“It’s Only Thunder and Lightning Bolts in Here!”

Dominic Fitzgerald

After school, students and teachers congregate to the weight room to get strong, ripped and “wrecked” (in a good way).

As Friday ends, the average person would go home, grab a bag of chips, kick back and binge-watch The Walking Dead, or some other cult TV series. However, a small group of seniors do not do this. These select few of the Class of 2017 make the journey across campus to pump iron and pound heavy metal. If you were to walk up the steps to the weight-room during this time with them, you would hear what Mr. Penland calls the sounds of “thunder and lightning-bolts.” When walking through the doors, you would then be greeted by the sight of various Bicep Society members such as Wei Sing Goh (12), Ning Kang Chia (12), and Sheldon Ang (12), as well as various underclassmen and teachers pounding iron and "building the bodies."

Normally, the first person in the weight room is Dominic Fitzgerald (12), spearheading the assault with a running warm-up. While chasing aestheticism and athleticism, he is also the weight room DJ, blasting a variety of songs ranging from bone-crushing heavy metal and hardcore punk (i.e. Austrian Death Machine, Trivium and Hatebreed) to cheesy eighties tracks (i.e. Stan Bush).

After Fitzgerald, staff members like Mr. Kilgo and Mr. Anderson show up to do CrossFit; they are later followed by Mr. Arnold and Mr. Penland who come to maintain their Herculean strength for basketball. Like these coaches, the previously mentioned members of the fabled Bicep Society come to train for sporting events, such as the ACSC tournaments—along with enhancing the size of their majestic biceps

Apart from them, you would also find Mr. Fraser, and his sons Shion (11) and Kai (Alumnus of 2016), imparting their coveted knowledge and secrets to juniors and underclassmen, like Chia Hoong Ewe (11) and Gavin Zimmer (9). If Shion and Chia Hoong aren’t lifting, they are hanging on the bars outside, climbing and trying to “tag” each other. They are sometimes joined by Kai or by some of the underclassmen.

As the day draws to a close, whoever stays in the weight-room the latest has to lock up. By then, most of these amazing people would have made their way home to cool down, eat a post-workout meal, and fix a delicious whey protein shake (well, delicious to us bodybuilders). Our bodies may take a severe beating, but that does not stop us from coming in the next day, and the day after, and the day after that, literally running back for more. We don’t do this just because we’re chasing goals, but because we love it; we’re trying to manifest the inner strength God gave us. God gave us our bodies, so why shouldn’t we look after them like gold? Again, these are the reasons why students and teachers congregate to the weight room after school—to get strong, ripped, and “wrecked’ (in a good way).