Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)

Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim: At the Gym (Open to All)
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Achilleas had decided that while the scientist life was very lax and sedentary, that any decent amount of physical exertion wasn’t required, the couples life he found himself in needed him to be in better shape. Not just for the obvious like an increased stamina but also to have the strength to tackle whatever life threw at them. To this end he resolved to hit the gym semi-regularly at least to start and perhaps more regularly if he found the routine to his liking. He had the benefit of being an avid swimmer all throughout his life which lent him a fairly toned body, but now he needed to add a bit more muscle.

The only he had ever set foot into a gym was when he was required to during his Academy days, so while he was familiar with the equipment enough to not hurt himself, he was also not anywhere close to being an expert. He found himself in an empty gym on the new ship they’d just transferred to after the last Ogawa got severely damaged. It looked like any gym you’d normally see with the collection of assorted equipment. He took a moment to ponder where to start and ended up going to the rowing machine. Tossing his towel on a nearby machine, he took hold of the grips and started in on a steady rhythm.

CSO Petrakos

Alexis wasn’t the type to hit the gym all the time, but she had started right before her transfer to try to go a couple times a week. It was hard to tell other officers to get exercise and make healthy life style choices when she didn’t do it. So she entered the gym wearing athletic wear and moved towards the cardio machines. She wasn’t one to worry about lifting weights and was unfamiliar with those machines. She saw Lt. Petrakos and nodded. She’d seen him around the ship but really had no idea who he was. She placed the PaDD she had with her on the stand of an elliptical machine. She could read and exercise at the same time. And there was always new research to catch up on.
(OOC: Don’t mind her, she’s socially awkward. She has no idea how to make friendly conversation. LOL)
Lt. Bonner, AMO

OOC: It’s all good. Makes character interactions more interesting. lol

Achilleas, who was in tight gym shorts and a sleeveless shirt, had worked up a good sweat on the rowing machine when he noticed someone enter and nod in his direction. He nodded in return as his hands were a bit occupied at the moment. It was probably another twenty minutes of rowing before the ache in his arms, chest, and shoulders got to the point it couldn’t be ignored. He spent a couple minutes cooling down his muscles before getting up from the machine and wiping his face with the towel. He thought of how he should’ve brought a bottle of water with him and with a shake of the he went to the replicator to get one. Spending his time drinking the water to rehydrate and catch his breath, he looked towards where the other gym guest was using the elliptical and seemed to be reading. He didn’t really want to bother them but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

After disposing of the empty bottle he made his way over to Alexis and started using an adjacent elliptical. “Hi, I’m Achilleas.” He said as he looked in her direction and smiled.

CSO Petrakos

Alexis saw Petrakos approach out of the corner of her eye. She winced inwardly and marked her page on the PaDD so she could keep reading. She took a couple of deeper breaths and slowed her pace so she could speak without gasping. She turned and smiled politely. She started to introduce herself and realized he’d offered his first name. Oh! Okay, so casual conversation. Not work, she could do that. “I’m Alexis. Nice to meet you Achilleas.” She slowed the machine down further to match the pace he was at, trying to be polite. She cast around the gym for something to say. She had noticed him get water. She didn’t know how long he’d been at the rowing machine but she took in how sweaty he was, and said the first thing that popped into her head: medical facts. “You can lose 2% of your body weight in fluid when you sweat heavily and it can decrease performance by up to 25% because of dehydration. That can lead to muscle cramps. One bottle of water probably isn’t enough. You should drink 8 oz every 15 minutes of exercise. You should drink 20 oz of water 2 hours before you start and then another 10 fifteen minutes before you begin.” Though not inappropriate, Alexis had no idea how strange she sounded spouting off hydration facts that weren’t asked for.
Lt. Bonner, AMO

Achilleas nodded as Alexis dropped hydration facts as a conversation topic. He matched the speed she was going at on the elliptical and thought about what she’d said. “That’s definitely useful knowledge to have. Thank you. I remember during my time at the Academy that they wanted us to hydrate before, during, and after a workout period, so I already pre-hydrated a bit kind of out of habit. I didn’t realize that the performance decrease was so severe even with mild dehydration.”

Alexis nodded, “Water is what lubricates your joints, muscles, and tendons. Without it there is a great deal of friction. Then that friction breaks down that tissue and your performance decreases.”

He shifted his elliptical to a higher setting and focused a minute to get used to the pace before following up with a question, “So that sounds like medical knowledge. Are you a doctor then? I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to meet all of the crew. Well and with as crazy as things got on the starbase as well as getting the new ship…” He smiled as he left the idea hanging that they’d all been busy. He and most of the science staff were out of their minds and having an impromptu tea party during that weird fungal outbreak. The paperwork he had to do after that still gives him chills.

CSO Petrakos

Alexis slowed her setting momentarily, taking her own advice and drinking down a bottle of water, then she increased the pace again. After a moment she responded. “Yes, I’m the new AMO. I came onboard, well on station, during all that craziness. Right in the middle of it. I’m glad to finally be on ship and away from there. I guess I met a lot of people during all of that, but I haven’t really gotten to know them, except for Dr. Walker.” Well there was Ever and Soulis. She didn’t know if Soulis had transferred to Ogawa as well, and she wasn’t going to go looking about it either. “What about you Achilleas? What department are you with?”
Lt. Bonner, AMO

“I’m the head of the Science department. Surprisingly I was offered the position shortly after joining the previous Ogawa right before the mission which saw her disabled. I hardly got a chance to meet the previous head before things got crazy and they transferred off right after.” Achilleas said while being a little winded. He increased his pace on the elliptical. “I’ve met the new XO, a security officer, someone else from medical, all right before or during that crazy fungal incident. I’m so glad we have a ship again. As much as the starbase life was okay, having to not share only so many holodecks with a ton of people is very nice.” His breath was coming in short and quick huffs now as his heartrate was accelerated.

CSO Petrakos