Pyotr & April | Agility Training
Apr. 14th, 2022 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsApril helps Colossus with his footwork, and offers to buy lunch if he can beat her.
April had gone as far as her limited understanding of adjusting programs in the DR would allow, adapting the course to allow for a 9 foot tall, bulky frame while still allowing her to use her webs and acrobatics to get around. There was a wide, empty space in part of the room that would do well for some sprint work, and she had perched herself on a shortish pole on the adapted agility course, balancing on one foot while sitting as primly as someone at a fancy tea. The thought made her think of Clarice, and she made a mental note to ask the other woman about doing that just-because-we-can fancy tea, give her an excuse to wear one of the nice dresses the other woman had talked her into getting. Her musings were interrupted as her roommate entered the room, and her smile brightened as he looked around.
“Have you stretched already?” She raised one hand in a short wave, catching his attention as she stood and jumped to a set of bars, flipping around once and landing in a crouch. “If so, we’ll start on the flat side.”
"All right." he said, having just finished up his stretching. He changed to Colossus and then waved at her. "Sprints first?" he asked cheerfully, almost obscenely so for this hour of the morning.
“Holy shit, you were not kidding about giant and metal,” April breathed out as she joined her roommate on the floor. She craned her neck back as she talked, switching between his face and a pair of flat ladders on the floor. One was slightly larger than the other, a small adjustment attempting to account for longer stride and larger feet. “ We’ll get to those, but first things first. Agility ladder. We’re gonna start with some quick feet to get your brain and body moving. I’m gonna do it slowly to demonstrate, then you’ll start slow until you get the hang of it. After a few rounds slow we’re gonna speed up until you trip over your feet three times in a row.” She took a spot to the right of the smaller ladder, bending her knees slightly before bouncing into motion. “Alright, so left foot taps inside the ladder, comes out to tap right foot, right foot moves forward, left foot taps ladder. Repeat until you get to the end of the ladder, then move back to the beginning and do it again. Once you’re comfortable doing it with the left foot, we’ll switch to the right.”
Pyotr nodded and set about performing the exercise. His pace wasn't as quick as it could be but he was focusing on form and correctness vs speed. So far. He made it up and back on his left foot and then switched to the right to do it all again. On his right foot he was a touch clumsier, a little slower.
“Faster,” she encouraged, dodging around his tall, bulky mass as she tapped her way through the exercise. “C’mon, you can keep up with a little spider.” She spun around to face Colossus, doing the same steps but backwards. “It’s like dancing, once you know where the feet go it’s basically just training your muscle memory and working on speed. One more left-and-right, then we’ll move on to something else.”
"I am a terrible dancer." he pointed out as he finished the leg of the workout and before he switched it up again to re-run the course. He was trying to pick up the pace, but then the legs didn't go as planned and feet wound up places the feet did not need to be and down he went. He rolled to his feet easily, jogged back to the spot where he'd fallen, and resumed his course once again.
He might have sworn under his breath in Russian, but he kept it very soft.
“Well, we can work on that too. Feet are important to this sort of agility work. And well... embarrassing if you need to dance at a nice event and break your date’s feet being clumsy. You’re doing fine. It takes practice, and you don’t have the enhanced reflexes that I do.” April gave his hip a pat as they moved to the next exercise, the easiest part to reach without asking him to bend down. They moved through several more exercises with the flat ladder, then moved to a set of cones. “So this one’s pretty self explanatory. The cones are a short course, and you just need to navigate it as quickly and cleanly as possible. I’m gonna time you, and every cone you knock over adds some time. We’ll repeat this one every time we do this sort of workout so you can compete against yourself and see your progress.”
She demonstrated this too, moving through the cones gracefully. “One of the things that might help if you’ve got the balance for it is keeping your knees slightly bent and torso forward, landing on the balls of your feet instead of your whole foot unless you’re coming to a long stop.” Her feet changed to show this as well, slowing down as she used the whole foot with each step.
