The Mentors (3)

[florida20]

Chapters 1 & 2


CHAPTER 3: INDOC

The summer sun was just nearing the horizon when Cody and Reece pulled into the apartment complex of Reece’s candidate. Matt apparently wrecked his Beemer right after high school graduation and, as a punishment from his parents, wouldn’t get it back until August. So part of the deal was that the two brothers would pick him up for the gym since he was on their way. As Reece instructed, Matt was standing prepared and ready in front of his building.

Matt was a pretty-boy in every sense of the word. He had dark hair and eyes and a smile that Reece assumed made most girls melt. He was the spitting image of the young bodybuilder, Spencer Neville, in face and potential if not size and definition. Reece told him on the way that Matt never felt the need to work out in high school but, after noticing that his “competition” increased dramatically once he got here, he suddenly felt the need to bulk up.

“The guy’s brother and father are bodybuilders, bro,” Reece said as their recruit made his way to the car. “This shit’s in his blood.”

“I’m sure it is,” Cody said. There was something about this guy’s swagger that bugged Cody. Good looking and popular throughout his life, Matt may not have the motivation to grow. He was wearing a tight sleeveless shirt and, although obviously athletic, didn’t look like he had lifted a weight in his life. He had one of those bodies which, when covered, people assumed was well built. But when the shirt came off, Cody guessed there wouldn’t be much there. That usually hinted at good genetics but right now he was just an eighteen year old who liked an occasional game of pickup football or baseball.

Matt got in the back seat of the Cody’s Explorer. “This is badass,” he said as he shut the door behind him. “Thanks again for helping me out, Re-” he paused as he got a look at the front seat. “Holy shit, you two are identical. Which one of you is Reece?”

Reece, sitting in the passenger seat, raised his hand. “You have any tricks to tell the two of you apart?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, plenty,” Cody said as he pulled out of the space. “You’ll figure it out.”
Matt shrugged but nodded. “Well, thanks again. I’m ready to go nuts today.”

“Good to hear,” Reece said, grinning at Cody as if he had already won the competition.

Cody smiled back, knowing potential was not always indicative of success.

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The three of them pulled into the gym’s nearly empty parking lot at 5:45. As they drove by the gym entrance, they noticed Hayden waiting at the front door in the same baggy shirt and oversized gym shorts he wore the day before.

“That’s him,” Cody said as they drove by.

Matt burst out laughing. “That’s my competition? He looks like the Mitch from the movie Waiting. This is going to be cake.”

“Shut up, Matt,” Reece said with a grin that belied his tone. Turning to his brother, “But seriously, where did you find a dork like that?”

“Same place you did,” Cody said smugly as they pulled in the nearest spot and got out of the car. “You may be surprised.” Everyone pulled their gym bags from the back of the vehicle; Cody took out two.

When they got to the door, Hayden walked right up to Cody and shook his hand. “Good morning, Cody,” he said, obviously a little intimidated by three people who wouldn’t have given him a glance in any other situation.

“Hey,” Cody said back. “This is my brother, Reece, and his guy, Matt.”
They both shook his hand, Matt unable to hide a smirk that showed exactly how he felt about the guy.

“Ok,” Reece said. “Here’s the deal. Matt, you said your parents would have no problem buying you supplements and food. Hayden, what about you?”
Hayden shrugged. “I’ll make it happen. I’m on scholarship and going to be working in the library so-“

“Good,” Reece said. “All the food you guys are going to need will be costly, so make sure you budget for that. You both won’t need supplements until you hit a plateau but, even then, we’re not here to buy a bunch of shit for you.”

The two freshmen nodded. Cocky or not, Cody thought. Matt’s right about one thing: Hayden is a mirror image of John Francis Daley.

A student worker suddenly appeared behind the door and unlocked it. The gym was officially opened. Reece looked at Hayden, then at Cody with a smile. “May the best man win,” he said as he patted his brother on the back. Then he and Matt made their way into the gym.

Hayden and Cody held their ground outside the gym for a few more minutes.
“I’m going to bury that asshole,” Hayden said with a newfound backbone.
“You’re going to do what I say, Hayden; you will do everything I say,” Cody continued. “Bodybuilding is more than a couple of hours in the gym. You will need to eat it and sleep it for the next year.”

“No problem,” Hayden answered.

“Good,” Cody replied, knowing that was easier said than done. “Reece was right. We’re not going to buy a boatload of shit for you but call this a starter kit of sorts.” He picked up the second gym bag and pulled out two notepads. “These are logs Reece and I kept our first year doing this. It tracked our weight, reps, food intake, hours of sleep. Everything. Look through it and start one of your own. Here’s a blank pad. Never be without it. Have something similar ready by tomorrow.” He threw the steno pads back in the bag. Next, he pulled out a large heavy duty water bottle. “You’re going to drink at least two of these a day. You will need a ton of water just like you’ll need a ton of food.” He put that back in the bag as well. “I also have a bodybuilder’s recipe book, a tub of protein to get you started, a list of other supplements we’ll worry about purchasing later, and about ten magazines to give you some knowledge we miss in the gym.”

He threw the bag at Hayden and they went into the gym, down the hall, and into the locker room. The other two were already working out in the weight room and Hayden was obviously antsy to get started. “Hold your horses; we have to log a starting point. Give me your notebook,” Cody said as they put their bags in a locker. He pulled out a tape measure. “Take off your shirt,” he ordered as Hayden gave him the new steno pad.

