[sebbie]

Neither Joe nor Bill were big on working out in high school. The whole idea of going regularly to the student gym is a novel idea for them. But they both decided that developing a regular workout schedule would be helpful in dealing with the pressures of study and daily college life. Why not? Plus, both of their bodies could use the exercise. Not that either Bill or Joe are significantly overweight: they aren’t. But, both of them are carrying a bit more flab than they would like, flab they hope to turn into muscle.

College can be funny. Some of the “rules” guys applied in high school are the same as in college, but many aren’t. With respect to dress for what was known in high school as physical education, or phys ed for short, the males followed what I would call the “herd instinct” rule. For a high school student in a phys ed class, you want to make sure that what you are wearing is identical or nearly identical to what the other guys appear to be wearing. In the high schools Bill and Joe attended, this meant basically cotton or poly-blend shorts, loose-fitting that extended down to cover the knee area. The top was always a loose fitting, oversized tee, often with a logo or silly statement in big lettering on the front.

There are unwritten ‘rules in high school that are rigid as well. Guys wore loose fitting boxer shorts, not quite as long to the knee as the outer garment, but close to that. All the guys wore those. The rule may have been unwritten, but was still very much in place.

In college, Bill and Joe, in wearing their compression tees and shorts, had already “violated” a key rule from high school.

One of the interesting aspects of going to a student gym in part is to see exactly what the other guys are wearing for workouts. Obviously, the “rules” that apply are somewhat different, and maybe looser and more flexible than they were in high school. To be sure, some of the guys are wearing cotton/poly shorts that extend to their knees. A few more are clad in sweat pants.

But there are two guys who are wearing something very different from either of these, what appears to be wrestling singlets, with the white “asics®” logo on the lower left leg. One of these is in black: the other on navy blue. What are these guys, anyway? Freshman members of the college wrestling team?

It turns out no. But they are freshman members of the college ROWING Team. Now the rowing team has their own gym equipment but it is a mile (or more) across campus from the freshman dorm. It turns out, the two rowing team members, Donovan and Tony, live in the same dorm that Bill and Joe live, but on the second, not the first floor.

Appropriate garb for a team rower is very similar to wrestling garb. In fact, many competitive rowers wear wrestling gear for working out. A wrestling singlet fits much the same way as compression shorts like Bill and Joe are wearing, with some key differences. A wrestling siglet is one piece not two piece with straps that pull the singlet snug in the groin area and go up over the shoulders.

Of course, one basic idea in rowing is to attempt to develop muscular and powerful shoulders. To the extent that the workout is successful, the shoulder build will mean that the straps of the singlet will snug the singlet up ever tighter into the groin area and buttocks. Rowing also tends to peal off any fat or flabbiness in the buttocks, resulting in a tighter looking butt not to mention the singlet snugging up in the crack between the buttocks. So the rower soon starts to look quite athletic, broad shoulders, tight butt, strong thighs all accentuated by the wrestling singlet. Joe and Bill are making mental notes of all of this as Tony and Donovan begin their 30 minute workouts on two of the rowing machines.

The stationary bike will accomplish some of this, most notably building muscle n the thigh area. But stationary bikes do nothing for the shoulders. Joe and Bill start to become very interested in what Donovan and Tony are doing. Meanwhile, Dylan is quietly watching all of this too, and taking note of how fit Tony and Donovan are.

….To be continued