Hurdle Jumping - Leg Balancing Workouts Thursday- Vidyut Jamwal Shoulders Workout He loves to train the shoulder muscles, which is why on the 4th day he only trains the shoulder muscles. In shoulder workout he generally does - Shrugs - Dumbbell side lateral raise - Dumbbell front lateral raise - Seated dumbbell press - Upright row

This is Vidyut Jammwal's GYM workout schedule, there are many websites and Youtube channels which also mentioned sets and repetitions. But that data is not real. He keeps changing his sets and repetitions according to the upcoming goals. With gym workout, he also does Martial Arts and some hardcore exercises. So let discuss about those extra exercises. 1. Push-Ups In a Recent Interview, he reveals that he once did 460 - 500 push-ups in one Set and his next target is to do 700 push-ups in one set. From this, you can easily examine his strength and hard work. He does types of push ups in workout schedule. With this, there are many advanced level push-ups that he generally performs.  

  2. Handstand Push-Ups In his free time, he loves to do handstand or handstand push-ups workout. He also tweeted handstand workout in a funny way. https://twitter.com/i/status/854171306987737090   3. Martial Arts And the last one is Martial Arts. One practice that is hidden in the workout list is martial arts. He likes to do martial arts most. Due to this hard work, he is able to perform terrific stunts on-screen. Due to his amazing Martial Arts practice, He came in the top six martial artists across the world and he is the only Indian to have featured in the prestigious list curated by Looper. https://twitter.com/VidyutJammwal/status/856044851464253440   It is not an easy thing to follow up their workout schedule, but with regular practice it can be possible. In the end, I can say to you that his workout schedule is totally worth it. This workout schedule is also very impressive for me.   Vidyut Jamwal Diet Schedule He keeps changing his meal from time to time. Telling all diets is not possible. I will tell you the core diet schedule of the Vidyut Jamwal. He takes 6 meals in a day. Before Gym A bowl of muesli After Gym A protein shake (He Mostly Consume Protein In the form of Shakes) At breakfast Idlis And Other South India Food At lunch Dal, veggies, and roti (Or Any Regular Food) At evening snack 1 plate upma or juices, At dinner Roti and veggies The main thing that surprised me is that he is not very disciplined towards his diet like John Abraham is. In my opinion, this diet plan is the normal diet of a bodybuilder. Instead, I would advise you to follow the diet plan of Hrithik Roshan and John Abraham.

    Vidyut Jamwal Personal Tips & Tricks - Follow Diet and Workout Schedule in the Proper Way - Try to do Your Best on Every Workout Day. - For Good Results, also focus on the Bodyweight Workouts - Try to add Mediation, Yoga, Martial Arts, Bodyweight exercises slowly in your workout schedule. - Try to be Happy and Motivated   Final Words With his workout plan his body is also amazing. If you want to make your body like Vidyut Janwal then you also need to do work like him. His body is not a result of 1-2 years of hard work. He has been exercising for 10–12 years and this time is too big for any goal. If you have any doubts regarding Article and you want any personal advice related to health and fitness then so you can Comment Below your query or contact us without any hesitation. I will personally help to resolve your every issue. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. Read the full article

[angrydreamcloud]

How to Select a Gym to Match Your Goals?

So you want to join a new gym. How should you choose among st the many and varied gyms out there? It can be confusing to prioritize all the different considerations, and very easy to be swayed by a good salesperson when you visit a gym. Arm yourself with this checklist so that you make the best decision for you. And always visit a number of gyms before making your final decision.

the location you need a gym that's convenient to get to. If it takes too long to get to, you're less likely to use it as often as you should. So consider one within walking distance (cuts out the problems of public transport delays or traffic jams), or if you're driving there, check ease (and cost) of parking. One near home or work would be ideal, depending on the days and times you wish to transshipment key question you need to ask yourself is, "what are my goals?". Then choose gymnastics Nevada south Reno whose equipment matches your goals. So if you're after muscle growth, choose a gym with ample free weights (dumbbells and barbells, cable crossovers, benches with both flat and incline options, squat racks). And if yoga and stretching are your things, you need a gym with a yoga studio and plenty of space for stretching.

Check out the layout of the gym. Does it feel energizing to you? Is there space to move around? Is the balance of equipment right for you? Personally, I don't like vast rows of treadmills as far as the eye can see, with little alternative cardio equipment (cross trainers, bikes, rowing machines). And I hate small cramped free-weights areas, I like my free-weights areas to be spacious and a good distance between weights benches to avoid bumping into the person next to you. I've been in some gyms in Reno where the free weights areas were awesome. Less so in the USA. Another thing to consider is the music in the gym. Do you want loud music, or do you prefer to work out in a quiet atmosphere? One gym I used had 2 floors with an open mezzanine, with loud rock music from the upper level clashing with the loud pop music downstairs, which was massively irritating to the ears.

Staff The first people you'll probably see are the reception staff. Are they welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable? All these things count for a lot if you're going to interact with them every time you come to the gym. Then consider the availability of gym instructors and personal trainers. Are they available, attentive, and approachable? Talk to them and you'll see. One thing that put me right off one gym I visited was reception staff eating doughnuts, painting their nails (and that was just the guys), and when I left, I saw one of the gym instructors standing outside smoking a cigarette. Ugh. In contrast, my current gym has a friendly, lively, chatty, and knowledgeable staff. It makes such a huge difference to your gym experience. All the personal trainers and gym instructors have their photos on the wall, with a brief biog about them. I chat with them about the latest workout trends, nutrition tips, and they're all really knowledgeable. So when you visit a gym with a view to joining, try chatting to some of the staff and you'll get an idea of how friendly and knowledgeable they are. Showers & Changing Rooms This is where most Gymnastics Nevada south Reno let themselves down badly. 

The changing rooms are often cramped, with small/narrow lockers which are a struggle to get all your stuff into. Once I took a sports bag to a new gym only to discover that the locker was too small for the bag to fit into. Always ask to see the changing area (and showers too, don't be shy), and look out for broken lockers, cleanliness. One gym in Reno I checked out (and didn't join!) had a changing area littered with sticking plasters, cotton buds, empty drinks cartons, chocolate wrappers. In contrast, when I spent a year in Reno, I joined a gym with the cleanest and most spacious changing area imaginable. The lockers were double-width to fit the largest of sports bags, and light even came on inside the locker when you opened it. And always ask for a free trial session, so you actually experience the changing area and showers rather than just a quick glance around. Try before you buy, this gives you a much better chance of spotting problems. One free trial I had was great until I used the showers at the end. One cubicle had only frozen water, another had only scalding water, and the third had no shower gel in the dispenser. 

How busy is the Gymnastics Nevada south Reno? Always visit on a day and at a time you're planning to use it regularly. If it's too crowded, you're not going to get a decent workout, you'll be waiting around for equipment to become available. City gyms in a business district can get so crowded at lunchtime, you'll even be standing in a long queue to get a shower. No thanks. And what are the members like? You want to be around the kind of people you like, or at least not feel uncomfortable among-st, right? So if you're female and into gentle cardio, you might not want to be among huge sweaty noisy bodybuilders crashing weights about and eyeing you up. Likewise, if you're a guy into heavy weight training, you might want similar people to train around for motivation and energy, rather than waif-like people on exercise bikes.

Again, you can only gauge what the other members are like by having a free trial session, so I strongly recommend you do this before signing on the dotted line. Cost and Contract Know what you're signing up for, what's included, and what costs extra (towels, sauna, etc). What's the cancellation policy, can you freeze your membership if you're ill, what's the term of the contract (some are as much as 2 years), does your membership allow you to use other gyms in the chain, and what days/times can you use the gym? Additional Facilities Consider what else is important to you. Would you value a snack bar that offered healthy snacks, smoothies, protein shakes after your workout? 

Do you want a swim after your workout? And conversely, if you don't want to swim, it might be a waste of money joining a gym with a pool, as this bumps up the cost of membership considerably. Or you might find that the facilities you do value are so good that it's worth paying the extra for things you might not use. You need to weigh up your priorities and decide accordingly. One gym I joined had a pool, and I didn't realize until someone told me later, that a swimming pool significantly hikes up membership fees.So as you can see, there are many things to consider. The best starting point is to ask what your top fitness goals are, and then choose a gym that will best help you reach your goals, in a clean and friendly and energizing atmosphere, and convenient to get to. In short, choose a gym that's right for you. For more information - Gymnastics Nevada south Reno

[sumitwcoast]

How to Select a Gym to Match Your Goals?

So you want to join a new gym. How should you choose amongst the many and varied gyms out there? It can be confusing to prioritize all the different considerations, and very easy to be swayed by a good salesperson when you visit a gym. Arm yourself with this checklist so that you make the best decision for you. And always visit a number of gyms before making your final decision.

Location You need a gym that’s convenient to get to. If it takes too long to get to, you’re less likely to use it as often as you should. So consider one within walking distance (cuts out the problems of public transport delays or traffic jams), or if you’re driving there, check ease (and cost) of parking. One near home or work would be ideal, depending on the days and times you wish to train.

