Thrills

by K. T. Tomb

  “I grew up in an era where steroids were not only common—they were expected. I got where I got, and I look the way I look, because I said no to steroids. Most of the men who used them and are my age do not look like me. Looks like we’re at the end of our tour, by the way,” John said as they arrived back at the front desk.

  “Just a couple more questions for you—I really appreciate that you don’t recommend steroids, by the way—and I just wanted to know—do any of your clients use anything else? Something like testosterone boosters or NO2? Anything like that?” she asked.

  “I always tell my clients that the best way to get results is through hard work and mental toughness. I don’t test them for anything because when they sign up with me we go over what I expect. If they need help following my program, that’s fine with me, as long as they’re clean when they go into competition,” John said.

  “Thank you so much for your time today,” Courtney replied, and then shook his hand again. “I will absolutely be in touch.”

  She walked out of the gym, grateful to be back out in the fresh air. Once she got to her car, she pulled out her notebook and made notes for her report to Kim on the first gym. She got into the car and went to the next gym on her list. Only a couple more miles down the road and she arrived at Green’s Fit Factory.

  She walked in and was immediately impressed with the two stories of workout equipment. It was mostly free weights and weight training machines on the first floor and the second floor had rows upon rows of cardio equipment. The front desk was a long, squared-off U-shape—basically, a rectangle missing its fourth side. She walked up to it and was immediately greeted by a bubbly blonde. At least the place smelled better than Fit Planet.

  “Hey, how’re you? I’m Jessie! What brings you in today?” Jessie said.

  “I have an appointment with Matt to talk about signing up and getting a membership here?” Courtney said. The bubbly blonde—Jessie—immediately made her feel self-conscious. Courtney was in decent shape, but Jessie was something else. She was the perfect height—Courtney always considered herself too tall—and Jessie had big, round gray eyes and perky everything, from her chest to her rear end. Courtney took care of herself, mostly through diet and walking or running; still, it was plain as day that she did not have the physique Jessie did.

  “Oh, you’ll love Matt! He’s great. He’s like eighty percent the reason I look the way I do.” Jessie twirled around. “Like I said, he’s AWESOME.”

  “Great… I can’t wait to meet him,” Courtney replied.

  “Hi, you’re Courtney, right?” a voice came from behind her. She turned, her ponytail bouncing.

  “Hey, and yes, I’m Courtney,” she said, offering her hand for a handshake.

  Matt was shorter than John and much leaner. He had the wiry look of someone who did a lot of cardio and just added a little weight work on the side to help with size. He had a thin waist and she could tell that his quads were thick and his shoulders made the perfect angles to his hips. Below his khaki shorts, she could see perfectly defined calves. Courtney had a thing for guys who took care of their legs—she hated the “gym bros” that were jacked on top and then had no leg development.

  “So what brings you to Green’s today, Courtney?” Matt asked, white smile blazing below his golden, swept back hair.

  “Well, I’m looking… my boyfriend and I are looking to join a gym. He’s looking at getting into bodybuilding. I just want to get into better shape,” Courtney said almost out of breath, she found Matt so good-looking.

  “Okay, that’s fair enough. What we’ll do today, Courtney, is take a tour of the gym here, and then I’ll get some printouts for you on what we do for our bodybuilders and how those workouts and programs go,” Matt outlined the agenda for her. “Then, if you want, we can go through a basic workout for you and we can figure out what you want to target, and what kind of results you’re looking for. Does that sound good?” he asked.

  “Yup, that sounds exactly like what I’m looking for,” Courtney said.

  “Great, then let’s get started,” Matt said, and they started walking through the gym.

  “So down here, we have the circuit track where people can run, jog or walk. Then we have our free weights, where there are all kinds of things that our clients can do—that’s a squat rack, then there’re the benches that can be used for chest exercises and shoulder work. There’re free weights over there with dumbbells that go from eight pounds up to one-hundred-fifty pounds. Most people use those for arms, for shoulders and sometimes for chest and back work too,” he said.

  “All that equipment looks really nice—what do memberships here cost?” Courtney asked.

  “Depending on the package you go with, it’s fifty dollars a month, up to one-hundred fifty dollars per month. Basically the more you want to do, the more the membership goes for,” he replied.

  “My boyfriend is at work today—I’m an author, so I have more free time than he does—but he really wants to get into competitive bodybuilding. What do you think a membership like that would run us?” Courtney asked.

  “If he wants to work with a coach or a trainer—by the way we’re going to take the stairs up here so that you can see the aerobics classrooms and the cardio equipment—which if he’s serious about competing, then I’m sure that he does, then he would have to decide on what he wants to do for his supplement regimen,” Matt said.

  “Okay, so let’s say he wanted the max package—trainer, supplements, all of it—then what would we be looking at?” she asked.

  “He’d be at one-fifty for sure with that package,” Matt said with a smile. “Our coaches are awesome—they use the newest workout techniques combined with the newest supplements to get results—competitive, winning results fast.”

  “Really?” Courtney asked. “What kind of supplements do your coaches typically recommend? I don’t want him… taking anything that could… ummm… have side effects, you know?”

