"You need a spotter?"
"No, I think I'm OK," Dillon said, watching Carmen pick up his water bottle. "Going home?"
"No. I'm gunna go for the yoga area and work on my feet."
Dillon blinked. Carmen had fallen-arches, meaning it hurt to stand or walk after a few minutes. Doctors had given him exercises to do, but he'd never stuck with them because he could never see any results. It wouldn't be the same muscle gain per se, but strengthening. With that, Dillon pointed towards a glass wall up the hallway on the way to the pool where a number of woman were finishing a class. "Over there."
"Thanks," Carmen said, tipping his bottle towards Dillon. "Say bye before you go?"
"Same?" Dillon asked as he moved to the wall to get more of the heavier weights for his next run. Nodding his head first, Carmen then took his AirPods out of his pockets and put them in his ears. Walking up the main hall, he left Dillon to his workout.
Passing the class participants as he entered the glass area, Carmen moved over to the most out-of-the-way area of the room. A section with a TV and a Wii Fit Balance Board. It had a short soundproof wall in gray material up which somewhat blocked it from view of the rest of the room and gym. It was as private as Carmen could make it.
Holding his phone in front of him he brought open the custom-made YouTube Playlist he'd found with all the stretches he needed to do. AirPlaying it to the TV in front of him, he started by doing some heel stretches.
He stood with one leg forward and the other back, his hands up on the rail lining the middle of the soundproof partial wall. Keeping both his heels firmly on the ground, he bent forward while keeping his spine straight. He could feel the stretching at the back of his leg in his Achilles tendon and it burned inside. Holding the position for thirty seconds, he felt the stretching become less strenuous with each of his five bends.
Carmen's plan was originally to skip the next stretch because it required a ball, but a quick glance around the room revealed someone's tennis equipment and a few balls. Doubt they'll miss one, Carmen considered, thinking it fortuitous that he found what he needed so quickly. Hm. I do miss tennis.
Taking up a seat at the edge of the stage at the front of the room, he placed the ball under his right foot. Keeping his spine straight once again, he rolled the ball back and forth as he focused on his arch. "It would help if this didn't feel so silly," he said aloud. His eyes looking up and out of the glass walls as he rocked his foot. After four minutes worth on his right, he swapped to his left and repeated the process... then swapped them both and did the effort again.
Even before moving on to arch lifts, Carmen could feel something happening. It was one of those tensions you've lived with so long that you don't realize it's even possible for it to go away. When he stood up to move back to the balance board, it didn't hurt. That is to say, standing. There was no pulling feeling on his lower back and up his spine. It was as if he just... was upright.
Is this what it feels like to have feet that work?
Carmen shook his head. No, clearly it must hurt so much already he stopped feeling the pain. Yes, that was it. Somehow he'd already pulled something like it shouldn't and he wouldn't realize it hurt until hours from now when he stopped move. Sighing, he smirked. But... what if I'm wrong?
Reflecting on Dillon's dramatic alteration, he did himself the favor of not trying to measure his changes. Standing straight up, with his feet directly beneath his hips, he went onto the next stretch. Playing some music inside his headphones, he focused on his next task. Keeping his toes in contact with the floor, he rolled his sizable weight to the outer edges of his feet, lifting his arches up as high as he could.
Once again, this sort of hurt. And in the interest of fairness, he was only supposed to do ten to fifteen repetitions across two or three sets... but he did twenty reps, four times, and by the end of it the energy he'd felt in his body seemed to have gotten the message and was focusing on his legs now.
He knew in his mind that he was imagining being able to curl his feet further to the edges than he should have been able to, but his heart told him that was a lie. If he kept this up, surely he'd need to use the cane to get around back home. But, again, in this moment... it didn't hurt. And, indeed, the strong pull against his feet muscles felt good.
As he stepped up to the balance board in front of the TV, he was convinced he should stop. With each new way to stretch it pulled at first and then became easier. Surely that wouldn't maintain. But... hey, if he fell and couldn't get up, he could get Dillon to help him home. This wasn't working out alone... he was still sort of with other people.
Sweat was soaking the front and underarms of his gray shirt which only just barely covered up the front dip in his belly. The black sweatpants with the white string off the front was hiding well the increased definition to his legs and lower back.
Closing his eyes, he stood just off the board with his toes on the edge of it. Raising his heels up so that his toes were downward on the board, Carmen held that position for five seconds as instructed. Then, he lowered his heels so that they almost touched the floor for yet another five seconds.
But unlike the previous stretches he did, Carmen didn't feel the burn this time. The burn was good, right? But he persisted. Instead of five seconds, he did eight, and instead of fifteen reps, he did twenty-five.
"Oh yeah," he nodded to himself. "Yeah, that's the burn I'm looking for." Looking behind him as he worked, he saw other people on much bigger machines lifting weights, Dillon included. But there was something about what he was doing that felt fundamental... as if... maybe he could do what they were doing, but it was more important to him to do what he was doing...
"I'm at an experience deficit," he considered as he finished his reps and moved back to the stage. Overweight is one thing... but not having working feet? It sucks, he thought to himself. How do you explain to people 'yes, I know my feet look normal but they don't work'? Answer: you don't.
Standing with his left foot slightly in front, and with his right foot's toes on the edge of the stage, Carmen preceded with his next stretch. Using his left foot for balance, he lowered his right foot's heel so it would hang further than it did with the balance board. As he raised that right heel up to as high as he could, he also extended his left heel upwards, all while keeping his toes as stationary as possible.
"Hm... Yeah. This kind of hurts," he smirked. Once again, he was only supposed to do two or three reps, but he pushed himself because that's what felt right. He could feel a burning heat up his legs and to his lower back as he did so. But after four sets at twenty reps each, Carmen once again felt very little pain. If he hadn't been sure he was imagining it he'd swear his feet were actually larger now than when he started.
Carmen's weight was misplaced as he moved towards the edge of the stage to step down with the stairs. For a moment, he was on a wooden dock above clear water. The scent of olives and pine was strong in the air, and he looked towards where the far wall had been and saw a tree-line leading up to a beach. Almost falling off the dock and into the water, Carmen caught his balance with his toes and stopped himself from falling.
When he stood there, eyes looking up and out the glass wall, he squinted. Where had he been for those six seconds? Was he hallucinating? Ah, he nodded. Yes, of course... my body must be in so much pain that it's triggering pained responses in my brain which are manifesting in my senses. Sure. That made sense, right? Except for the part that when he first sensed the pine, he hadn't really started to work out yet.
And he was having a good time, which he couldn't deny. He continued with his stretch exercises even past the point where he thought it was safe to do so. While he couldn't measure his progress or even believe in it, Carmen's arches and, indeed, his whole feet and legs felt far better than they had just in the few steps he'd taken from his car to the gym and on inside.
"I see why Dillon wanted more," he realized, but quickly glanced around. Speaking aloud wouldn't work if he wanted to get more himself. Wait, but do I? he wondered. Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead...
Looking out to the other in the gym, he took a breath, considering his next actions...