Yes, I loved the gym, then something happened. I took a trip to my uncles house for a couple of days. Over there I ate all the delicious food auntie had cooked, and went out to eat the great fired chicken and ice-cream they had outside. Then spent the next 4 hours laying i bed. Then ate still more food, an entire bowl of popcorn while watching a movie, then dinner watching a soccer match, which was KFC and rice. And went to bed.
The next day i woke up at 11 AM, had brunch, watched more TV, had lunch, played on my phone, went out to play with the kids nearby. The whole time I felt something. Like I was rejuvenating, and getting stronger and more energetic. I felt the constant muscle soreness I had the last few weeks going away. I had an entire lamb shank for dinner that night, and I could feel the power coursing through me. The day after that was the day we would go back home. I found something in the cabinet as a snack, a bowl of cashews, to have with the leftover lamb from last night. Devoured the whole thing. It was strange, I didn't expect to be so hungry despite not doing much of anything for the past two days, in fact, I wasnt used to ever feeling very hungry at all.After the hours drive home, i had lunch and studied math.
At 4 pm I left for the gym. I entered the familiar scene. Posters of buff guys and motivational stuff on the wall, the trainer instructing someone on how to do barbell squats properly, Meeraj doing side raises with 10 kg dumbbells. I felt different that day. I guessed I felt better. I had this cheap energy drink on the way to really boost my workout, as the progress was getting really exciting. I could already feel it getting to work, something told me I was tougher then usual.
I went over to the lat pull-down, which was being used by this hairy middle aged man. "How many more sets do you have left", I asked him.
"One more, he answered".
"Ok, I'll do one set when you rest", I responded.
He agreed, so I took the machine and set it down to 15 kg for a few reps to recall the form, which the trainer always emphasized. It felt lighter then usual, and then I put the pin on 25 kg for the first working set. Even this didn't feel quite as heavy as usual. I got to 15 reps without feeling a single bit of strain. Then gave it up to the man for his last set.
After the potbellied man was done with his last set, I took it again. The complete lack of strain was no illusion. I set it to 30 kg expecting it to be harder. It felt like more weight, but still felt easy.
I was surprised, I expected 30 kg to actually feel like a struggle, yet I got to rep 10 and felt almost nothing. Maybe my strength had gone up faster then I thought somehow. I put it on 35 kg, did 5 easy reps, I was surprised.
I wanted to see if I could do 40 kg, the weight was heavy enough that puling it dragged my body up a bit, and I found I needed to ground my thighs into the machine to stop this from happening.
To my surprise that went all the way up as well, though I now felt the weight. I was surprised that I could do it. I had to see if I could do 45 kg. I put the pin on the weight, held the bar, dug my thighs into the pad to keep myself from flying into the air, then I heard the trainer behind me.
"I just saw what you did", he said. "I should have known you were gonna do this sometime", he continued. "If your really that strong i want you to try out pull-ups", he ordered. Pointing to the pull-up bar. Neeraj was using the bar, and after I heard his strained voice say 16, he let me have it. I hung off the bar, which wasn't as hard to do as I remembered.
"Now pull yourself up as high as you can!", ordered the trainer. I pulled with all my might, and to my delight I was going up at a decent speed, though it was hard. "Till your chin is over the bar!", he ordered. I got all the way up. "Lower down", he ordered, I followed, i listened. "Now one more", he commanded. I did one more, except it was harder. "One more rep!", he commanded again, fire in his voice. "You were gonna do 45 kg on the machine today, prove your that strong!"
I pulled with all my might, only aware of the strain on my arms. Slowly, surely, I was going up. "Keep pulling!", shouted the trainer again. I had reached my forehead over the bar, and was now trying to get the bar all the way up to my chin, my biceps and even my back and forearms were turned on like never before. I finally succeeded, I had never felt so good as I jumped down from the bar 8 inches to the ground.
"Ok", responded the trainer, "from now on you are gonna practice pull-ups till you can do 15", "it will take a while".
"That's sounds hard", I answered.
"Ok, first get to 5 pull-ups", answered the trainer, "can you get that?".
"Yeah, i can get that I think", I answered.
"You can, its almost guaranteed", answered the trainer.