Pyotr looked skeptical - he could be light on his feet, but he wasn't sure he could pull off what she was doing so effortlessly. Still, he gave it the old college try and only knocked down three cones on his first run. Mostly from cutting corners too tightly and clipping the pylon on his way by.
“Good!” April wasn’t overly effusive in her praise, but he was working hard and doing a good job for someone at a size people would generally expect to lumber, not move slowly. “You tire slower in this form, yes? Sprints next.” A few adjustments and the implements on the flatter side of the room had disappeared. The floor took on the hardwood look of a basketball court, with bright tape markings at varying intervals. “Not sure what these are called in Russia, but here they’re usually called suicides.” Her foot tapped the wider white line under their feet. “Usually it’s running, but you’re going to be doing lateral crossover walks. Or runs, if you feel confident.”
She pivoted until she was facing Pyotr, then started to move. Right leg, left cross behind, repeat until she touched the tape, then back to the starting line. “You’ll go out one more line each time and always come back to this. All the way across the court. Ready?”
"I don't tire at all so far as I know." he said with a slightly cocky grin as he watched her perform the move she wanted him to do. "Looks silly, but I can see how it's useful in making legs and feet go where legs and feet are told." he said, and then proceeded to do his best - his form was fairly good, but as a result his speed suffered. Point was not to go fast - yet - it was to go correctly. Fast would come later.
“I bet that’d be handy in your non-metal form sometimes,” she mused. “You’re doing good. Whole set again, Mister I Don’t Get Tired. We can go until I get tired instead.” She stuck her tongue out at him with a grin before getting ready to move again. “You manage to beat me and I’ll buy you lunch this weekend.” With that she was off, smoothly crossing back and forth until she reached the lines. “Let’s go Rasputin! Get those big metal muscles in gear!”
The big metal muscles were not the problem. The problem, such as it was, was getting the instructions from the brain to those big metal muscles in a timely and smooth manner. With enough work it would become instinct but for right now it was very much still work.
April watched his feet carefully. “You’ll get faster and cleaner as we practice more. Trying it as Pyotr might help for training the muscle memory too. You might look a little silly doing it, but these are a good workout regardless.”
Once they were done, she moved to the other side of the course, beckoning him to follow. “So I kinda cobbled this idea together from a combination of those ninja warrior shows, crossfit, and a doggie agility course. I’d apologize for that last bit, but the whip poles are really good as a foot test, and we can do some parts of it together if you’d like, see how we work together. Let you launch a spider.” She grinned at the idea, eyes bright at the prospect of getting flung through the air. “Maybe see if I can lift and launch a metal man some. Probably not far. My lifting weight is good, but throwing that weight is not something I’ve really worked on.”
“Interesting idea.” he said neutrally. “Walk me through what’s next?” he asked. “Presumably there’s a path through all of that?”
“Yeah, of course.” April gestured with one hand as she talked, the other pulling him along. “So there’s a variety of inspirations here, but part of what I wanted to replicate were scenarios you might actually find yourself in. Cities with tight spaces you need to move around quickly, rubble to overcome that you can’t just pick up and toss for some reason, floors and walls with… somewhat precarious integrity, sand, water… normal things. But make it fun.” She pointed out some of the more obvious bits as they moved along the outside. “So there’s some balancing steps, places where you have to grip with your arms and legs, some tight spaces where you’ll be using your body strength to move up a level, with things like the whip poles to test your agility and speed. It’s like the cones. You’re competing against yourself. But you can do this part as Pyotr or Colossus. Roomie’s choice.” Her eyes crinkled at the edges with her smile. “You should probably run it in both forms in case there’s a time you can’t go metal.”
Pyotr hrmmed at that. "You've put a lot of thought into this." he mused. "So I think I'll try it for the first time as Colossus, and save the more vulnerable Pyotr for a run when I'm more aware of the potential pitfalls." he said. Then he glanced at the course. "Shall we?" he offered.
“It’s an adaptation of things that were already programmed. I have a lot of energy, and I was going a little stir crazy while everything outside was still too frozen over to interact with, so once I could I just… started working with it as much as I’m allowed.” April waved at the course. “Tall people first!”