Equipment

The key question you need to ask yourself is, “what are my goals?”. Then choose gymnastics Nevada south Reno whose equipment matches your goals. So if you’re after muscle growth, choose a gym with ample free weights (dumbbells and barbells, cable crossovers, benches with both flat and incline options, squat racks). And if yoga and stretching are your things, you need a gym with a yoga studio and plenty of space for stretching.

Check out the layout of the gym. Does it feel energizing to you? Is there space to move around? Is the balance of equipment right for you? Personally, I don’t like vast rows of treadmills as far as the eye can see, with little alternative cardio equipment (cross trainers, bikes, rowing machines). And I hate small cramped free-weights areas, I like my free-weights areas to be spacious and a good distance between weights benches to avoid bumping into the person next to you. I’ve been in some gyms in Reno where the free weights areas were awesome. Less so in the USA.

Another thing to consider is the music in the gym. Do you want loud music, or do you prefer to work out in a quiet atmosphere? One gym I used had 2 floors with an open mezzanine, with loud rock music from the upper level clashing with the loud pop music downstairs, which was massively irritating to the ears.

Staff

The first people you’ll probably see are the reception staff. Are they welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable? All these things count for a lot if you’re going to interact with them every time you come to the gym. Then consider the availability of gym instructors and personal trainers. Are they available, attentive, and approachable? Talk to them and you’ll see. One thing that put me right off one gym I visited was reception staff eating doughnuts, painting their nails (and that was just the guys), and when I left, I saw one of the gym instructors standing outside smoking a cigarette. Ugh. In contrast, my current gym has a friendly, lively, chatty, and knowledgeable staff. It makes such a huge difference to your gym experience. All the personal trainers and gym instructors have their photos on the wall, with a brief bio about them. I chat with them about the latest workout trends, nutrition tips, and they’re all really knowledgeable. So when you visit a gym with a view to joining, try chatting to some of the staff and you’ll get an idea of how friendly and knowledgeable they are.

Showers & Changing Rooms This is where most Gymnastics Nevada south Reno let themselves down badly. The changing rooms are often cramped, with small/narrow lockers which are a struggle to get all your stuff into. Once I took a sports bag to a new gym only to discover that the locker was too small for the bag to fit into. Always ask to see the changing area (and showers too, don’t be shy), and look out for broken lockers, cleanliness. One gym in Reno I checked out (and didn’t join!) had a changing area littered with sticking plasters, cotton buds, empty drinks cartons, chocolate wrappers.

In contrast, when I spent a year in Reno, I joined a gym with the cleanest and most spacious changing area imaginable. The lockers were double-width to fit the largest of sports bags, and light even came on inside the locker when you opened it.

And always ask for a free trial session, so you actually experience the changing area and showers rather than just a quick glance around. Try before you buy, this gives you a much better chance of spotting problems. One free trial I had was great until I used the showers at the end. One cubicle had only frozen water, another had only scalding water, and the third had no shower gel in the dispenser.

Other Members

How busy is the Gymnastics Nevada south Reno? Always visit on a day and at a time you’re planning to use it regularly. If it’s too crowded, you’re not going to get a decent workout, you’ll be waiting around for equipment to become available. City gyms in a business district can get so crowded at lunchtime, you’ll even be standing in a long queue to get a shower. No thanks.

And what are the members like? You want to be around the kind of people you like, or at least not feel uncomfortable amongst, right? So if you’re female and into gentle cardio, you might not want to be among huge sweaty noisy bodybuilders crashing weights about and eyeing you up. Likewise, if you’re a guy into heavy weight training, you might want similar people to train around for motivation and energy, rather than waif-like people on exercise bikes. Again, you can only gauge what the other members are like by having a free trial session, so I strongly recommend you do this before signing on the dotted line.

Cost and Contract Know what you’re signing up for, what’s included, and what costs extra (towels, sauna, etc). What’s the cancellation policy, can you freeze your membership if you’re ill, what’s the term of the contract (some are as much as 2 years), does your membership allow you to use other gyms in the chain, and what days/times can you use the gym?

Additional Facilities Consider what else is important to you. Would you value a snack bar that offered healthy snacks, smoothies, protein shakes after your workout? Do you want a swim after your workout? And conversely, if you don’t want to swim, it might be a waste of money joining a gym with a pool, as this bumps up the cost of membership considerably. Or you might find that the facilities you do value are so good that it’s worth paying the extra for things you might not use. You need to weigh up your priorities and decide accordingly.

One gym I joined had a pool, and I didn’t realize until someone told me later, that a swimming pool significantly hikes up membership fees. So as you can see, there are many things to consider. The best starting point is to ask what your top fitness goals are, and then choose a gym that will best help you reach your goals, in a clean and friendly and energizing atmosphere, and convenient to get to. In short, choose a gym that’s right for you.

For more information - Gymnastics Nevada south Reno

[artificialqueens]

drawing new lines, chapter seven (branjie) - holtzmanns

AN: So…normally I’m a bit more on the ball with submitting to aq. Oops? This is chapter seven, but here’s the link to all the chapters in between. Most of you have been reading this story on ao3, too, so thank you so, so much for all the love and support for this fic. I appreciate every single message and they make me so happy. So, thank you. As usual, Writ continues to be the best beta and friend one could ask for.

(read on ao3) | word count: 3730 | tumblr: plastiquetiaras

“Here.” A’keria slams the burrito bowl down in front of Vanessa, and she can’t help but let out a delighted squeak.

“God, I could get used to not having to pack my lunch. This month is gonna be lit.”

“Don’t get too used to it.” A’keria snorts as she mixes up her own bowl. “It’s only for a month, as the bet specified.”

“Hey, I don’t care.” Vanessa’s voice is muffled as she tries to talk with a spoonful of the sweet, sweet rice, salsa, beans, chicken and vegetables in her mouth, but it’s hard. “Imma enjoy it.”

“Good, cause you earned it. Top ten things in my life that I didn’t need to see - you and Brooke practically fucking on the dance floor. Nasty hoes.” A’keria makes a face, and Vanessa grins right back at her while Silky snickers.

“You just jealous you ain’t got a blonde skyscraper on your arm.” Part of Vanessa still can’t believe it, really. That Brooke’s willing to do this with her. Not that she’s complaining in the least.

A’keria flips her hair over her shoulder. “I got my man, that’s all I need.”

“He’d rock a blond look though, I ain’t gonna lie.” Silky’s statement makes Vanessa pause, try to picture it.

“You’re right Silk, he totally would.”

“Enough about my non blond man.” A’keria takes another bite of her own burrito bowl before handing it to Silky to share. “What do you want for tomorrow’s lunch?”

Vanessa has to stop herself from practically rubbing her hands together with glee. “Lord almighty, I did not realize how great having my food brought to me would be. Pizza? Poutine? Gimme that unhealthy shit.”

Silky lets out a whistle. “Damn Vanj, you ain’t gonna try and look good for your girl?”

“It’s called happy relationship weight. Imma get it, cause I’m happy. And in a relationship, and she thinks I look good anyway.” As if Vanessa actually is in one. But hey, why not? She’s allowed to enjoy poutine.

“Brooke looks like she can lift you up with one hand, anyway.” A’keria’s tone is almost envious. Which is understandably, really, because her boyfriend is on the scrawny side.

“Damn, I should get her to try that. Do you think she would?” Vanessa remembers when she’d been dating Kameron, who’d brought her to the gym often. Kameron had picked her up once  and done squats at the same time, and Vanessa would be lying if she said it hadn’t been fucking hot.

“You know her better than we do, Vanj. If she’d let you be a human barbell, go for it.” Silky shrugs. “I ain’t getting anyone to lift me anytime soon.”

“Imma go find her. Share some of this burrito bowl, ‘cause it’s technically her victory, too. Not that she knows about the bet.” Vanessa stands up, packing the burrito bowl up once more. It’s a bold faced lie, because Brooke does know, though Silky and A’keria don’t need to know that.

Brooke’s on the phone in her office when Vanessa pops by, the fingers of one of her hands pressing against her temple. She looks up, gives a small smile before turning back to the papers on her desk and ripping the person on the other end of the line a new one.

“No, we can’t use the support beams from the other manufacturer. I don’t care if it’s going to lower costs - it’s not going to matter if the structures collapse in five years because of faulty material and we’re the ones who get sued. So, save it.”

Vanessa plops down in the seat across from Brooke’s desk as quietly as she can, her eyes transfixed on Brooke. It’s kinda hot - Brooke yelling at someone on the other end of the line while completely maintaining composure. Not that Vanessa would ever admit it to her.

“You need to liaise with the first company again, because they’re the ones that have been working well this whole time. I need the estimate from them by tomorrow.” With that, Brooke slams the phone down, letting out a sigh. She shoots a small smile towards Vanessa. “Hey.”

