Sea Turtles & Stars: Akari Ito & Kimiko Nagasawa

[Misfit_Alien]

"Of course, there weren't a lot of people willing to lend a helping hand to me when I was starting out, at least not until a few weeks into my career here. It's good to have people watching your back from day one, the more friends the better, yeah?" She said with a cheerful attitude. "Whenever you're ready, just let me know and we'll get to work. I'll show you my routine and we can go light on the cardio today, just so I can gauge your performance. Then we can get to drills and sparring, don't sweat the fact that you're inexperienced, I'm here to be your partner and help you flourish, there'd be no sense in me squashing you before you've had your proper debut."

After everything was said and all was done, Akari grabbed her things and tucked them into a gym bag, walking over to the locker room exit. "I'll be here when you're ready to go~"

[TriggerBunny]

Kimiko was genuinely ecstatic for the first time in long, long while. "Yes ma'am!" she piped up. As soon as Akari left her sight, Kimiko ran back over to her stuff and packed it all up in a hurry. Kimiko just couldn't believe the first interaction she's had in LAW was so positive! She rushed to the locker room entrance with all her unorganized stuff haphazardly forced into her bag. However she suddenly stopped herself right before entering back into the gym. As she was motionless at the door, she slowly breathed in and out to help collect herself. But she just couldn't contain her excitement! She started quickly jumping up and down and squealing with joy, something that would seem quite odd and rather embarrassing if there was another observer in the locker room. Kimiko wouldn't be bothered to even consider that though, as she was practically glowing with eagerness to start her training session! She immediately ran out the door trying to catch up to Akari.

[Misfit_Alien]

As they left the locker room and entered the open gym area, Akari could see that the once timid look on Star's face had entirely drained away, it was now awash with a bright and positive outlook as the young woman was brimming with excitement. She looked out of breath by the time she reached the door, she must've REALLY been eager to train, it made Akari happy that she had this kind of effect on someone. This in turn motivated the Sea Turtle and boosted her attitude a few notches.

They went out toward a large, empty space with some yoga mats set down all across the floor. "First things first, you absolutely ALWAYS want to get nice and loose before a difficult workout. Stretching is essential to getting the body's joints into shape, increasing flexibility, and decreasing your chance of injury. As a bonus, in our field of 'work', it'll help you last longer against certain submission moves. That's what learning the fundamentals can do for you, these small things can have big effects in the long term. This leads us to our first exercise...Yoga!!!" Akari said, standing on one individual mat and directing Kim toward another mat. "Have you ever done yoga before? We can start off with the light stuff first if need be, it's helpful to stretch and do yoga to prevent injury but you can still pull something if you're not careful in the middle of it all."

[TriggerBunny]

Kimiko knew of yoga, but never really had the chance to try it out. As more of a casual weightlifter, Kimiko had heard somewhere that she wasn't supposed to do stretches before lifting weights, but instead afterwards. Unfortunately for her flexibility, Kimiko always made the excuse of her being too tired after a workout to attempt any form of stretching. Although she's very willing to do it now that she actually has someone to hold her to account!

"Yoga? Well..." Kimiko paused visibly unsure, but suddenly changed to an assertive confidence. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try!" Kimiko slowly sat on the mat with her knees almost against her chest and her hands on either side of her body supporting her weight. Kimiko leaned her chest forward "But, uh, I'll admit I'm not that flexible. I'm kinda sedentary all day every day haha" she softly laughed. "But I can handle whatever you can do!"

[Misfit_Alien]

"I'm loving the positivity 'Star', keep that perky attitude up!" She said, further hyping up Kim's confidence as the two got into place. Meanwhile, Akari couldn't help but smile as Kim moved into position for some pre-workout stretches, she was so eager to give this her first try. Given her inexperience, the Sea Turtle would make things light and easy for the masked woman's first time, no sense in throwing her into the deep end, this was a new experience and they were going to take that first step slowly.

Akari leaned herself backward, making sure she was nice and loose before lowering herself onto the mat. "There's no need to worry about being sedentary. In fact, these stretches will help you in the mean time if you ever find yourself with some free time on your hands. Basic calisthenics like this can really help you maintain a fit form. Now then, all I want you to do is follow my lead and recreate my poses as best as you can. I'll start things off with some beginner forms, just try and hold it for as long as possible. Remember, pace yourself accordingly...rushing into it may end up hurting you more than it does help you." She said, moving into the first position she wanted Kim to try: Upwards Facing Dog

U.F.D. Pose

[TriggerBunny]

"Alright, no problem!" Kimiko nodded and in a relaxed manner flipped chest down on the mat. She breathed in deeply and held it. She slowly went up into position puffing her torso out. She was a bit self-conscious because her already tight suit creaked as it hugged even tighter to her body. She was visibly uncomfortable and struggled a little, but she got a halfway decent form. She tried to hide it, but her arms were shaking and she let out a quiet extended grunt as she pushed herself to match Akari's perfect arch.