  “Definitely, definitely,” Matt said, as he nodded along with her. “Our coaches typically take a holistic approach to how they recommend supplements. But typically, before a competition, they do recommend the use of anabolic steroids. It helps the competitor build up the physique they need faster. Once they’re in competition shape, typically the coaches recommend they cycle off of them.”

  “What does that mean?” Courtney asked.

  “Over here are the aerobics rooms. This is where our instructors teach yoga, turbo-kick, Zumba—all kinds of things. The next room is where we teach our cycling classes. They’re pretty high intensity, but they really work legs and glutes—helps the soccer moms keep the… uh…. backsides… their husbands love.” He smiled sheepishly, hoping his comment did not offend Courtney.

  “It’s okay—even soccer moms need cute butts,” she said with a chuckle and Matt laughed out loud.

  “I suppose they do,” he said laughing again. “So to answer your question, our coaches’ primary concern is the health of the people they work with. If something doesn’t fit the client’s profile, it doesn’t fit. They try really hard to make sure that the client’s goals are met, so they design a supplement regimen that will help them achieve those goals. They’ve been having a ton of luck with this new supplement on the market called ProTenX Thermo. You can do some research online about it, but it’s one of the products that we recommend to our clients that don’t want, or can’t do, steroids.”

  “Good to know,” Courtney said. But inside, her heart was racing. “Have any of the guys that use that—the Proten… what did you call it? Have any of them had any side effects?” she asked.

  “No—ProTenX Thermo is what it’s called and it’s pretty incredible stuff. Everyone who uses it raves about it. Fast gains, more stamina in just about every aspect, and they get results fast. It’s something that’s recommended for almost everyone, especially the new bodybuilders.”

  “Very interesting. And you guys haven’t had anyone with any… side effects at all, huh?” C
ourtney responded.

  “Not that I know of, no. So, now that we’re back to the desk, what do you think? Do you want to get signed up today?” Matt asked.

  “You guys have a really, really nice space here. I really like it—it’s clean and there’s lots of variety and it seems like you guys have tons of classes, which I would definitely take advantage of. I have to talk to my boyfriend before I make any decisions, though. We make all our financial decisions together,” she said.

  “Don’t you think he would be happy knowing that you got this taken care of today for him? So it’s off his plate?” Matt tried again.

  “No, because he contributes to the household income too. So we always talk about this kind of stuff together,” she said, starting to get defensive.

  “Okay, that’s perfectly fine. Maybe we should have… what’s his name?” Matt asked.

  “Tom—his name is Tom,” Courtney replied, thinking quickly on her feet.

  “Well, why don’t you have Tom stop by and take a tour himself then? He can see the place, ask any questions he might have and maybe that would help him with the decision making on his end?” Matt asked.

  “Sure, that’s not a bad idea. What are the hours here again?” Courtney asked.

  “The hours here are unlimited—24/7/365,” Matt replied, clearly proud of the accessibility of his gym.

  “Sounds good. Like I said, I’ll check with him and see when he can stop by. Is there always someone here?” she asked.

  “Actually, yeah,” Matt said. “Some of our really competitive bodybuilders come in late at night. We always have a coach or two in so that they can spot, help with lifting or whatever the clients need.”

  “Well, that’s pretty great,” Courtney said. “I will definitely send him by to check things out.”

  “Well, we hope to see you soon—as a member!” Matt added a handshake and Courtney headed out to her car. She sat for a few minutes to make her notes, and then looked at the map. Her next stop was just down the road. She had mapped out all the gyms on the list Kim gave her, and they were all located in a large loop. She checked her phone for texts, calls and emails, and wasn’t surprised to find out that she did not have any. She looked at the time again and realized it was getting close to lunch. She thought about stopping to grab a bite to eat, but looking at all these gyms and meeting with all the trainers was inspiring her. She figured she would make a salad or something when she got home.

  She pulled up to the next gym, the name was Main Street Fitness and it looked basically the same as the last one. She parked her car and walked through the front door. The person at the desk was named Eric, and he wore a black and red polo with khaki pants.

  “Hello,” he said. “How can I help you today?” he asked.

  “I have an appointment with Mark,” she said. “My name’s Courtney, by the way.”

  “Oh, great to meet you, Courtney. We’re happy that you’re here and that you came to see our facilities at Main Street Fitness. We really appreciate the opportunity to earn your business. Mark is on his way out to meet you, but just so you know, we’re running a special right now. If you purchase a nine-month membership, then you get three months free. We know that the summer months here in Wisconsin can be pretty and warm, and most people like to run outside, so we don’t want to charge you for the months you don’t use,” Eric said.

  “Wow, Eric! That’s pretty great. I really appreciate you telling me about that,” she said.

  “It’s my pleasure, Courtney. Oh, here comes Mark,” Eric said to her.

  “Mark, this is Courtney; Courtney, meet Mark,” he said, making the introduction.

  “Hi,” Mark said, shaking her hand.

  “Hi. Nice to meet you,” Courtney said.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Mark said. “What brings you in today?” he asked.

  “Well, I’m here because I want to lose some weight, tone things up a bit. Meaning, a lot! And my boyfriend wants to get into competitive bodybuilding,” she said.