Vanessa holds up the bowl. “Brought you some lunch, ‘cause I know your overworked ass ain’t eating.”

“I had a protein bar-”

“Rabbit food doesn’t count.” Vanessa pulls out the extra set of cutlery, lays it out for Brooke. She’s already had enough of the bowl, and Brooke looks tired enough that she needs as much as she can get.

Brooke raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t rabbit food supposed to be what people call vegetables?”

“You telling me any sane human is gonna eat a protein bar for sustenance?” Vanessa can’t even picture having them on the regular, so tasteless and quite unlike the chewy bars of her childhood.

“Are you calling me nuts?” Brooke’s finally smiling, and it makes Vanessa’s heart grow when she sees it. She hates seeing how tired Brooke’s job makes her.

“Remember, you took us to a spin class for a date.” Of course, Vanessa had enjoyed the shit out of it, but she’s not gonna mention that to Brooke.

“I distinctly remember you having a great time.”

“Maybe.”

“Did you eat half of this already?” Brooke holds back a laugh when she takes her first spoonful, looking down at the already picked-over bowl.

“Hey, I was hungry.” Vanessa shrugs. “Plus, this is the start of the free food A’keria is giving me for the bet. Figured I’d share it with my partner in crime.”

“Well, that was very sweet of you.” Brooke’s voice is muffled by her bite, and the contrast is adorable from her blazer and the smell of her expensive perfume.

Brooke’s an enigma, a person with so many facets that Vanessa is relishing in the chance to discover. The fact that Brooke’s willing to open up to her more and more is Vanessa’s favourite part of the bet, mostly because she’s an open book herself. Because what people see with her is what they get.

“Gotta make sure you don’t waste away on me while yelling at your minions.” Vanessa snickers when Brooke makes a face at her.

“They’re not minions. Just people who should know how to do their jobs.” Brooke sighs, gathering the papers on her desk and pushing them to the side. “Don’t go into management. The title isn’t worth it.”

“Can you imagine me trying to get people to do shit? It would be a whole lotta yelling.” Vanessa tries to picture herself at a desk like Brooke’s, having to spearhead projects and be responsible for them. At least she’d get to wear a power suit.

“You’d be good at it, though. You have charisma, the kind that most people don’t and the kind that can’t be bought.” Brooke takes another bite of the bowl. “Dang, this is good.”

Vanessa raises a skeptical brow. “What do you mean, charisma?” She’s just her natural dumbass self, which pays off sometimes.

“I mean, you convinced me to fake date you thirty or so seconds after introducing yourself. I’d say that’s pretty impressive.”

Vanessa snickers as she leans back in her seat, resisting the urge to lift her feet up onto the chair. “True.”

It’s funny to think back to that day months ago, when Vanessa had barged into Brooke’s office, convinced she’d be able to get her to agree with no evidence to back her up aside from sheer dumb confidence. Though it had worked by some miracle, something that still surprises Vanessa every now and then - and she’s sure that it’s the same for Brooke, too.

Brooke lets out a contented sigh when she finishes the bowl, pushing it away from her on the desk. “So, are you going to share all of your lunches with me from now on?”

Vanessa doesn’t miss a beat. “Why, Miss Hytes, are you asking me to lunch for the next twenty nine days?”

Brooke rolls her eyes, but grins nonetheless. “Only if the food is good.”

“You can bet on that.”

Brooke really, really doesn’t want to go out.

It’s a Friday, she’s had a long week. Really, all she wants to do is curl up on the couch with her cats.

But Nina’s birthday only comes once a year, and she’s a good friend, and so she has to choose a dress from her closet even though pyjamas sound like an infinitely comfier option right now.

The buzzing from her phone on her bed distracts her from her closet dilemma, and so she hangs the dresses in her arms back up in favour of checking her texts.

VVM: Kahanna is singing along to the radio

VVM: AND RILEY IS DUETING WITH HER

VVM: we bout to get complaints from the neighbours at any moment but this shit is hilarious

BLH: Omg. Send me a video

The resulting video from Vanessa makes Brooke crack up, because Riley’s spinning around and howling in the same key as Kahanna is singing. The best part of the video though, is the shaky quality of it, because Vanessa seems to be giggling too hard while filming to hold the camera straight.

BLH: These two need Grammys

VVM: RIGHT! IM SAYIN

VVM: I wanna join in but I’m afraid of ruining it

VVM: anyways how’s your evening going, blondie?

BLH: Trying to choose an outfit. Nina’s birthday and she wants to go clubbing, as if we’re not too old.

VVM: speak for yourself, grandma, some of us are still young

VVM: that being said, you’re not too old for clubbing at all

VVM: show me some of those outfits

BLH: Like, take pictures of them?

VVM: yeah

VVM: better yet, facetime me

It seems like as good of an option as any. Maybe Vanessa can help her decide.

Vanessa picks up the call on the first ring, Riley’s singing reverberating loud and clear in the background. “Hold up, lemme go to my room and close the door. These opera singers be too fucking loud.”

Brooke watches as Vanessa falls back onto her bed, her hair fanning out all around her. “There. Much more comfy. Now, show me some outfit options.”

“Let me prop my phone up on my dresser, hold on.” Brooke leans it carefully so that she can get a clear, hands free shot of herself, and gives a little wave to the camera.

Vanessa giggles on the other end of the line. “Hi to you too, you dork.”

“Okay, help me decide, I’m stuck. Mostly ‘cause I don’t wanna go.” Brooke pulls out a couple dresses and lays them on her bed. “I guess I’ll just hold them up one at a time, or something?”

“Nuh uh. You gotta try them on, give me the full fantasy.”  Vanessa snuggles further into her pillows on screen, and it makes Brooke raise an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Mhmm.”

“Fine.” Maybe it’ll be fun, help Brooke decide a little better.

She pulls out a blazer dress, steps out of the frame to try it on. When she comes back, Vanessa is nodding appreciatively.

“Okay, I could get into this. Suits you.”

“Yeah?” Brooke faces the screen, turns a little so she can see her back. “I dunno if I wanna wear long sleeves tonight, though.”

“Clubs do get warm.” Vanessa shrugs. “What other options you got?”

“How about this?” Brooke steps back in front of the screen after shimmying into her knee length, floral form fitting dress, one which she doesn’t pull out often because of how long it takes to take off when she has to pee. But it feels like a good option.

“Woah.” Brooke’s almost not sure if she hears the words or not, but Vanessa’s eyes are wide as she shuffles closer to the screen, and Brooke has to bite back a smirk.

“Yeah?” Brooke puts her hands on her waist, turns slightly so that Vanessa can see what it looks like from the back. She knows what she’s doing.

It works, from the way Vanessa gulps.

Brooke knows that the two of them have chemistry. She hasn’t forgotten the holiday party, hasn’t forgotten the way it felt to have Vanessa gasping into her mouth. The way Vanessa had pulled her closer, the way Brooke hadn’t stopped wanting to kiss her, either.

Well. They’re not actually together. But it’s nice to know she has chemistry with her fake girlfriend, at least. Sells the fantasy.

Because that’s what this is about - being believable.

That’s it.

Right?

The club is a lot more boring to Brooke when she doesn’t feel like dancing with anyone.

It’s too sweaty, that’s why. The club feels like it’s a million degrees, and adding dancing to the mix will only make it worse. Heck, Brooke’s sitting at the bar in front of a fan that is directly blowing cool air at her, and she’s still sweating like crazy.

That’s why she doesn’t want to dance.

All of Brooke’s friends are on the dance floor with their respective partners - save for Courtney, who’s found a girl for herself to make out with in the corner of the club. Brooke can’t help but feel…bored. Why dance anyway, when it’s too warm and sweaty and crowded? Why talk up a girl when-

When she has Vanessa?

Technically, Brooke doesn’t have Vanessa. They’re not dating. She has to remember that.

But they did sign a contract together, saying that they won’t mess around with others while doing this. Yes, that’s why Brooke is staying away from chatting up nearby girls. Because she has a commitment to keep. Not that she really wants to talk to other girls in the first place. But her gin and tonic is nearly done and she needs another if she’s going to be at this bar for any longer, so she signals to the bartender and opens up her phone while she waits.

BLH: Help, the club is boring

BLH: I’m wasting away at the bar

VVM: omg

VVM: go dance, you’re at a club

BLH: I don’t wanna

BLH: Stinky guys

VVM: stinky, huh?

BLH: You need to spray your perfume on them. You smell so much better

VVM: weird compliment, but I’ll take it

VVM: we should go out dancing. I’d give you such a better time

BLH: Would you, now?

VVM: you know it, blondie

VVM: let’s do that for another date

Brooke is reminded of the holiday party, of how they’d danced pressed up against one another and how it was fucking hot. The chance to do something like that again with Vanessa? She’ll take it.

