You are in the gym. You are pumping all the reps. You are repping all the sets. You are picking heavy things up and putting them down in regular, structured intervals and you look good doing it. You are getting huge.
Another huge male walks into the gym. You have never seen him before. He scans the room and as his head turns to you, he locks his eyes on yours.
As is the way in your gym, you begin the ritual of dominance.
You walk directly toward the interloper and the two of you stop, facing each other, directly in front of the squat rack. Immediately you break into front double-bicep, but there is no clear winner. You are both huge.
You point at the platform. The intruder seems to know the protocols, and chalks his hands in preparation for the deadlift. You each take turns lifting, adding two forty-five pound plate each time. As the weight increases, you both lower the bar less and less gently until you’re simply dropping it. Loud crashes ring through the gym. A crowd is drawn in.
You both max out at six seventy-five. Again, a stalemate. You are both huge.
Squats are next. It is the law. The bar is loaded to three hundred and fifteen. There is no increase. It is a contest of depth.
The intruder steps under the bar and dips quickly, like a young man too confident in his lifts. He squats until his rear is mere inches from the ground, and springs back up. Turning to you, he points his hands, palms up, toward the squat rack with a sarcastic smile across his lips.
You grip the bar and swing under, then take your step back. You drop down and pause at the bottom, exactly as high as the outsider. You think of all that is resting on this: your dominance of the gym, your priority rights to the squat rack. It is as if your very gains themselves hang in the balance. With these thoughts racing through your mind, your glutes quiver and you dip lower, lower. Against all odds, your butt grazes the rubber mat floor. If you were out side, you would have literally gone ass to grass.
An audible gasp is heard through the spectators. You drive your hips up and straighten out, then re-rack the bar.
In the gesture of submission, the challenger kneels before you and offers you a five pound plate, in symbolic sacrifice of his gains. You take the plate and break it in half.
You are the hugest.