Hayden did as he was told. Good, Cody thought? he’s not resisting anymore. Hayden’s body somehow looked like it was just begging for a workout. His muscles were small but Cody was convinced that was only due to lack of use. “Let’s get some measurements.”

After a few minutes and a trip to the scale, Cody had his beginning stats written on the inside page of the notepad. “Arms 13 inches, waist 29, thighs 19, calves 13, neck 14, chest 34, height…oh for god’s sake stand up straight…6’2 and weight” Cody’s eyebrows shot up, “173 pounds.” Heavier than he looks, Cody thought. Good, means he’s dense.

“Ok, let’s write some goals next to it. Let’s see…arms: 16, thighs 24, chest 38, and weight 200. That’s where you want to be by December. These are steep goals but an easy goal is a shitty goal, right?”

Hayden only nodded.

“Alright shrimp, let’s hit the weights.”

They walked into the massive weight room, shared only by about a dozen others willing to get up before the sun. Reece was putting Matt through the ringer. He had him benching 115 and was screaming at him to get another rep up. “We’ll drop it to 95 after this rep, but first you gotta get the bar up. I’m not going to help you.”

Cody and Hayden started with free weights. “Nothing is better than a dumbbell, Hayden. Nothing. Let’s see some of those curls you were trying yesterday.”
And so it began. Their first workout mostly involved a correct tutelage on form. “Are you working your deltoids your biceps? Well stop moving your goddam shoulder during those curls. Concentrate on the bicep…” They moved to chest. “Squeeze the muscle group when you’re fully contracted…There, now slowly come down…Dude! Back straight, you’re not giving birth…” Then delts. “If you have to swing your body like that then you obviously can’t raise twenty pound bells. Here’s a pair of tens; you can’t get anything higher until you do it right.”

Contrary to Hayden’s frustration at his lack of skill, Cody was impressed at how quickly he was learning. He never needed to be told something twice. They continued through the rest of the upper body’s muscle groups and after nearly ninety minutes, Hayden had the form of a seasoned weight lifter. One thing Cody never had to tell him was to push himself to failure. The runt would take every exercise to its exhaustive end, leaving him panting before dropping the weights. They recorded every set in his logbook and established a pretty good starting point.

By 7:30 both teams were done and were on their ways to the locker room. Matt and Hayden both looked exhausted; Matt even looked like he regretted what he had gotten himself into. That sentiment seemed to disappear the moment the two brothers took their shirts off and got ready to shower. “How long did it take you two to look like that?” he asked as he reached out and poked Reece’s abs.

“Longer than it’s going to take you champ,” Reece said encouragingly as Matt took his own shirt off. The kid had a good base but his flat body definitely needed work. The guy was all face. “You plan on showering in your gym clothes?” Reece asked Hayden, who was lying on the bench and staring up at the ceiling and covered in his own sweat.

“Afraid to take off your shirt in front of the men in the room?” Matt asked mockingly.

Hayden recoiled a bit but sat up, not making eye contact with his competition. “My friends are going to be here to work out in a few minutes. I think I’ll wait for them and get another little bit in.”

Cody stopped and looked at him. “You’re not going to make your goals in a day, squirt. You’ll make a lot of progress these first few weeks but not if you burn your body out in the first few days. You need to listen to your body and I’m sure it’s telling you to slow down. No workout until tomorrow.”

Hayden was thoughtful. “Okay, I’ll just show them what I learned. It’ll reinforce what you taught me today.”

“Deal,” Cody said as Hayden pulled a protein bar out of his bag and left the room.

Matt rolled his eyes. Reece just laughed.

“I saw how hard he was pushing himself in the gym today,” Reece told his brother. “You may need to give him tomorrow off. He’s going to be one sore little bastard tomorrow.”

“We’ll see,” Cody said and the three of them went to rinse off.

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Kent and George tried to look invisible as they made their way through the front door of the gym. Their second day here and they couldn’t help but feel pretentious walking into the den of muscle gods. But Hayden wanted them to come. The three of them had been friends since ninth grade and definitely supported each other. If Hayden wanted to get in shape, the other two did as well.

Unlike Hayden, however, these two were just not dealt a good genetic deck when it came to bodybuilding. Classic endomorphs, both would probably be described as squishy. Not fat but soft, lacking any hint of muscle. Hayden had been pretty tightlipped about what the jock had said to him yesterday but hinted that they were doing a senior project or something that involved helping people train.

“You think they kicked his ass?” Kent asked as they made their way into the weight room.

“I hope not. Hayden was really excited about it.” They both saw their friend at the same time leaning against the wall near the entrance. He looked beat and was covered in sweat. He was munching on some sort of candy bar and gobbled the last few bites before seeing his friends and rushing over.

Tired or not, Hayden was emotionally pumped. “Whew. He kicked my ass.” He saw his friends’ faces drop. “In a good way. C’mon, I want to teach you some stuff.”

Hayden figured you had to do a workout to teach it properly. A few extra reps wouldn’t hurt. And with that, Hayden added another hour of gym time. He looked forward to making Matt embarrassed to take his shirt off.

[TemptationIV]

I'm surprised no one's commented yet. I cannot wait for more of this already fantastic story!

[luvyalots]

Looking forward to where this is going...