BLH: You wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off of me

VVM: you say that as if you’d be able to keep yours off of me

VVM: I know how much you love grabbing my ass

VVM: not that I’m complaining about it

Brooke smirks at her phone screen. She remembers how Vanessa had keened into her touch, spurred her on to keep going with little gasps into the crook of her neck. Dating or not dating, Brooke loves how easy Vanessa has been to take apart. She wants to do it again.

BLH: Interesting. Noted.

It’s funny. When she and Vanessa had signed their list, they had agreed on light PDA only. But there’s a part of Brooke that wants more more more, that wants Vanessa on her arm and wants everyone to know it. That Vanessa’s hers, that she’s the one who gets to take Vanessa home every night.

Brooke almost wishes that those things were actually true.

“C’mon, Nina. There you go, come on out of the Uber. Small steps, don’t slip on the ice.” Brooke wraps one of her arms around Nina’s waist, holds her up as they head to Nina’s apartment.

“Ugh. It’s too cold.” Nina leans her head on Brooke’s shoulder, and Brooke reaches out to pat her hair.

“Almost inside. You got your keys?”

Nina fiddles in her pockets for a good thirty seconds before pulling them out, holding them towards Brooke. “Please?”

“I got you.”

Brooke is usually the supportive friend in situations like these for Detox, helping her get home in one piece after she’s had too much to drink. Nina’s not usually the one to need it, but Brooke had found her in the club bathroom leaning against the mirror and sniffling about her fiancé. Considering the fact that they’d gone out for Nina’s birthday in the first place? Brooke had felt her duty calling.

“I don’t feel so well. That car ride was fast.” Nina rubs at her eyes as Brooke tries to get her coat off, pushing it off her shoulders and hanging it on the coat rack.

“Bathroom first, then.”

Nina sighs, resting her head against the lid of the toilet after sitting down on the ground. The scene feels reminiscent of Brooke’s undergraduate days, when she’d partied too much and absolutely did some damage to her poor liver. She pulls Nina’s hair back, has to keep her nose from wrinkling when Nina lets out a retch.

“Thanks, B.” Nina sighs when she lifts her head up, only to turn back towards the toilet to throw up again.

Brooke’s definitely been there before.

“No worries. It’ll feel better when it’s out of your system, anyway.” Brooke rubs her back, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible because she knows Nina’s probably got a pounding headache, too. “Now, tell me. What made you drink so much today and end up crying by yourself on your birthday?”

Brooke’s surprised by it, really. Nina’s usually the one who takes care of everyone else like its second nature, because she has a high tolerance herself. Which means that to reach this current point tonight, she’s probably had a lot to drink. Which also means that something has to have really rattled her to get her here, bent over the toilet and looking slightly green.

“It doesn’t matter.” Nina mumbles the words, looking down, and Brooke puts a hand on her shoulder, gives her a little squeeze.

“Course it does. You can talk to me.”

Nina finally, finally looks at her, and Brooke can see the dimmed sparkle in her eyes, the sadness along her features. No, not sadness - more defeat.

“Am I making a mistake, Brooke? Marrying Ben?”

Booke pulls back in surprise. “What? What do you mean?”

Brooke has multiple friends that are in long term relationships and Nina’s, by far, always has looked the steadiest. The most wholesome. Nina never shuts up about her fiancé, telling Brooke all the time about the picnics he takes her on or the gifts he gets her or how they’re absolutely soulmates. Nina’s always looked happy, truly happy with her man, something that Brooke has loved to see, because Nina’s the kind of person who believes in true love. In a happily ever after. And, up until this moment, Brooke has believed that Nina’s been living exactly how she’s always dreamed of.

But what if she hasn’t?

“It’s just-it’s good. But it’s also just good, y’know? He brings me flowers and always opens doors for me and snuggles me at night but…” Nina lifts her head, looks at Brooke, and her face is more lost than Brooke has ever seen it. “I don’t feel anything else with him. Like, it’s happy, it’s good, he’s good, but-”

Nina cuts herself off, takes a deep breath as she lifts her left hand up, holds it out in front of them. The sparkling bling on her ring finger reflects sparkles along the bathroom tiles and walls, ones that make Nina wince when they shine on her face.

“I just don’t know. I’m not feeling what I’m supposed to feel, y’know?” Nina sits back, scooches away from the toilet to lean against the wall.

Brooke joins her because really, does she have anywhere else to be? She doesn’t know what to do though, not when Nina’s looking so forlorn and lost and all Brooke wants is be there for her, somehow, even though she’s never felt the way Nina is feeling right now.

So Brooke leans her head on Nina’s shoulder, feeling the comforting warmth of Nina leaning her head against hers, too. “I dunno, babe. I wish I could tell you I had the answer, or how to make things magical, but I have none of those answers. All I know is that you deserve to be happy. You deserve the ending that you’ve always wanted. I think you need to first figure out exactly what that is.”

Nina sighs, twisting her ring on her finger. “I have no idea what that is.”

“No need to decide on your birthday with a tipsy brain. It can wait.” Brooke unfolds herself from the ground, gets herself up before holding her hands out to Nina so that she can help her up, too.

“C’mon. Let’s get you into bed.”

The conversation replays in her mind, though, as she Ubers home from Nina’s. It makes no sense - how has Nina lost that spark with her fiancé, when they’ve always looked so stable? Did Nina ever really have it in the first place? Or did she just think she did? Was the way Nina had felt in the bathroom just cold feet, or was it something bigger?

And then there’s that spark Nina had talked about in the first place. Brooke tries to picture what it would feel like, what the concept of sparks flying actually even means. Fireworks and butterflies and falling head over heels? Hell, Brooke feels fireworks when she kisses Vanessa, but it’s only because she’s kissing a pretty girl after ages and ages and fully enjoying it. The concept of sparks flying feels elusive, something that could be searched for forever and ever without ever truly being found. It feels similar to the way that Vanessa’s looking for her true love and Princess Charming, and how she’s absolutely convinced that she’ll know when she finds her.

It feels like everyone has a radar for knowing these kinds of things except for Brooke. Not that Brooke minds, not really. Being in search of something that’ll never be in reach seems fruitless. Unnecessary. Especially when she has other things she’d rather be spending her time on.

Quite frankly? Brooke’s good with just her cats and friendship - especially Vanessa’s.

[trashyswitch]

Marvin’s Favorite Spell

Marvin has a favorite spell he's been testing for a while. When Marvin wakes up in a playful mood, he decides to try it out on his friends for the first time!

This fanfiction was loosely based on @franklyshipping​‘s series: ‘Marvin the Mischievous’. I added my own twist to it and everything. The only similar thing is the fact that Marvin is the main character, being all mischievous and stuff.

Marvin is a magician. We all know this. But did you know, he also has a spell book? Marvin's spell book was filled with many spells. Levitation spells, transformation spells, love spells, and millions more! But, there's one specific spell that Marvin keeps bookmarked with the words 'BEST SPELL' on the top of the bookmark.

That spell, is an Invisibility spell.

The invisibility spell is pretty self explanatory: Make yourself invisible. When mixed together, the powder can be initiated by sprinkling it onto yourself. It can be used for hiding things and sneaking around, but it's mostly a fun spell that you can use to mess with your friends. You can make them think the house is haunted, have them believe they have powers, or maybe just make them think they're having bad luck today. All of those possibilities can be achieved through the invisibility spell.

Marvin has been trying this spell out for a while now, in the comfort of his room. No one has seen him turn invisible yet. He's memorized the powder mix, and tested it out just on his own. This way, he's practiced his ability to sneak around quietly and used the powder whenever he pleases. That way, he can use it on his friends without posing any threats or harm. That's the last thing Marvin would want to do to his friends.

This morning though, Marvin woke up in a really playful mood. He almost immediately felt it since the moment he woke up. He wanted to play with someone. Mess with someone. Tickle someone...

Hmm...Tickling isn't a bad idea. Tickling while invisible seems like a genius plan! Marvin, you're a genius! For once in your life, you're a genius!

Marvin pulled out his spell book, and opened it to the bookmarked page: Page 138-139.

'Invisibility Powder

Mix together the following: -1 Fern Leaf -1 tbsp of Dried poppy seeds

Add: -1 tsp Slippery elm powder -1 tsp Myrrh -1 tsp Marjoram -3 small fresh Dillweed branches

Add 9 drops of almond cooking extract with enough spring water to make everything barely moist, and mix in well. Place in a ceramic bowl, spreading as thinly as possible, and dry the mixture over low heat, stirring it occasionally, until it seems lightly browned. Pour back into mortar, and grind again. When finely powdered, store in a clear glass container. It will keep its power for years. Sprinkle, just a little bit, on yourself, objects, or in a place to be made invisible.' Marvin read.

Marvin followed the instructions, placing everything in like he practiced. Then, Marvin placed it into a small bottle. Before putting it away, he sprinkled some onto himself. Then, he put a cork stopper onto the bottle top, and put the bottle in his pocket. Very soon, he could feel the powder taking effect. The moment he couldn't see his reflection in the mirror, he was ready.

