What It’s Like Being a Vampire - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Power

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

After measuring the circumference of his chest, waist, and hips, he realized that all of them had increased. He took a few pictures and realized that his body fat had been decreasing. Although he did not have an obvious eight pack on his stomach, his muscles had obviously increased.

He did a few push-ups and realized that it was easier than before. He did more than 70 push-ups with the correct form and did not feel that he had reached his limits yet.

However, he did not continue. Instead, he stopped and looked for the nearest gym with his phone.

Moves like push-ups could help to track one’s improvement initially, when one was still rather weak. However, after reaching a certain level, it was not easy to use such moves to keep track, as it would require too much time.

Compared to that, the equipment in the gym could help provide a specific analysis of his body strength.

After reaching the gym, Xiang Kun requested a trial card. The receptionist passed him a three-entry trial card and told him that if he could not decide on whether he wanted a membership after coming three times, he would give him another trial card for him to continue experiencing it before making a decision.

The young receptionist brought Xiang Kun to familiarize himself with the equipment. Actually, in university, Xiang Kun had gone to the school gym with his classmate to work out for two semesters. His classmate was a bodybuilder. Thanks to his guidance, Xiang Kun was familiar with most of the equipment and his form was up to standard.

After a short while, the young receptionist answered a phone call and told Xiang Kun to continue exploring as he took his leave.

It was not three in the afternoon yet and it was a weekday, so there were very few people in the gym. After Xiang Kun warmed up using the elliptical, he began to do bench presses.

Initially, he only added 15kg of weight to get used to the strength required. After all, ever since he graduated from university, he had not entered a gym or used the equipment.

Soon after, a muscular personal trainer who was nearly 1.9 meters in height walked beside Xiang Kun and said after watching Xiang Kun complete a set of bench presses, “Your form isn’t correct. You have to be careful when you train and get someone to look after you at the side, in case you injure yourself. Moreover, if you continue training like this, your muscles might become sore.”

Xiang Kun was speechless. If he had not experienced the changes in his body because of X and had never gone to the gym to train before, he would’ve probably been convinced by the personal trainer’s words.

However, Xiang Kun had adjusted his form consciously after taking into account the strength used by every single muscle. To him, he was doing the action in the most appropriate way.

Xiang Kun knew that the trainer was talking to him so that he could promote his personal training classes. If he directly rejected him, other personal trainers would probably walk over soon. Therefore, Xiang Kun said, “Let’s make a bet and see who is able to complete a bench press with the heaviest weight. If you win, I will buy a 20-class pass from you. If I win, you shall promise that no personal trainers will come and talk to me in the gym. How about that?”

The trainer looked at Xiang Kun with a strange expression. So he was just acting when he carefully used a 50kg barbell earlier on?

However, he estimated Xiang Kun’s weight and saw that he was less than 1.8 meters tall. Xiang Kun should not be over 85kg, while the personal trainer was 97kg and had been training for a long time. The personal trainer was confident in winning and hence agreed to the bet.

Initially, Xiang Kun added two 15kg plates, bringing the barbell up to 80kg in total. Under the spotting of the trainer, he completed the bench press successfully. Then it was the trainer’s turn, and he added a 5kg plate to each side of the barbell. The total weight was 90kg, and he completed it in one try.

It was Xiang Kun’s turn again. He increased the weight to 100kg. It was a relatively heavy weight in the gym, and people would usually not lift that much weight—they would usually reach their limit after one try.

In fact, Xiang Kun did not know what his maximum limit was. However, he could feel that his energy had obviously increased. At least it felt easy when he was lifting 80kg.

Under the spotting of the trainer, he completed the bench press with 100kg of weight.

Then the expression of the trainer changed. Evidently, Xiang Kun was not a rookie but was, in fact, rather strong.

After this, they increased the weight by adding 2.5kg plates. Starting from 105kg, the trainer was struggling slightly. Xiang Kun also began to spot him.

For 110kg, Xiang Kun easily completed the bench press.

115kg…

120kg…

125kg…

At this moment, a few members of the gym had come over as they were interested when they saw someone competing with a personal trainer.

After Xiang Kun lifted the 130kg barbell, the instructor’s face turned black when he saw the 135kg barbell.

His limit was more than 135kg, but after lifting heavy weights continuously, his muscles could not really recover, despite taking rests in between turns.

If he had known, he would have immediately gone with the heaviest weight. However, back then, the trainer thought he would win without even lifting 100kg. He had not expected Xiang Kun to be so strong, and it was evident that Xiang Kun was spending less effort lifting the heavy barbells.

Finally, halfway through the 135kg bench press, the trainer could not extend his arms. Thankfully, Xiang Kun was spotting him and helped him lift the barbell.

It was Xiang Kun’s turn. Instead of using the 135kg barbell, he increased the weight to 150kg.

Although the trainer was betting with Xiang Kun, he still spotted him seriously. If Xiang Kun injured himself because of the bet, he would have to bear the responsibility.

Xiang Kun adjusted his grip, lifted the barbell, and gradually let it down. He allowed it to touch his chest muscles gently before steadily lifting it up. The entire process looked easy for him.

However, after putting the barbell back on its original spot, Xiang Kun took a deep breath.

It looked extremely stable, but he could feel that he was reaching his limit. He guessed that although he could probably lift weights heavier than 160kg, his form would be wrong.

After getting up from the bench, the trainer gave Xiang Kun a thumbs up and said, “Impressive! You are indeed an expert in this. Your strength is wonderful, I bet 150kg is far from your limit! Brother, do you specially train for weightlifting?” Although the trainer had managed to lift a 150kg barbell when his condition was good, he was nowhere near Xiang Kun’s comfortable and smooth move. Moreover, they had been lifting weights progressively from 100kg, and Xiang Kun was obviously better than him in terms of strength and power. The trainer had lost convincingly.

“No, I am training to lose weight,” said Xiang Kun as he went over to the squat machine and was about to see what his limit in squatting was.