A Kindling Rivalry

[Bare]

Finlay waited for Amy to respond, seeing what she would say. There may have been multiple benches, but in his mind one of them should spot the other while they lifted, after all he wanted to compete against her but he didn’t want one of then to grt hurt in the process. However he saw her attention drift to the deadlifts. ‘Hm? So thats what she wants to go with.’ He thought to himself before she said he could go first.

Shrugging his shoulders he made his way over to the bar and weights. Grabbing a few he slid them into place on each side till the total weight was 340 pounds. Then making his way around the weight he reached down and gripped each end of the bar with a firm grip. With a deep breath he would stand while lifting the weight up, pulling it up to his waist he let it fall back down, before repeating the process, lifting up and then letting it fall a total of fourteen times. Taking a deeper breath he would pull it up to his waist again, this time however he would pull it up higher, up to hus shoulders, before pushing it above his head for a full deadlift. Holding it for a second he would drop the bar letting the weights crash back onto their place on the mat.

[FinyBoy]

The two made their way over to the deadlift, with Amy being none the wiser to Finlay's thoughts. He started them off, doing a nice set of reps of 340 pounds! Amy was pretty impressed by that.

As soon as he stepped away, she went over and took his place. She wasn't looking to one-up him right now. Rather, she just wanted to test herself to see if she could surpass him. So she began mirroring his lifts. Once, then twice, three time, again and again. She would lift it seventeen times, before she made the full dead lift, held it for a few seconds, and dropped it down and backing away.

[Bare]

Finlay stood off to the side watching Amy as she began to use the same weighted bar he used. As she began reps he would watch her carefully in how she did it, picking up on her form and trying to discern how many she would be able to do. As she got higher up on the reps he visibly became more interested as she managed to surpass his count before making the full deadlift for a total of eighteen. As she finished and went back to the side he would walk back to the weight. Bending down he too would grab the barbell and start his own reps. Lifting them up began doing rep after rep. Graudally going past his own record and then past Amy’s as he did twenty reps. Lifting the weights past his head he would drop it to the mat for a full twenty one reps.

[FinyBoy]

She nodded her head as he finished his 21st rep, as if to say 'As expected.' She was happy to see him surpass his previous limit. But if he could do it, then so could she!

Moving over to the weight rack, she picked some more up and added them to the bar. The total was now 370 lbs.

She then got into her stance and began lifting. She would make it to rep 25 before doing a full lift, then dropping it back down. This one was definitely more difficult than before, and she may not have been fully able to mask the small struggle she had. But she completed it all the same.

[Bare]

Finlay had crossed his arms while watching Amy with expectant eyes eager to see what she would do to top his last performance. Raising a brow as he saw her get some extra weights and add them to the bar he idly wandered if she’d manage to lift it.

Sure enough however despite the weight increase Amy had managed a solid 26 total reps and lift before dropping it. Nodding to himself Finlay wasn’t overly surprised, rather he was actually glad, he would have expected nothing less of the female blonde.

Walking forward he cracked his neck on each side in preperation for his own set. He had spotted the look of struggle on Amy’s face and knew for a fact that if she had had trouble so would he. Reaching down he curled his hands on each side of the bar and took a deep breath in mental preperation.

Then he would stand up and lift the bar up with him in response. Grunting a bit he began doing his own reps, his muscles quickly butnjng in response to the strain but he kept himself together despite the visible effort. Rep after rep he pushed himself past his limit, going up to 29 reps he did a full deadlift before dropping the weight onto the mat for 30 reps. Wqlking around the weight back to his previous position next to Amy he did his best to stowe the difficult he had breathing following those reps

[FinyBoy]

Once again, Finlay matched and exceeded Amy's expectations. She couldn't help but grin as she watched him power through those sets. Even though she could tell that he struggled a bit near the end, there was no denying that he beat her that round. A pang of competitiveness escalated in her chest. She needed to keep going.

She attached more weights to the bar, this time going completely overboard and far beyond what was reasonable: 450 lbs.

This was an insane jump, and Amy should have known better, but her spirit clouded her judgement. She began doing her reps. Any chance of hiding her struggling was impossible at this point. She managed to get about 7 reps off before she decided to go for the full lift. She would get it, making the final rep count 8. But it was clear that she barely succeeded in doing so.

[Bare]

As Amy went about increasing the weight again Finlay rose an eyebrow seeing how much she was adding, and be actually found himself sweating a bit from the weight. ‘That much? Are either of us even capable of that?’ He thought to himself while watching in anticipation if Amy would manage it. Sure enough before his eyes his fellow blonde had not only managed to lift it but do a few successful reps before tbe full deadlift.

Granted it was nowhere near the number as before but with the weight limit what it was that made sense. ”Alright then.” He said walking past her and to the dumbell. Cracking his knuckles and neck he bent down, gripping the bar with both hands. After a moment to take a breath he would stand up pulling the bar up with visible strain on his face. Managing a rep he would continue it, two, three, four, five more times.

As he tried for a sixth one he could practically hear his arms screaming in strain, his teeth clenched as he used sheer will power to keep his grip on the unforgiving steel. Finally he managed the sixth rep with a lot of struggle, than with a similar amount of strain he barely managed to force it above his head for the full dead lift before dropping it. Panting tiredly and flexing his hands tk return feeling there he lamented that loss to Amy, considering he only managed 7 to her 8 reps.

[FinyBoy]

Amy watched with great anticipation as Finlay did his reps. He too was struggling, but as the reps kept getting higher, the blonde girl kept getting more nervous. She wasn't sure she could top this if her outdid her.

But in the end, he fell short, by a single rep. Amy breathed a sigh of relief as it became apparent that her couldn't do any more. However, instead of superiority, and couldn't help but feel extraordinarily impressed with her lifting partner. He may have fallen short, but it was only by a tiny amount, far more than anyone she had seen in a very long while.

"Wow, that was amazing, Finlay! I'm really impressed!" He might have taken it as a taunt, or even as a pity statement, but Amy genuinely felt that way about his determination. Not just anyone could bring out the true competitiveness inside of the blonde girl.

[Bare]

Finlay panted softly as he dropped the bar, one rep short of matching Amy’s set meaning she had ‘won’ this little excercise. But it was only the start. Heaeing Amy’s words however caused the make blonde to snap to attention with his eyes focused on Amy. His first instinct was to take it as a insult or pity. But in the short time knoeing the girl he knew that wasn’t her style, and just looking at her face showed she was one hundred percent genuine. ”Yeah... not good enough to beat you though.” He said, obviously not liking that he hadn’t been able to at least match Amy’s reps.

[FinyBoy]

While it had been pretty obvious that the two were competing, Amy had not fully realized that he too had been trying to outmatch her. Call it absurd obliviousness, but she had thought that she was the only one who was treating this like an actual competition.

She felt somewhat relieved, but then quickly tried to hide it as she straighten herself up.

"Well, I'm hardly about to let you beat me in anything, especially when I can still give it my all!" A bold statement, meant to affirm her competitiveness. "...but that doesn't change the fact that you really pushed me on that last one."

Only now did she realize just how tired and sweaty she had gotten from the lifting the two just did. She lifted her shirt to her face to wipe herself off, before letting it fall back down into place.