Marvin walked out of his room, making sure no one was walking by. He walked out of his room quietly, and began to walk. He walked around the entire house, keeping in mind where everyone was. Thankfully for Marvin, no two people were in 1 room at the same time. This made it easier for Marvin to consider who would be watching his attacks. After memorizing where everyone was, he went to the first victim's location: the kitchen. It was Jackie.

Jackie appeared to be eating a protein bar while leaning on the island. Marvin decided to wait a couple seconds for Jackie to finish his protein bar. Once Jackie finished his protein bar, he threw away the wrapper, and jogged up to his workout room. Quickly slipping through the door as to not raise suspicion, Marvin got into the workout room. He's seen the workout room before, and has watched Jackie workout. He usually started with weights.

Marvin watched as Jackie loaded up the bar with weights, before laying onto the bench set. Grabbing the barbell, he lifted it off the barbell rest, and started lifting, lowering and counting. Marvin walked around the mats that were on the floor, and snuck up behind the barbell rest. After placing the barbell back onto the rest, Marvin decided to attack. He scratched a single finger, into the back of Jackie's neck.

Jackie let out a surprisingly high pitched squeal! Marvin had to retreat his hand to stop himself from laughing. "What the-" Jackie muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. After brushing off the tickly feeling, Jackie decided to pick up the barbell, and do a few more lifts. In the middle of his lifts, Jackie felt a tickly feeling right on his abs.

"AAah! Whohoho's thehehere?!" Jackie asked through his giggles, as he placed the barbell back onto the rest before he lost energy. Marvin retreated his hand, and tried to think of another spot to tickle. Looking down, he noticed that the back of his knees were exposed, thanks to the space between the bench cushions. Marvin smirked as he quietly snuck up to the spot, and laid on his back underneath the bench. Marvin let Jackie do another round of curls, before poking and prodding the bottom of his knees with both his index fingers.

"Hehehehey! Shohohow yohohoursehelf!" Jackie ordered. Marvin removed his fingers. "I demand you to show yourself immedi-" Jackie yelled, before being interrupted by the returning ticklish feeling under his knees. "AAhahahAHAHA! Whohoho ahahare yohohohou?!" Jackie asked through his giggles and spouts of laughter. Jackie tried to sound intimidating, but the ticklish laughter was a lot more controlling than Jackie could've predicted. And unfortunately for him, laughing while making demands didn't intimidate even the most cowardly of villains. Marvin smiled, and decided to try something out. He crawled up to Jackie's shoes, grabbed onto his ankle, and brought his other hand up to his pocket. Marvin grabbed his bottle of powder, and sprinkled some powder onto the shoe. Very soon, the powder took effect and made the foot on the inside appear. He lifted his hand, poking and prodding the now-visibly socked foot.

"Whahahat the hehehehell?! Hohohow are yohohohou dohohohoing thihihis?!" Jackie asked through his light laughter. Jackie was so confused. What was even going on right now?! For Jackie, his foot still felt like the shoe hadn't left his foot at all. So, Jackie thought the criminal was tickling his feet through his shoes. How was this person tickling him through his shoes?! So much for trying to cover his feet up.

Marvin soon found where his toes were, and dug his pinky toe under his toes.

"AAAAHAHAHA! NAHAHAT THEHEHEHERE! PLEHEHEHEASE NAHAHAT THEHEHERE!" Jackie begged. Wow...Jackie was already begging?! His toes must tickle a lot, to be begging THIS soon. Marvin smiled and moved his fingers to the inner arch of his foot.

"IHIHI CAHAHAHAN'T BREHEHEHEATH!" Jackie yelled. Marvin smirked before removing both hands. He grabbed the powder once again, sprinkled some on, and watched as the shoe became visible once again. Standing up, Marvin eyed up his slightly tired victim. After a couple more seconds of breathing, Jackie got up, walked into an open space in his workout room, and got himself into a defensive stance.

"I demand you show yourself to me immediately!" Jackie demanded. Marvin rolled his eyes, and shook his head with an eyebrow slightly raised. "If you refuse to follow my orders, then I'll have no choice but to arrest you." Jackie warned in as serious of a tone as he could muster.

Marvin just about snorted at that remark. He sounded so confident, talking to a 'criminal' he couldn't even lay eyes on! How much damage does he think he's gonna cause? How do you attack something that doesn't even have a visual to aim at?

Marvin decided to mess around with him. He ran around, dodging every attack Jackie attempted. Every time Jackie attempted an attack, he would wind up hitting nothing and stumble. That was when Marvin would attack.

Jackie threw a punch and lost his balance for a moment. Marvin ganged up from the side and wiggled his fingers on his exposed side. "EEEEK! Knohohock ihihit ohohohoff!" Jackie said.

Next, Jackie attempted a few punches in one direction. Marvin pretended to silently yawn, before walking up behind him and shoving his hands into Jackie's armpits.

"NAHAHAHAHA! COHOHOHOME OHOHOHON!" Jackie bursted out. His arms came crashing down, as he let out fits of laughter. Pretty soon, Jackie lifted his arms and ran away from the tickly fingers.

To try and land something, Jackie tried a roundhouse kick. This ended up backfiring however, as when his foot came up, Marvin just caught the leg in midair, and wiggled his fingers under his knees again.

"STAHAHAHAP THAHAHAHAT! LEHEHET MEHEHE GOOHOHOHO!" Jackie begged. It was starting to occur to Jackie, just how impossible this fight was gonna be. What was he supposed to do?!

Marvin let go of his leg and walked around him. Jackie decided to wait for the criminal to attack first. So, he waited. Marvin could sense what Jackie was planning. So, he circled the man, poking every ticklish spot he could find. He went for the sides, abs, stomach, neck, back, underarms, knees, and even a couple to the neck. Jackie reacted with either a squeal, a giggle or a yelp each time.

Finally, to end it all off: Marvin went behind him, and drilled his fingers into his hips. Jackie's reaction was priceless! He let out a super loud squeal and absolutely howled with laughter. It didn't take long for Jackie's knees to buckle and hit the ground. His hips were a death spot for him, and no one actually knew this except for Schneeplestein. Or so he thought...

"SHNEHEHEHEHEEP! IHIHIS THAHAHAHAT YOHOHOHOU?!" Jackie asked through his hysterical laughter. Marvin frowned at this, and dug his fingers harder into his hips.

"OHOHOHOHOHO GAAAAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jackie screamed! He couldn't even properly speak anymore, he was laughing so much! Finally, Marvin finished up. He removed his fingers and walked away. Jackie's whole body collapsed onto a mat, utterly exhausted from the ticklish treatment he was just put through. Was it Dr. Schneeplestein?! If so, how was he invisible? Hopefully, he would get some answers soon...

Marvin's next target, was Chase Brody. Chase was playing video games in the gaming room. Yes, the Egos had a gaming room. The house came with an extra bedroom, which they converted into a gaming room. And in that gaming room, Chase was sitting in front of the big computer screen, playing Burnout Paradise on his Xbox. Marvin slightly opened the door, and checked to make sure he wasn't spotted. Once he was all clear, he opened it a bit more, and squeezed his body through the small opened wedge of the door before closing it.

"LOOK OUT EVERYONE! YA BOY AVERAGE, COMING THROUGH!" Chase shouted, just about giving Marvin a mini heart attack. Marvin jumped about 3 feet in the air, and almost yelled in surprise. That was close...

After calming himself down, Marvin tried to think of how to get his attention. Perhaps turning off the TV might be a good start? Marvin looked around, and found the remote halfway across the room for some reason. So, he grabbed it and turned the TV off.

"What the- COME OOOONN! I WAS SOOOOO CLOOOOSE!" Chase whined. while Chase was complaining, Marvin quickly removed the batteries, put them in his pocket, placed the remote back down and stepped aside. "Where's the remote again?" Chase asked himself. Chase looked around, and soon found the remote on the couch. He picked it up and clicked the power button.

It didn't turn on. Chase clicked it again. Nothing...Confused, he watched the remote as he clicked the power button...none of the buttons were lighting up...strange...

'did the batteries die?' Chase thought. He turned it around, and started to remove the lid from the battery compartment. Suddenly, Chase felt a poke against his stomach. Chase jumped backwards as his voice went wobbly for a moment. Okay...that was weird. He lifted up the battery lid, and noticed something: There were no batteries.

Chase placed the remote down, pulled out his phone and started texting a group text of the roommates in his house. Once the text went out, he placed the phone down. As he was bending down to pick up the remote, he felt a sudden push. Chase winded up losing his balance, and sitting on the ground.

"Alright, who's messing with me- Hehehehahaha! Hehehehey! Whohoho's tihihihihickling mehehehe?!" Chase said, bursting into a fit of giggles. Marvin smiled as he tickled his stomach. It's a good thing he's invisible right now.

"Hellohohohoho?! Who's-" Chase asked, before being interrupted by his own squeal. Marvin had started squeezing and lightly clawing at the sides of his tummy. "WAHAHAHA! NOHOHO! ANYWHEHEHEHERE BUT THEHEHEHERE!" Chase yelled, bursting into more laughter. It seems Chase was ticklish on his tummy. But what about his belly button?