He smiled and countered with "Ladies first."
April had gone as far as her limited understanding of adjusting programs in the DR would allow, adapting the course to allow for a 9 foot tall, bulky frame while still allowing her to use her webs and acrobatics to get around. There was a wide, empty space in part of the room that would do well for some sprint work, and she had perched herself on a shortish pole on the adapted agility course, balancing on one foot while sitting as primly as someone at a fancy tea. The thought made her think of Clarice, and she made a mental note to ask the other woman about doing that just-because-we-can fancy tea, give her an excuse to wear one of the nice dresses the other woman had talked her into getting. Her musings were interrupted as her roommate entered the room, and her smile brightened as he looked around.
“Have you stretched already?” She raised one hand in a short wave, catching his attention as she stood and jumped to a set of bars, flipping around once and landing in a crouch. “If so, we’ll start on the flat side.”
"All right." he said, having just finished up his stretching. He changed to Colossus and then waved at her. "Sprints first?" he asked cheerfully, almost obscenely so for this hour of the morning.
“Holy shit, you were not kidding about giant and metal,” April breathed out as she joined her roommate on the floor. She craned her neck back as she talked, switching between his face and a pair of flat ladders on the floor. One was slightly larger than the other, a small adjustment attempting to account for longer stride and larger feet. “ We’ll get to those, but first things first. Agility ladder. We’re gonna start with some quick feet to get your brain and body moving. I’m gonna do it slowly to demonstrate, then you’ll start slow until you get the hang of it. After a few rounds slow we’re gonna speed up until you trip over your feet three times in a row.” She took a spot to the right of the smaller ladder, bending her knees slightly before bouncing into motion. “Alright, so left foot taps inside the ladder, comes out to tap right foot, right foot moves forward, left foot taps ladder. Repeat until you get to the end of the ladder, then move back to the beginning and do it again. Once you’re comfortable doing it with the left foot, we’ll switch to the right.”
Pyotr nodded and set about performing the exercise. His pace wasn't as quick as it could be but he was focusing on form and correctness vs speed. So far. He made it up and back on his left foot and then switched to the right to do it all again. On his right foot he was a touch clumsier, a little slower.
“Faster,” she encouraged, dodging around his tall, bulky mass as she tapped her way through the exercise. “C’mon, you can keep up with a little spider.” She spun around to face Colossus, doing the same steps but backwards. “It’s like dancing, once you know where the feet go it’s basically just training your muscle memory and working on speed. One more left-and-right, then we’ll move on to something else.”
"I am a terrible dancer." he pointed out as he finished the leg of the workout and before he switched it up again to re-run the course. He was trying to pick up the pace, but then the legs didn't go as planned and feet wound up places the feet did not need to be and down he went. He rolled to his feet easily, jogged back to the spot where he'd fallen, and resumed his course once again.
He might have sworn under his breath in Russian, but he kept it very soft.
“Well, we can work on that too. Feet are important to this sort of agility work. And well... embarrassing if you need to dance at a nice event and break your date’s feet being clumsy. You’re doing fine. It takes practice, and you don’t have the enhanced reflexes that I do.” April gave his hip a pat as they moved to the next exercise, the easiest part to reach without asking him to bend down. They moved through several more exercises with the flat ladder, then moved to a set of cones. “So this one’s pretty self explanatory. The cones are a short course, and you just need to navigate it as quickly and cleanly as possible. I’m gonna time you, and every cone you knock over adds some time. We’ll repeat this one every time we do this sort of workout so you can compete against yourself and see your progress.”
She demonstrated this too, moving through the cones gracefully. “One of the things that might help if you’ve got the balance for it is keeping your knees slightly bent and torso forward, landing on the balls of your feet instead of your whole foot unless you’re coming to a long stop.” Her feet changed to show this as well, slowing down as she used the whole foot with each step.
Pyotr looked skeptical - he could be light on his feet, but he wasn't sure he could pull off what she was doing so effortlessly. Still, he gave it the old college try and only knocked down three cones on his first run. Mostly from cutting corners too tightly and clipping the pylon on his way by.