  “Hmm,” Mark replied as they walked through the gym. “I can definitely show you around and show you the free weights. We have some pretty great trainers that can put together the program he would need but as far as coaches and specialists for bodybuilding, we don’t really have anyone who does that kind of thing. I hope that doesn’t turn you off from the gym, though—this place is great,” Mark finished.

  “No, it doesn’t, but my boyfriend has his heart set on at least trying to get into bodybuilding,” Courtney said.

  “There’s one person who kind of… trains here. There are a couple of guys that he works out with on a consistent basis. Sometimes he’ll come in twice in the same day, but I don’t really know who they are—they’re basically just workout buddies that come in every once in a while. They’re all pretty big. They might be able to help him out. I know they’ve worked in a few other gyms as well, and they seem to be pretty successful,” Mark added.

  “Okay, well that’s definitely good to know. When you say they’ve been pretty successful… do you know if they take anything?” she asked. “I’m just nervous because I don’t want my boyfriend to start taking steroids or other supplements that could have any negative side effects, you know?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t know if they do or if they don’t—not something they really talk to me about but again, I’m sure if they were taking something, and they were helping your boyfriend out, they would tell him. They’re pretty good guys—at least it seems like they are. Like I said, I don’t really know them that well.”

  “Sounds good,” Courtney replied.

  “This is our free-weight area,” Mark said. “And then over here we have our cardio area. Lots of machines for you to use as you try to lose some weight and get all tightened up,” Mark said happily.

  Jeez, she thought. This guy has no idea how to sell. Maybe he’s just super new.

  “What else do we have here?” she asked.

  “Well, right when you came in were the locker rooms. Just so you know, there are tons of lockers, and showers, and there’s even a sauna in each locker room,” Matt pointed out.

  “Wow, that’s a really nice touch,” Courtney said. At this point, she just wanted to get the tour over.

  “Great. Well, I’m sure that Eric told you all about the promotion we have going on right now, so if you and your boyfriend decide you want to join up here, you can actually get everything finalized over the phone and then when you come in, you’ll get your membership cards which you can use to open the doors after hours. We have someone here until nine p.m. each night, and then after that our clients are pretty much on their own.” Mark finished the tour.

  “Great,” she said. “I really appreciate the information,” Courtney replied.

  She got back into her car and decided that, even if she didn’t get lunch, she was going to stop for a coffee. After getting off to such a decent start, her visit with ‘Matt the Moron’ at Main Street Fitness had drained every ounce of positivity in her body and at that moment, she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere.

  Well, maybe not exactly, she thought. I have a couple of leads. The guys at Green’s gym are definitely recommending steroids and other supplements to their clients. And this gym… if there’s no one here after nine p.m. well… that would give that particular late night workout group an opportunity to basically do whatever they pleased. Mark didn’t exactly claim to have full knowledge of anything that’s going on there in the bodybuilding department. Hmm.

  She pulled into a coffee shop’s drive-through and ordered an iced coffee with a shot of espresso, vanilla flavoring, cream and whipped cream. It was not, she thought to herself, the healthiest thing she could have ordered but it would get her through the next two stops. She paid and got back on the highway, driving and listening to her favorite country music station. She was singing along and eventually, she pulled off and got to the parking lot at her next stop.

  The conversation went much the same as it did at the pr
evious gym. She was disappointed again because the person who showed her around didn’t give her much at all to work with at all. The majority of the conversation at that gym was centered around her, which she appreciated because she was the one that was supposedly looking for a membership. She caught herself getting mad at her fictional boyfriend, Tom, because he was not with her. And then she realized just how stupid that was. Perhaps it would be more helpful to bring along an actual ‘Tom’ next time to get the answers she needed about the bodybuilding programs at the gyms on her list.

  The final place she went to was different than all the rest. It was all cardio equipment. She wasn’t even sure at that point how it got on the list, unless someone there was training at another of the other gyms on the list and they used that gym for recruiting or endurance training.

  She pulled into her driveway at about twelve-thirty in the afternoon, walked through the front door and immediately threw the refrigerator door open. She pulled out spinach, tomatoes, carrots and a cucumber and a green bell pepper. She chopped everything up, threw it in a bowl with some shredded turkey lunch meat and added a dab of ranch dressing.

  She sat down at the table and slowly began to eat, opening up her notebook and looking over her notes from the day. She read through a couple of things and then she summarized her notes at the bottom of the page. Then she pulled out her laptop and opened up a web browser where she logged into her email and sent a quick note to Kim that read:

  Kim,

  Found a couple of places where it seems like there might definitely be people using ProTenX Thermo. Not sure how you want me to proceed, but I was thinking that I’m going to need to sign up for memberships at both places.

  I also need to find someone to work out with me and to get me into the circles where your product is actually being used. I told a couple of the gyms that I had a boyfriend named Tom.

  Any thoughts on who I could talk to about that? There’s one place that has coaches and trainers and it seems like they recommend your supplement to a lot of people. I’m going to focus on them because it would likely be the best place to start. But again, I need someone to play “Tom” so… let me know about that.