Marvin dipped his finger into his belly button, and swirled it around. "EEEEEEK! NAHAHAT MY BEHEHELLY BUHUTTON! EEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Chase begged, turning his body onto his stomach. Marvin frowned. His barrel roll had caused Marvin to lose a couple tickle spots. But, not all hope was lost. While he was there, Marvin decided to try his back muscles around the spine. He used his index finger and his thumb to push against the muscles beside his spine. He would give his muscles a little wiggle, before lifting and pushing his fingers against the spine an inch lower each time. At first, there was less reaction and more questions.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this? Heck, what are you even trying to do? Give me a back massage?"

But the lower down the spine that Marvin got, the more laughter started to show up.

"Wahait! Nahat any lohohower! Plehehease doOHOHOHO- OHOHOHOHO MY GAHAHAHAD! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAVE- HAHAHAVE MEHEHEHEHERCYYY!" Chase shouted. His eyes had widened to the size of saucers, before shutting tightly as his fists pounded the floor almost aggressively.

Marvin decided to let him go...for now...He removed his hands and decided to instead, very lightly scratch the back of his neck. This seemed to allow Chase a chance to breath, but still caused some giggles to leave his mouth. "Hahahahahaha! Hahaha...heheheheh..." Chase giggles. The man seemed to be calming down, and surprisingly...Chase was starting to relax.

Chase still had no idea what was going on. He didn't understand how he was being tickled without anybody actually there. But because it involved tickling, he didn't really mind it. Though the laughter was forced, it still made him feel happy. Marvin removed his fingers completely and stood up. He was glad that he could make someone genuinely happy through doing this, but he still had a mission to attend to. So, he grabbed the batteries from his pocket and placed them on a corner table near the door. With the batteries in sight, Marvin left the room.

Marvin walked around, heading for the next target: Henrik's office. Now, Henrik was an interesting one. He had an in-home doctor's office in a small room, that had a door connecting his office to his bedroom. He liked working on medical based things, so Marvin would have to be careful he doesn't damage or ruin something of Henrik's in the process. Marvin already knew where Henrik's worst spots were, but wanted to start off easy. So, he snuck up behind him, waited for him to place something down, and fluttered his fingers on the back of his neck.

"WaAAAh!" Henrik yelped, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, embarrassed by the sound he just made. Despite what just happened, Henrik gave the back of his neck a little scratch, and went on with his day. However, he only managed to do this for 5 seconds because suddenly, Marvin drilled his fingers into the sides of Henrik's stomach. This caused a squeal and a giggle to leave his mouth, before he turned around and put his hands up in front of him in self defense. Though it was an attempt, this proved to be pointless, as Marvin snuck up behind him once again and drummed his fingers on Henrik's ribs.

"AAaahahahahehehe!" Henrik laughed and squirmed, falling to his knees as he protected his ribs with his arms. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he wondered if the thing could be grabbed. So, he attempted it. When Marvin would tickle Henrik, Henrik would let himself laugh and try to reach for the spot. It took quite a few tries, but Henrik manged to get something in the middle of his laughing. "AHahahahaha! Gahahatcha!" Henrik cheered through his giggles.

Marvin's eyes widened. How did he know?! Did he know who it was?! Marvin stayed quiet as Henrik felt the thing he was holding. He felt the palm, the wrist, the individual fingers and even the nails.

"...A human...An invisible human." Henrik muttered to himself. Before Henrik could discover anything else, Marvin grabbed his arm with his free hand, and pushed him. He watched as Henrik protested and pulled at his arm, but walked backwards, following him. After a bit more pushing, Marvin felt Henrik's back hit the wall behind him.

"Vhat on earth are you trying to do?!" Henrik yelled. Marvin let his arm go and skittered his fingers on Henrik's ribs again. "Vahahahahait! Ehehexplahahain yohohoursehehelf!" Henrik ordered through his laughter, letting go of Marvin's hand as he succumbed to the ticklish trap. Marvin added his now free hand into the mix, wiggling both hands' digits on Henrik's ribs. Henrik's laughter heightened and grew louder, and his knees started to give way.

Slowly, Henrik was falling and Marvin was bending down, following him down the wall. As Henrik finally hit the ground, Marvin moved his hands to the front, digging into the front of his ribs and into the core muscles. As Marvin expected, Henrik threw back his head and stretched out his legs. "NOHOHOHOHOHO! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Henrik reacted. He squirmed around, trying to get the mysterious hands away from his ticklish body, but to no avail. Marvin decided to take it up a notch, by switching his hand tactics to clawing and quick vibrating.

The reaction from Henrik was absolutely hilarious! "SCHEHEHEHEHEIßE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHALT! BIHIHIHIHIHIHITTE!" Henrik yelled through his hysterical laughter. Henrik was starting to revert to his native language! That rarely ever happened!

Marvin realized that this was a sign to stop very soon. The doctor kicked, he squirmed, he shook his head, and he swatted at the clawing hands. But nothing could stop the mysterious hands from tickling him. Marvin decided to try out two more spots before he stopped. Marvin moved his hands up to Henrik's armpits first.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH! NEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEIN!" Henrik shouted! His arms had clamped down, trapping his hands under his arms. Maaayybe he should've tried the neck first...

Marvin stopped his fingers, and patiently waited for Henrik to let his hands go. When he did, Marvin shot his right arm up and lightly wiggled his fingers on Henrik's neck.

"Ohohohokay...okahahahay...Zhat's behehetter...Zhahahank yohohou..." Henrik said through his much more calm giggles. Marvin to completely stop, and give the poor man a break. He was afraid he might've gone overboard.

Marvin stood back up, and stared at the exhausted Henrik, who was deeply breathing on the floor. Feeling slightly bad, Marvin went over to the sink, got a glass of water and handed it to him. Henrik smiled, sat back up and took the drink.

"Zhank you...you didn't have to do zhat..." Henrik said, placing the paper cup beside him. Marvin smiled to himself, before leaving the room.

Next, was Jameson Jackson, or JJ/Jamie for short. Henrik looked around, but couldn't find JJ in his room. Strange...he was there earlier...Perhaps he moved?

He walked around for a while longer, soon finding JJ in the living room. He appeared to be working on a jigsaw puzzle of a street with old cars, and a farmer riding a horse. So far, JJ had the cars on the street filled and was starting to put together the hotel building, with the black car parked in between the buildings. Noticing a piece that fit a certain space, Marvin waited for JJ to look away. When he looked away, Marvin grabbed the puzzle piece, and fit it in quickly, before retreating and looking again. JJ looked back at the puzzle, and placed a piece...

'Wait a second..Wasn't that previously an empty space?' JJ thought to himself. Thinking he was losing his mind, JJ ignored it, and started looking around for another piece. While JJ was collecting a few more pieces, Marvin had grabbed a couple pieces and fit them in the right spot. JJ placed a piece in, and noticed it was...already filled? What? JJ looked at his own piece, looked around, and realized where it was actually supposed to go. Placing it in, he tried to wrack his brain to find out when he put that piece in. But...he couldn't recall putting it in at all!

While JJ was thinking, Marvin grabbed a pile of puzzle pieces, and started dragging them together to form a letter.

JJ reached for a pile of pieces, but felt nothing. Looking up, he noticed that the small puzzle pile he made earlier, was missing! Thinking they fell on the floor, he looked under the table...

No puzzle pieces. Looking back up, something caught his eye! A collection of puzzle pieces spelling something out:

'Hi' it said.

JJ's eyes widened, as he leaned away slightly. Is someone messing with him? If so, who?

JJ decided to try something. He pulled a pen out of his jacket, and made a notebook appear in his hand. He used the notebook to write a message.

'Hello.' JJ wrote. He placed the pen and paper on the other side of the table, and worked on the puzzle while he was waiting. After a couple more pieces were placed, JJ looked up to the notebook.

Nothing.

Perhaps he really was losing it. JJ looked back down at his puzzle, and looked around for the pieces of the Hotel sign in his puzzle.

Suddenly, a sound filled his ear...just for a moment. JJ looked up, to see the pen on top of the paper, rather than beside.

...Perhaps, he wasn't losing it? JJ looked at the notebook, and widened his eyes at the strokes of ink below his.

'Cool puzzle!'

JJ looked around him. To the right: no one. to the left: no one. behind him: no one. all around him: an empty room.

JJ narrowed his eyes. He grabbed the pen, wrote something down before placing it down in front of him.

JJ waited. He needed to know. Is there a ghost he wasn't aware of? Who else knew about this ghost? Why was there a ghost in here? What was its na-

JJ's thoughts stopped there, when suddenly...the pen started rising up! JJ jumped back in total shock! GHOST!