“Good!” April wasn’t overly effusive in her praise, but he was working hard and doing a good job for someone at a size people would generally expect to lumber, not move slowly. “You tire slower in this form, yes? Sprints next.” A few adjustments and the implements on the flatter side of the room had disappeared. The floor took on the hardwood look of a basketball court, with bright tape markings at varying intervals. “Not sure what these are called in Russia, but here they’re usually called suicides.” Her foot tapped the wider white line under their feet. “Usually it’s running, but you’re going to be doing lateral crossover walks. Or runs, if you feel confident.”
She pivoted until she was facing Pyotr, then started to move. Right leg, left cross behind, repeat until she touched the tape, then back to the starting line. “You’ll go out one more line each time and always come back to this. All the way across the court. Ready?”
"I don't tire at all so far as I know." he said with a slightly cocky grin as he watched her perform the move she wanted him to do. "Looks silly, but I can see how it's useful in making legs and feet go where legs and feet are told." he said, and then proceeded to do his best - his form was fairly good, but as a result his speed suffered. Point was not to go fast - yet - it was to go correctly. Fast would come later.
“I bet that’d be handy in your non-metal form sometimes,” she mused. “You’re doing good. Whole set again, Mister I Don’t Get Tired. We can go until I get tired instead.” She stuck her tongue out at him with a grin before getting ready to move again. “You manage to beat me and I’ll buy you lunch this weekend.” With that she was off, smoothly crossing back and forth until she reached the lines. “Let’s go Rasputin! Get those big metal muscles in gear!”
The big metal muscles were not the problem. The problem, such as it was, was getting the instructions from the brain to those big metal muscles in a timely and smooth manner. With enough work it would become instinct but for right now it was very much still work.
April watched his feet carefully. “You’ll get faster and cleaner as we practice more. Trying it as Pyotr might help for training the muscle memory too. You might look a little silly doing it, but these are a good workout regardless.”
Once they were done, she moved to the other side of the course, beckoning him to follow. “So I kinda cobbled this idea together from a combination of those ninja warrior shows, crossfit, and a doggie agility course. I’d apologize for that last bit, but the whip poles are really good as a foot test, and we can do some parts of it together if you’d like, see how we work together. Let you launch a spider.” She grinned at the idea, eyes bright at the prospect of getting flung through the air. “Maybe see if I can lift and launch a metal man some. Probably not far. My lifting weight is good, but throwing that weight is not something I’ve really worked on.”
“Interesting idea.” he said neutrally. “Walk me through what’s next?” he asked. “Presumably there’s a path through all of that?”
“Yeah, of course.” April gestured with one hand as she talked, the other pulling him along. “So there’s a variety of inspirations here, but part of what I wanted to replicate were scenarios you might actually find yourself in. Cities with tight spaces you need to move around quickly, rubble to overcome that you can’t just pick up and toss for some reason, floors and walls with… somewhat precarious integrity, sand, water… normal things. But make it fun.” She pointed out some of the more obvious bits as they moved along the outside. “So there’s some balancing steps, places where you have to grip with your arms and legs, some tight spaces where you’ll be using your body strength to move up a level, with things like the whip poles to test your agility and speed. It’s like the cones. You’re competing against yourself. But you can do this part as Pyotr or Colossus. Roomie’s choice.” Her eyes crinkled at the edges with her smile. “You should probably run it in both forms in case there’s a time you can’t go metal.”
Pyotr hrmmed at that. "You've put a lot of thought into this." he mused. "So I think I'll try it for the first time as Colossus, and save the more vulnerable Pyotr for a run when I'm more aware of the potential pitfalls." he said. Then he glanced at the course. "Shall we?" he offered.
“It’s an adaptation of things that were already programmed. I have a lot of energy, and I was going a little stir crazy while everything outside was still too frozen over to interact with, so once I could I just… started working with it as much as I’m allowed.” April waved at the course. “Tall people first!”
He smiled and countered with "Ladies first."
