Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)

Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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“Well if you’re interested, I could give some lessons on any of the weight training and spot you. I had to do a pretty extensive workout routine in the Academy and that had me do a varied amount of exercises.” Achilleas offered.

CSO Petrakos

Alexis almost shook her head no. Weight training wasn’t her thing, but it would give her something else to do in her spare time. She had plenty of people to avoid, well two people anyway. And cardio burned calories and blood sugar, it didn’t really keep the muscles in shape. “Why not. Doesn’t hurt to try, right?” If she tried it, she would understand the exercise better and be able to make more informed recommendations. “What would you suggest?”
Lt. Bonner, AMO

Achilleas put a hand to his chin in contemplation for a moment before holding up a finger. “So depending on if you want to focus on arm strength or leg strength, my first suggestion for arm strength would be the bench press. This way I could spot you and take the weight for you if you get tired or falter. My second suggestion is for the legs.” He held up another finger. “That would be the leg press. You sit and hold onto some grips in front of you while extending your legs out fully. You won’t need any spotting for that and can add or remove weight as you need.”

CSO Petrakos

“I have never lifted weights, so I will take your suggestion. Though I’m afraid I could not…’spot?’ you. I doubt I could do more than call for help if I had to lift it off of you.”
Lt. Bonner, AMO

Achilleas smiled as he rolled his shoulders. “It’s alright, I’ll make sure to not do anything close to my limit. High weights isn’t the only method but also high reps with lower weights. Reps can help tone and define muscles without really adding to them. Either way we can both start with the leg press as you won’t need someone to spot you.

CSO Petrakos

Alexis nodded, “Alright.” She followed him over to the weight machine, her mind devouring the configuration and quickly picking up how it worked. She also knew that higher weights would increase muscle mass, but lower weight with more time, or how did he put it-reps, would increase stamina. Out of pure intellectual curiosity, “So why did you decide to start this type of exercise?” She wondered if anyone did it for other reasons than being “buff,” or whatever they called it.
Lt Bonner, AMO

Achilleas moved behind the machine that Alexis would use and set the weight to thirty pounds. He thought it’d be a good introduction without really pushing her and they could increase it if it was too easy. He moved to the machine he was going to use and set the weight to seventy-five pounds. As he came around the front and get comfortable on the seat he responded. “Well Starfleet wants their officers in decent physical condition, at least what they told us in the Academy. I’m not sure how much that actually carries over into practical life on a starship though. I’ve found that it’s too easy to get focused on your work and not manage your self care well enough. As for this type of exercise, well cardio is fantastic and all but a bit of strength training included is fantastic for a more well rounded regimen. Holistically a healthier body leads to a sharper mind.”

CSO Petrakos

Alexis smirked. She’d never bought the ‘holistic’ medicinal practices. They weren’t scientifically proven. But exercise of any kind didn’t fall under the holistic medicines. “I suppose cardio does a lot for exercising your organ muscles, but not so much for your skeletal muscles. Both are essential for the body to operate.” Alexis was curious about his hypothesis and wondered if it proves to be true what that would do to her already overly hungry brain. She sat down in the machine, half on her back, feet pressed firmly the press board. If she hadn’t been watching Achilles’s she wouldn’t have noticed the safety lock and known to release it. She pressed up, expecting it to be hard, but it was actually very easy.
Lt Bonner, AMO

Achilleas watched a moment to be sure that Alexis was doing it correctly as not to hurt herself and that the weight wasn’t too much. He nodded his head and focused on pushing against his weights. “The more your body can efficiently store and retrieve energy the better. While you don’t want your body to cannibalize your muscle mass, obviously, having a balanced diet and decent exercise regimen can regulate your metabolism.” He paused his explanation while he looked over at her. “Is the weight good or would a bit more be better?”

CSO Petrakos

“I find that when I talk to my patients about diet they have this idea of starving themselves. Which is so wrong. A good diet is all about individual metabolism. And most people don’t even know what theirs is. And then they ‘diet’ and instead of improving their health, it only makes it worse.” Alexis lifted the weights several times considering his question. “I don’t know, it seems pretty easy.” She wouldn’t know it but it was probably too light, as she was moving through the reps more rapidly than she should.
Lt Bonner, AMO