Hibiki has to train her muscles to run the relay for her class during Sports Day.
Episode 5 – “What’s Your Sports Day Event?”
Hmm.
Last week, Dumbbell introduced weight machines as the “support” of heavy strength training. This week, we see exactly how this support works as a supplement to a main sports activity. Not everybody joins a gym because they like working out at the gym. More serious athletes take advantage of the weights and machines on recovery days from their training focus. The strategy of making a “helper” muscle do heavy lifting on these days is a great way of improving performance.
Take Hibiki’s sprint training as the example. The full cycle of a running motion includes the calves and quadriceps pushing against the ground to move the whole heavy body forward. Those large muscle groups pushing against the ground and against the core muscles will get strong and large just by doing that motion repetitively. But what’s happening to the leg after it’s done pushing? It’s lifting the foot off the ground and then lifting the knee into the gut so it can repeat the downward pushing motion. The quicker this cycle can go, the quicker a person can run. On the upward part of the cycle, only the less heavy weight of the foot and the knee is being lifted by the hamstrings and then the hip flexors by a string of separate motions. Focusing on these “helper” muscles for the isolated motions is the “charm” of the weight machines.
Machio touches on this charm in his explanation to Satomi about why half-squats aren’t as effective as the isolation machines. The squat still relies on pushing against the ground when the body rises and when it lowers. That’s what he means when describing the “braking” muscles. A sprinter is already training these muscles to be strong just by running and exploding off the blocks. Isolating the hamstring with heavy weights on leg curls and hip flexors with the Bicycle Crunch will maximize the strength training for those helper muscles. Doing these supplemental exercises will truly make you “sore in places you didn’t know you had places.”
Still, machines and targeted motion exercises like the Bicycle Crunch are only meant to be supplements to the main training goal. I was happy to see Hibiki stair climbing and running during her training montage flashback, because the bulk of the effort in a sprint run will rely on the main running muscle groups. It wasn’t enough to beat Akemi, of course.
Heh.
Nice. Aina-sensei is Hibiki’s homeroom teacher. The important stats are 30 years old and single. Rumika-sensei needs to join Satomi-sensei’s gym. Ara! Hibiki has to run the 400m relay for her class on Sports Day. Funny how Hibiki has been going to the gym all this time but she doesn’t consider herself one of the “sporty” girls.
Is Macho Man hanging upside down? Aha! The girls are just sitting on him as he acts like a bench bent the other way. They totally see him as a magical animal mascot character.
Ha! Hibiki lumps Satomi-sensei in with her “slow runner” body type. She’s not wrong. Thin vs. Thicc! Oh. Hibiki meant she and Satomi have short legs compared to Ayaka and Akemi. Sure, that’s what she meant. Macho Man says you can’t change your bones, but you can change your muscles! Like he should talk. He’s almost a foot taller without that sweatsuit.
Exercise Video time – work those hamstrings with leg curls!
I knew it! It was only a matter of time before Satomi became one of those sexy exercise models. Why yes, I’m totally looking at the blinking muscle signs and not down Satomi’s shirt. Why would you ask such a thing Onto the leg curl machine. Needs lots of adjustments to fit properly and only for one motion, but what a view, er, motion!
Man. Sexiest leg curls I’ve ever seen… Hibiki is all fired up because she heard “firm butt” for the exercise. She’s all for it!
Slow motion Macho Man sweatsuit transformation would have been interesting, but Hibiki splitting her pants a second time obviously takes precedence.
Sports Day! Hibiki runs the relay anchor. Akemi is Koyo Joyner, an outdated reference to Jackie Joyner.
Exercise Video for the Bicycle Crunch.
Funnily enough, the Bicycle Crunch doesn’t really help you get your pedal stroke stronger. Full squats are better for that. Haha! Macho Man and Hibiki thumbs up! The crunch gives you slender waist. Hibiki overdoes it again!
Of course, Akemi won. And then the baton pass disqualification compounded Hibiki’s loss.
Macho Man’s magical sweatsuit still cracks me up.
An exercise video to explain the sauna? Works for me! Sauna is good for blood circulation. Losing weight from perspiration is a sign of dehydration. Don’t drink too much alcohol before going in. Make sure you’re clean too. The manga artist had fun with Hibiki’s sauna tutorial too.
Uh oh. The girls got competitive in the sauna. Stand the heat the longest for raffle tickets. Akemi really wants that T-Shirt! Thank you for that warning. This is really a bad idea. Ayaka – Out! Akemi – Out! Satomi had already passed out! Hibiki gets her revenge! I thought Satomi had extra heat endurance from her Comiket cosplay posing experience, but noooo.
Hibiki won the T-Shirts, of course. No trip to America for her. Akemi got them anyway. Hibiki’s a good friend.
The omake covers the Bicycle Crunch. Satomi didn’t want to join the girls out in the boonies for an ab workout? Boo!
