Hibiki and the other girls see the Silverman Gym’s Christmas party as a chance to find a boyfriend.
Episode 10 – “Do You Like Christmas?”
Hmm.
The Christmas episode is a great time for Dumbbells to feature its slice-of-life story about a girl making friends through her hobby, while still having fun with its gag comedy and strength training tutorials. School club comedies usually follow this same formula and take advantage of the passage of time to focus on annual events to gauge progress in hobby skills, character development, and friendship gains. Of course, this muscle-training show is all about showing your gainz!
Unfortunately, fitness gains aren’t always in one direction, especially as the seasons change, diets change, or just life changes. In general, people gain weight during the colder months, because they have to wear more clothing and tend to stay indoors. You actually expend fewer calories staying warm in the cold than staying cool in the heat. In the Northern Hemisphere, the start of Winter coincides with holidays that break up your normal schedule and offer lots opportunities to eat different (and high calorie) foods at parties or family visits. Since your metabolism slows down just as you start eating more, you shouldn’t feel bad that you gain weight over Christmas and New Year’s. This is normal. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere during the year-end holidays and gaining weight, then you’re just sitting around eating too much in the Summer heat.
This episode, instead of gainz for strength and fitness, Hibiki is showing gainz on her waistline. That realization brings us back to why she wanted to work out in the first place — to get rid of the pudge and to get a boyfriend. Uh, she didn’t make any gainz on that latter part either. Christmas in Japan is a time for couples and dating, so it’s the perfect vehicle for Hibiki and her lonely friends to find that motivation again. I loved how the Christmas party plot surprisingly pivoted to Akemi’s character, built up an expectation that just maybe she was interested in romance alongside her love of muscles, and then dashed those expectations by confirming her personality. That’s just good writing.
Heh.
It’s the Christmas episode! Already. And the girls realize they have no boyfriends. The girls are depressed, even Akemi.
Can strength training cure depression? Macho Man is always on point.
Akemi wants to see muscles on the beach! That guy looks an awful lot like Macho Man. That love confession for “bulk” is Akemi’s perfect summer romance fantasy.
Yes, Satomi-sensei. What about you? “Not at the moment.” Technically true, but misleading. The girls haven’t yet learned this rhetorical trick.
Oh ho! The gym’s Christmas party should be nice for the women since there’ll be all sorts of macho men there. I’m curious to see if there will be any macho women.
Ha! Jason Sgatham really is there in the background! Just like he said. I love continuity in my gag comedies.
Damn winter’s tasty dishes! As Hibiki finished her second helping of yakisoba, after a donut and a red bean bun in between, which don’t seem very seasonally specific.
Triceps Exercise Video!
Skull Crushers. Oh. They’re triceps extensions on the bench press machine. You need a spotter. The EZ bar lets you grip the bar without rotating the wrists for a more natural position.
Watch out, Hibiki! Ouch.
The Christmas party is a cosplay party? Ah. They get a discount if they do that. How many takers besides our girls?
Oh Zina. This is not a Christmas costume. Also, another Kengan Ashura reference. Satomi’s costume isn’t any better, but at least she put on a Santa hat. A Santa hat means instant Christmas cosplay. That’s the rule!
The high school girls love college guys. Nobody thinks about what kind of college guy would pick up on high school girls, though.
Akemi has eyes for Macho Man in a tuxedo. Or does she?
I do like how all the girls are so outgoing. Not a shy one in the bunch. Although, none of them are closers. Get those digits! Ha. They still have the calorie count for Akemi’s milk. Hey! Finding a common interest really does make it easier to meet and talk to people. Aw. The girls are still shy.
This isn’t really a random raffle if Macho Man chose the numbers ahead of time. I also hope that tuxedo isn’t a rental.
The bodybuilding contest poses are training exercises.
Akemi’s Isometrics Lesson!
Nice. Jason Sgatham is in these videos too.
The girls, except Akemi, really want that trip to Disn… Togichi Destiny Land.
Akemi was really happy. Did she win? No… She must be happy to see those muscles again.
Yeah! All these nice looking guys have totally been trained by Macho Man! Macho Boom! The girls shouldn’t be so surprised after dealing with Macho Man all this time.
Aw. Those “macho gorillas” all had wives or girlfriends.
Whoops! Satomi almost gave away her cosplay plans for Winter Comiket. If you can, check out that QR code on the ticket (click image for bigger). That’s a fun Easter egg. She can’t go, so Akemi asks for those tickets.
Oh ho. Akemi is so bold, to ask Macho Man to go with her to Disn… Destiny Land. Has she started to like more than his muscles? It couldn’t be…
Tochigi Destiny Land, with Mockey Mouse and some other duck character.
Ah haha! Satomi thinks she can still pull off looking like a high school girl. This is an expensive stalking mission. Keep your comments to yourself, Mockey Mouse! This is all regular date stuff. Could it be, could it be? Ah. I see Satomi getting sick on the teacups. Oh, come on. They’re building this tension up, but those heartsy eyes from Akemi gave it away. Muscles are involved.
Ha, Zina! Guilt is only temporary! And yup! Akemi did it all for the macho. Obsessed Akemi is interesting too.
After all that, NOW we get another training lesson? Man, this show.
Inclined Bench Press Video!
This exercise targets the upper part of your pecs instead of the central part that a regular bench press does, increasing size and definition. Macho Man says this can increase your bust size too, but he didn’t say it could increase your cup size. That’s an important distinction.
Har. Jason Sgatham is all over these exercise videos.
So nice! Satomi and Rumika had the same idea on the same day. BFF’s! More like, they have blackmail material on each other.
The omake covers doing bodybuilding poses. Please don’t flex in public. The girls make different poses than Macho Man. There must be differences between men and women’s competitive bodybuilding. Eh? Ayaka didn’t get a pose? I wanted to see her Abdominal and Thigh!