Despite what JJ was thinking, Marvin was picking up the pen, and writing down something before dropping the pen and letting it click against the paper. JJ looked at the notebook, and hesitantly picked up the paper with his shaky hand. He grabbed the notebook, watched the pen slide off the notebook and onto the table, and read the paper:

'Look behind you...' it read.

JJ bit his lip, nervous about what to see. He slowly turned around, clenching the notebook with his shaky hand. He opened his squeezed eyes, and looked...

A glove? Scratch that...two gloves were floating in front of him.

One of the gloves waved to him...JJ, not knowing what else to do, waved back.

Eager to get this show on the road, Marvin, with his gloves on, started wiggling his fingers. JJ raised an eyebrow, confused as to what 'wiggling fingers' meant.

The gloves flew towards him, and started examining JJ. One glove grabbed his hat and lifted it off his head, while the other glove felt his hair and ruffled it. JJ, slightly annoyed, grabbed his hat and plopped it back onto his head.

Marvin's gloved hand, now free of the hat, placed its finger on JJ's neck, and scratched the side of his neck. JJ let out a squeal and curled his neck instinctively. With the other gloved hand, Marvin scratched the other side of his neck. JJ scrunched his shoulders, a toothy grin showing up on his face as he tipped his head back. Marvin's fingers continued scratching, until one of the fingers got under the jawline. JJ let out another squeal, as his own hands came up to swat at the gloved hands. The gloved hands didn't budge however, as the other gloved hand only went for the other side of the jawline. JJ threw his head back as his giggles grew a little louder. Marvin smiled to himself. it's working!

Next, the gloved hands went up to JJ's ears. JJ squealed loudly, as his head curled to the side to stop the gloves from tickling his ear. When the other gloved hand went for the other ear, all hell broke loose. JJ bursted out laughing, before falling onto his back. Marvin's gloves followed him, dancing his fingers on JJ's tummy and sides. JJ's smile was toothy and wide, and his squirming was increasing rather quickly. Marvin kept his hands on JJ's tummy, making sure to squish and squeeze his toned belly as well. JJ was laughing and giggling, shaking his head, and signing frantically.

'Stop! Stop, too ticklish!' Marvin could understand through JJ's frantic signs. Marvin smiled at the adorable man below him, as he kept one hand on his belly and used the other hand to go back to scratching his ear. JJ's laughter turned to cackles, as he threw his head back and lost his hat.

Suddenly, the gloved hands started spidering his sides, and walked up, up and up across his ribs, and into his armpits! JJ's arms came crashing down as his body swayed frantically back and forth.

Marvin was absolutely enjoying this! So far, JJ has been the most fun to tickle! Marvin knew JJ was ticklish from watching other people tickle him, but he didn't know how ticklish he really was! That is, until now. At this moment, Marvin had JJ stuck being tickled for a while, and he wanted to appreciate it for as long as he possibly could.

So far, it seemed like JJ's most ticklish spots were his tummy and his armpits. Marvin just about died at the cuteness! He placed his gloved hands back onto his ticklish neck, and wiggled his fingers excitedly.

In the midst of Marvin's little attack, his eyes came across the useful item from earlier: the pen. Feeling a wide and mischievous smirk form on his lips, Marvin grabbed the pen, clicked the ballpoint tip open, and started to draw on his neck with the pen! JJ let out an ear-piercing squeal! Marvin could easily tell JJ was enjoying this, and could happily announce that JJ was having the most ticklish time of his life! He continued drawing on his neck, creating little drawings on JJ's neck. JJ was kicking his legs, trying not to squirm too much.

Soon, Marvin decided to give JJ a break. He removed his hands, clicked the pen and placed it aside. JJ stayed laying on the ground, curled in a ball and rubbing his ticklish spots free of the leftover tingly feeling. While JJ was laying there, Marvin wrote a note into the notebook and placed it down. JJ eventually got up, grabbed the notebook and read the words written:

'Thanks for the little tickle session! P.S. You have an adorable smile!'

JJ could feel his cheeks heating up as he tried to hide his growing grin from whoever could be watching. Was he still there? He couldn't see the gloves anymore. So...perhaps he left?

And indeed, he did! Marvin had left JJ a couple minutes ago, and went to find Shawn: his last victim. Now, Marvin was a little nervous about this one. He wanted to leave Shawn till the very end for a specific reason, that he refused to admit. He wanted to think outside the box for Shawn's.

Marvin suspected he was in his room, painting, toy making, something of that sort. Marvin walked up to the open door and looked in: Turns out, he was right!

Shawn was holding a mixing tray, playing with different colors on a blank canvas.

'Man, that painting looked good!' the magician thought. Marvin looked around the room, and settled his eyes on Shawn's desk. On the desk were many cup holders: One for pencils and pens, one for scissors, sharpeners and erasers, one for glue sticks, and lastly: one for paintbrushes. There was a big variety of brushes: From tiny tipped brushes, to large wall paintbrushes. Marvin's lips formed into a mischievous smirk as an evil, ingenious idea came to his head.

Marvin snuck into the room. He walked past the display of toys and the reading chair, and towards the desk. He picked up the container of paintbrushes, and grabbed a small one and a big one from the cup. Just as he was placing the cup back, Shawn had turned around, and noticed that the brush container was moving by itself! Shawn dropped his paint-filled brush and gasped. This got Marvin's attention. Shoot...this wasn't part of the plan...

Marvin decided to quickly improvise. He put 3 of the brushes onto the desk, and carried the second biggest one with him. As he walked up to Shawn suspense-fully, he pointed the brush end at the painter, shaking it back and forth. Shawn jumped out of his chair, and made a run for it. he ran around his room a couple times, before running out the door. Marvin followed him as they entered the hallway.

A wild chase had begun. Shawn took twists and turns to try and slow the paintbrush down, but found that the paintbrush was getting closer and closer no matter what he did. As he tried to look for a place to hide, he realized there was a chair in front of him. Jumping up, he landed on the seat, and took a step onto the table! He took a couple steps on the table, before suddenly: His running came to a screeching halt! He tried to run. His legs were going, his arms were swaying back and forth, but his body wasn't moving! Before he could find out what was going on, his whole body was pulled backwards into an invisible grip!

Shawn yelled, but his mouth was silenced by...what felt like a hand? He tried to fight it, but struggled to keep it up. His fighting slowly turned to squirming as something started tickling him in the mysterious grip. Shawn muffled grunts turned to muffled laughter as his ribs were poked and clawed at. God...he probably looked really weird, laughing and squirming as he floated in the air. Thankfully no one was around to witness this.

As Shawn's muffled laughter continued, he watched as the mysterious creature carried him back to his room, and placed him onto his bed. Shawn attempted to escape again, but was stopped by a body...a body he couldn't see. The only thing he could see, was the hand imprints in his bed. Shawn started to feel around. Originally, he was trying to find an opening. But soon...that thought left his mind as a new thought replaced it: 'Who is this?'. Shawn felt everything he could reach: the arms, the head, the face, the hands, the shoulders, even the chest. It soon dawned on him that this was a human...and telling by the mask he could feel on the person's face, not just any human...

"...Wwwaaaaaaiiit...M-Marvin?" Shawn asked. Marvin's jaw dropped. HOW DID HE-...

Marvin started laughing nervously. "How did you know?" Marvin asked, using his voice for the first time.

"HEEEEYY! It IS you!" Shawn yelled excitedly.

"Yup...it's me..." Marvin said, embarrassed that Shawn found out who he was.

"Why, in the world, are you invisible?!" Shawn asked. Marvin pulled the bottle of invisible powder out of his pocket. Shawn rolled his eyes and let his head fall onto the bed with a smile on his lips. "Invisible powder? Really?" Shawn asked. Marvin pulled the cork off of the bottle, and sprinkled a bit onto his head. Suddenly, his body started appearing, bit by bit.

"...Surprise?" Marvin said awkwardly, before falling into a fit of laughter.

"You were the one controlling the brush?!" Shawn asked, laughing himself.

"Yes!" Marvin replied.

"You were the one who picked me up, and tickled me?!" Shawn asked with a smile on his face.

Marvin looked away, his face heating up and a cheeky grin growing onto his face. "...Maaaaaayybe..." Marvin replied.

Shawn narrowed his eyes and smirked in a mischievous, but curious manner. Suddenly, two hands gripped him. "Come here, ya little shit!" Shawn yelled, before spinning them both around. Now, Shawn was on the top, and Marvin was below him. "You know, you could've told me about your little crush." Shawn declared, grabbing his hands and holding them above his head. As Shawn thought about where to tickle first, he looked up to Marvin. "So tell me: Do you have a crush on me?" Shawn asked, before licking his lips eagerly. Marvin just about died upon watching that. Suddenly, a hand had found his side. Marvin looked down, and saw that it was Shawn's hand...uh oh..."I think someone needs some help confessing..." Shawn teased, clawing at Marvin's side. Marvin bursted into laughter as his body started squirming.

"Hahahahaha! Shaahahahawn! Thahahahat tihihihickles!" Marvin whined through his laughter.