[Misfit_Alien]

As Akari settled into the pose she was quickly followed behind by 'Star', the masked wrestling rookie taking to the form quite handily. For being inexperienced, she was doing a good job in recreating it nearly one-to-one, a few adjustments and it'd be perfect, but for a first try, she was off to an excellent start. "Great form! You're already off to a good start. Keep your arms as steady as you can, stop exerting yourself when you can't go for any longer, and keep your body arched and head up. Hold it...hold it...little more..." She continued to lead Kim on, examining and analyzing her form in real time as she held her own with such ease and grace. "And release~" She said with a pleasant smile, having timed Kim to about a minute-and-a-half or so.

"Take a thirty-second rest, get back into your idle position and follow my lead once you're ready~" She said, moving forward to the next pose. "This one's a little tenser, but give it your best shot." Akari shifts herself down to one knee, putting one leg out until it was fully outstretched. She arches her body to one side and reaches one arm above and over her head in the same direction, balancing herself on her other arm to perform a 'Gate Pose' yoga form.

Gate Pose

[TriggerBunny]

Kimiko needed that 30-second break as she collapsed to the floor, finally released from pushing herself. It didn't help that she held her breath during most of the pose to hide that she was straining to keep up with Akari. Yoga was tougher than she'd expected even though she'd only done a beginner pose. But unsurprisingly Akari made it seem like no big deal at all as she shifted to the next pose. If Kimiko didn't know her and how friendly she was, she would've assumed Akari was mocking her with her superior physical prowess and grace. Kimiko once again followed her instructions for the gate pose, Balancing her knee and lifting her arm reaching Akari's form a lot easier that before. She was still wobbling, but Kimiko felt like she was starting to get the hang of things!

[Misfit_Alien]

The Sea Turtle was ecstatic over how Kim was holding her own and keeping herself balanced. She seemed like she was starting to struggle a little but no matter how shaky that arm of hers got, she never wavered. The girl either had an unshakable will or a very stubborn mind. Regardless, Akari was happy with the results she was showing off during their warm-up. "Yeah~, you got it!! Just like that, 'Star'. Keep it steady...a little longer...-aaaand BREAK." She said, her mental timer going off after another minute-and-a-half. "Good job, how're you feeling? If you're okay with continuing, I've got some leg-based exercises we can work on. I consider myself a bit of a striker, when I start matches I tend to rush my opponent with a flurry of kicks, so needless to say-..." She trails off before performing a standing split.

Spoiler

"I absolutely NEVER skip leg day~" She said jokingly, chuckling to herself. "Go grab some water and take a bit to decompress for a second. I'll see if we can't find a leg curl machine." Akari said, pointing over to where some of the weight machines were. She would walk off to find an open machine for use, as well as some weights to put on. Once she managed to find one, she began to set up for a quick demonstration once Kim was recovered and ready to go, putting on her usual amount of weights for her next routine: Seated Leg Curls.

Spoiler

[TriggerBunny]

Kimiko was really impressed by Akari's innate flexibility when she just casually performed a standing split. Kimiko blushed a little bit at Akari's confident display of her powerful yet versatile legs in her outfit. Even if she stretched every day she knew she could never reach that flexibility with her body. Although Kimiko often felt out of place with extroverts, she couldn't help but enjoy Akari's exuding confidence and personality. Akari really was starting to grow on her!

Akari told her to take a break and meet her next to the weight machines, which Kimiko gladly took advantage of. Kimiko noticed that she was already sweating a considerable amount despite only doing stretches. Although Kimiko was skeptical about the yoga warmup, she found herself enjoying it a lot! Maybe it was because she was training with someone she wanted to impress? She could get in quite the workout with just those stretches! As Kimiko went to get some water, she wondered how she could incorporate stretching into her daily routine.

However, those thoughts left her mind when she saw Akari next to what looked like the hamstring curl machine. Now this was more Kimiko's speed! Kimiko's only real form of exercise was weightlifting. She considered her glutes, hips, and hamstrings to be the most powerful parts of her body. She was ready to show off her lower body and hopefully impress her new partner!