I shook my head and laughed. “Seriously, shut up, man.”
When I walked into the training center I was about 15 minutes early for my training session. Coach had messaged me and cancelled my regular training session, so I had call my brother down to kill an arm and shoulder day with me. I didn't see him there yet so I put my bag down and did some stretching befo
re he arrived.
I did three minutes of shadow boxing in front of the mirror, working my techniques. I wanted to make sure of what I was throwing and how often my hands dropped, and it was rare.
“Hey, man, your technique looks good. Ready to smash some weights?”
“You got it.”
“No fights coming up anytime soon?”
“Don't joke around man, you know I have no conference fights, I'm on the bench.”
I laughed. “Yeah, yeah, won't be for long, I'm sure.”
We headed to the weight area and I planned for us to do bicep curls and tricep extensions. I could do 120 on each arm, and I loved seeing my veins pop. It was important to combine strength with MMA training so that your punches and kicks had power behind them.
We did three sets of each one, grunting through our progression. I did drop sets next for bicep curls. I started at 100, doing a set of 12, and I then went to 80, and finished with 12. I went from 60 to 40, and ended with 20, which at that point felt like it weighed 100 all over again.
“Those look sick, man. Set me up for those as well.” Craig said.
“Yeah, I got you. What's your max weight?”
“More than yours.”
I laughed, and set him up with 110. “Don't get too carried away.”
He jacked up his arms, and as he did his sets of 10, I lowered the weight for him. I kept pushing him to work harder when he was close to giving up. “Come on man, one more set, let’s go.” I set the last one to 20 and he killed it.
We continued on with biceps and triceps and then moved on to shoulders. We did shoulder presses, chin-ups, and push-ups. I was exhausted by the time we were done, and we went to the water cooler to grab some Gatorade. Craig and I sat on the bench, lost in our own thoughts as we chugged our drinks.
“So, Jet, why didn't you come to that dinner with Dad? I invited you and your little girlfriend and you didn't show up. We were expecting you.”
“She's not my girlfriend. And maybe all of you guys should just stop expecting me.”
“Oh believe me; no one's expecting anything, Jet.”
“Craig, just drop it, okay?”
“I have been inviting you to dinner for months now, Jet. When are you going to show up to one? Don't you think this is upsetting for everyone? What about Mom, don't you even care?”
“Oh come on, man. You know exactly why I don't come. If he wanted me there bad enough he would call me. Stop being his errand boy.”
“I'm not his errand boy, Jet. I just think you should be at dinner just like the rest of us.”
“It's not the rest of us. You don't get hounded the way I do.”
“He just wants the best for you, Jet. Taking over the company isn't such a terrible thing.”
“Then you do it.”
“Seriously, don't be an asshole.”
“I don't want that life. I am building the life I want, or don't you see that?”
“What are you going to do when you retire from MMA? Don't you want something to fall back on?”