Shawn gasped dramatically. "What?! This TiCkLeS? Perhaps I'd better fix that for you! What do you say, Marvy?" Shawn asked in a teasy voice. Marvin's laughter grew louder, as embarrassment over the nickname took a hold of him.

"DOHOhohon't cahahahall mehehe thahahahat!" Marvin yelled out of embarrassment.

"Hmm...I'll take that as a yes." Shawn decided, before giving Marvin a break. He walked over to his desk, and eyed up the single paintbrush laying on the desk. He knew Marvin was planning to use them on him. So...what would happen if Shawn reverse carded him, and used the paintbrushes on Marvin? Shawn smirked, grabbing the paintbrush from the desk and placing them into his pocket before walking back. Shawn grabbed the tiny brush out of his pocket and lifted up his shirt. Then, he dipped the paintbrush end into Marvin's belly button.

"aaAAAH! NAHAHAHAT THE BEHEHEHELLY BUHUHUTTON! HAHAHAHAHA!" Marvin yelled, bursting into laughter as he tried to squirm away from the paintbrush. Unfortunately, Shawn's brush would only follow the belly to wherever it squirmed to.

"There! That's a lot better." Shawn declared, swirling the paintbrush in Marvin's belly button.

"HAHAHAHAHA! SHAHAHAHAHAWN! PLEEEHEHEHEHEHEASE!" Marvin pleaded. Shawn smirked at the sound. Was Marvin already begging? It certainly didn't take that long.

Shawn gave Marvin another break. He pulled the invisible powder bottle out of Marvin's pocket, pulled off the cork and sprinkled a bit onto his head.

"Wa-wait! Yohou dohohon't know how tohoho use ihihit!" Marvin argued, still giggly from being tickled a moment ago.

"Nah, I get it...See? Not so easy to see now, huh?" Shawn replied, showing Marvin his now invisible hands, holding the bottle and cork in his hands. Shawn placed the cork back into the bottle, gave it to Marvin, and started walking around the room.

"Uuuuhuhuh...Shaaahahawn?" Marvin warned, nervous giggles leaving his throat. Suddenly, a pair of hands had trapped Marvin into a tight hug from behind. From there, Marvin started laughing as fingers started attacking his ribs, tummy and sides. "NAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IHIHI CAAHAHAHAHAHAN'T TAHAHAHAKE IHIHIT!" Marvin shouted, as best he could through his uncontrollable laughter.

"Aww! Come on, really? You can't take a bit of tickling?" Shawn asked.

"IHIHIHIT'S TOHOHOHOHOO MUHUHUHUHUCH!" Marvin yelled back, squirming and attempting to swat at Shawn's hands.

"Oooooh! Okay! So, you like lighter tickles then?" Shawn asked playfully.

Marvin didn't even wait a second to answer. YEHEHEHEHES!" Marvin yelled frantically. Shawn nodded, before stopping his fingers. He didn't let him go, though. He remained holding onto him, and calmly felt the man's deep breaths. He leaned his chin onto Marvin's shoulder as he processed the feeling, slowly closing his eyes to stay focused.

Shawn and Marvin remained like this for a while. Marvin had placed his hands on top of Shawn's, and leaned his head against Shawn's as well. They were both comfortable in each other's arms...

That was, until Shawn blew a raspberry into Marvin's neck.

"HEHEHEHehehehey! I thohohought wehehe were hahahaving ahaha mohohohoment?!" Marvin asked.

"We are! I'm just adding some laughter into the moment!" Shawn replied, before giving Marvin another raspberry into his neck. Marvin bursted out laughing again. When the laughter slowly died down, Shawn would blow another raspberry.

"Shahahahahahawn! Ihihit- AAAHAHAHaha! Ihihit tihihihickles!" Marvin whined, his laughter growing as he was given another raspberry in between his sentence.

"Really? It tickles? Here! Let me fix that!" Shawn decided, before blowing multiple raspberries up and down Marvin's neck.

"NAAAHAHAHahahaha! AHAHahahaha! Yohohohou're soohohoho MEHEHEHEHEAN!" Marvin yelled.

"Mean?! You think I'm mean?! I'm offended, Marvin!" Shawn reacted. Shawn continued to raspberry his neck, but also resumed the clawing on Marvin's tummy and sides again. Marvin threw his head back and bursted out into even more laughter! The more he laughed, the more his laughter turned to cackles! Soon, Marvin's cackles took over his body as he squirmed frantically to get out of Shawn's grip.

"AHA! I've gotcha!" Someone said. Suddenly, a pair of hands had scooped up Shawn, and dragged him backwards a few steps. Marvin got out of Shawn's loosened grip, and took off running to the wall on the other side of the room, before turning himself around.

"HEY! LET ME- EEEEK! HEHEHEHEY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shawn squealed, before falling into a fit of laughter. Marvin's eyes widened as he gazed at the person. It was Henrik! Oh gosh...He was trying to get revenge on the invisible person!

"Oooh! Does zhe invisible human have ticklish ribs, by any chance?" Henrik teased, before drilling his fingers into the bottom ribs and wiggling them. Shawn's laughter grew louder and higher as he kicked and pushed against the arms that trapped him.

"YEHEHEHEHESS! THEHEHEHEY'RE TOHOHOHOHOO TIHIHIHICKLIHIHISH!" Shawn yelled through his laughter. Henrik rolled his eyes and decided to raise his arms a little higher. He started digging his fingers into the middle ribs, making sure to dig into the sides of the ribs as well as the front.

"GAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DON"T GO HIGHER! DOHOHOHON'T GOHOHO HIGHEHEHER!" Shawn begged.

"Oh, I'm going higher. Your laughter gets louder zhat vay!" Henrik replied, before dragging his fingers a little higher and digging into the ribs. Shawn's protests continued leaving his mouth, but soon, his squirming had started to die down. Marvin was SO thankful to not be in that situation.

"Now: Let's see who zhis invisible tickler is..." Henrik said, before pulling a bottle of invisible powder out of his pocket. Wait a second...

"Where did you get that?" Marvin asked slightly frantic.

"From your room. Either zhis is a ghost, or zhis is a fellow friend of ours." Henrik theorized, before sprinkling some invisible powder onto the invisible person's shaking head. The powder starting taking effect, as Shawn's body started reappearing in Henrik's arms. "Shawn?!" Henrik reacted, his jaw dropping at the shocking news.

"Yahahaha...whahahat dohoho yohou wahahahahant?" Shawn asked, confused as to what was going on.

"I vant to know why you vere tickling people in zhe house?" Henrik explained.

"Whahahat ahare yohohou tahahahalking abohohohout?" Shawn asked.

Henrik narrowed his eyes, as bits of frustration started to spark inside of him. Henrik decided to dig his hands into Shawn's armpits. "Now's not a good time to start denying. Spit zhe truth out!" Henrik ordered, still tickling him.

Shawn squeezed his armpits shut as he squirmed back and forth. "I AHAHAHAM TEHEHEHELLING THEHEHE TRUHUHUHUHUTH!" Shawn shouted.

"Oh, I doubt that!" Henrik replied, continuing his ticklish revenge on the 'invisible tickler'.

"Actually...he's not lying. Shawn wasn't the one who tickled everyone..." Marvin explained.

"Vait...really? Zhen, vhy vas Shawn invisible?" Henrik asked.

Shawn breathed in as much as he could, but also attempted to speak. "Because *huff* I...was *huff* getting...revenge...*huff* on Marvin. *huff* " Shawn said through puffs of air.

Henrik narrowed his eyes, and looked at Marvin. Marvin was scratching the back of his head, with a wobbly smile on his face. "Yyyyyup...Iiiit was meee..." Marvin confessed awkwardly. Henrik's revenge focused switched, dropping Shawn and running up to Marvin to cover him in vengeful tickles.

"Wait! Hold on- Henrik! We can talk about this, can't we?" Marvin attempted.

"Oh yes, ve CAN talk! Let's talk TICKLES!" Henrik said, before trapping Marvin in his arms and squeezing at his tummy.

"WAAHAHAHAHAHA! HEHEHENRIHIHIHIK!" Marvin yelled, bursting out into hysterical laughter. Henrik's fingers proceeded to dance all over Marvin's tummy, and he soon dipped his index finger into Marvin's sunken belly button.

Marvin exploded with laughter! "PLEHEHEHEHEASE! MEHEHERCY! MEHEHEHEHERCYY!" Marvin pleaded.

Henrik let his lips form into a smirk, before bringing his lips to Marvin's ear. "No amounts of mercy vill be given to you for a vhile. So yust do me a favor: Laugh it aaaaaalll out." Henrik whispered into his ear, before launching the ultimate tickle attack on the magician.

And indeed, Marvin laughed. And laughed, and cackled...and snorted, and let out all his other laughs as well! It was about time that Marvin gets that ultimate wrecking they've all been waiting for. In the end, Henrik took pity on him, and let him go. Then, all was well when Henrik gave him a glass of water.