Training An Angel

The Friction gym was a busy place and a place that Alaina knew well. She was no stranger to the gym for sure, and the regulars there knew all too well who she was. Clad in a pair of black briefs, sneakers and a pink sports bra Alaina was with another fit woman of above average size. The young Blond Isa was in the squat rack at Alaina's direction, the final part of her weight lifting workout for the day.

"All right Isa, just a few more reps and that'll be it for our lifting today, keep pushing! You can do it!" Alaina shouted a she stood behind Isa, acting as a spotter while she was in the squat rack lifting a good amount of weight. Alaina had worked with her since their match, and today was a nasty workout. They were about to finish up with a lifting routine before doing cardio work as well as brushing up on Isa's technical skills.

Alaina worked her hard but she knew Isa had quite a high ceiling if she were able to polish up her skills that complimented her natural ability. There was still a lot of work to do but Alaina knew the payoff would be worth it. "Almost there! We'll take a short break before getting back to work. Come on you got this!" Alaina said, urging Isa along as she was set to finish the last few reps.

The past few weeks had been absurd for Isa Hjalmarsdottir. Absurd, but definitely in a good way.

It had all began from a certain match a while back. A match against a legendary AFW veteran, Alaina Sanders. The Amazon. A woman and a wrestler that Isa highly admired, and considered to be one of the best, if not the best on AFW roster.

So, fighting against her? That had been a scary and unnerving, but eventually also a very rewarding and encouraging experience. And not least because of how Alaina had related to their match and her rookie opponent. While Isa had become soundly defeated by the Amazon, as expected, she had impressed the veteran by her efforts, resistance and spirit. So much in fact, that Alaina had seen big potential in the young rookie, and offered to train her out and assist her in her young career.

And that had been a dream come true for the Icelandic girl. Needless to say, she had jumped on the opportunity.

Right now she was having some regrets though. Admittedly temporary ones, but still regrets. Alaina had been an extremely demanding coach to her, and while the blonde knew deep inside that it was only a good thing, she could not avoid to acknowledge the physical strain overwhelming her right now. Her training program had been hard, and the blonde could already see her muscles starting to build up, but Alaina had been constantly taking her body to its limits in each one of their training sessions. And tonight was no different. Isa could have used a break.

Luckily, right now Alaina seemed to be promising one. A short one, which was kinda bad news, but still a break. Clad in her tight blue shorts and sports bra, Isa exerted her seemingly last bits of strength to finish the ordered series of moves, before taking support from the squat rack itself, panting heavily from the rough training.

"Ok Isa, good work!" Alaina said as she clapped her hands upon the completion of Isa's exercises. She stood with her hands on her hips and shift her weight to her right a bit as she smiled at Isa. "Ok we'll take a quick break then we're going to work on our mat skills. After five minutes here we'll do some work in the ring got any questions for me about that or anything else?" Alaina asked, drinking some water as she herself was preparing to step into the ring with Isa. Alaina wanted to work on holds, specifically Isa's application of them as well as her ability to escape them.

Now that she had finished the task, Isa was convinced that tonight's lifting exercise had been tougher than previously. Obviously her muscles had been aching already before, but tonight she felt exceptionally exhausted. Granted, on the other hand it was very logical though. Training was supposed to constantly increase your performance, so why would Alaina let her go tonight any easier than the last time?

Besides, the Amazon was a very encouraging coach. Despite of how bad her body was feeling, Alaina always managed to turn their training into a rewarding experience in the end. Like now with the clapping and compliments.

But as Alaina outlined the plans for the follow-up, the blonde couldn't help but look at her in disbelief. "Work on mat skills?" "Work in the ring?" After all this?!? Yeah, Isa had many questions. But what did she end up telling Alaina?

"Yeah....I-...uh... Ugh. No, no I don't." the blonde managed to stutter out in the middle of heavy panting, clearly lacking the mental capacity to think about the upcoming training, or her questions related to it yet. Instead, the blonde proceeded to take a few thirsty gulps from a water bottle of her own, before laying down on the mat in exhaustion, trying to gather some strength for the next part.

Alaina sat back and began to stretch a bit. "If you can keep your cool during a match while you are tired you will perform much better during the match as a whole. By working ourselves out to the point of being really worn out we simulate that. It sounds crazy but it makes sense I swear!" Alaina said with a laugh as she herself focused on taking big breaths in and exhaling slowly to recover as quickly as she could. She knew Isa had a ton of potential, she just needed some know-how. Isa was going to be a force inside the ring soon, Alaina could feel it.

Keeping her cool? That sounded like something right up Isa's alley. She was the Angel of Ice, the quintessence of coolness, right?

Well, if Isa was completely honest, sometimes there were indeed situations where she should have kept her cool better. Especially if, and when, the opponent resorted to dirtier tactics, behaved rudely, or at times where the blonde herself had been running into trouble. So once again the blonde had to admit herself, that Alaina was spot on.

Besides, doubting the words of someone like the Amazon would have been borderline insanity. Obviously the veteran knew what she was talking about, and it was best for Isa to just listen. The blonde knew she just had to accept the briefness of the break, and keep on going for some time longer. "Ok...so...we're going to...the ring next?" the Icelander finally decided to query between her heavy panting. "What's your...plan then? ... Or are you...just going to...show me?"

Alaina made her way overt the ring, climbing inside before wiping the sweat from her forehead. "We are going to spar but the main focus will be on grappling footwork, as well as holds. If I get you in one I won't crank down too hard on the pressure but you will have to escape from it. You can also put me in holds, and we'll probably end up throwing one another around bit or landing strikes since they are good for softening up an opponent." Alaina said as she began to stretch herself a bit.

"I am ready whenever you are Isa." Alaina was indeed ready. Tired and worn out but ready. She wanted to make sure Isa's training would lead to results inside the ring. The amazon knew that this was the best way to do it as well. The harder you go in training the better you do in official matches.

Isa would have preferred recieving some preparation before getting into the ring, but Alaina seemed to be determined to get there already herself before answering any of the blonde's questions. Too bad, but hey, she had to believe in her coach's philosophy! And she finally got to hear the Amazon's plan anyway...

The "holds" -part sounded still pretty doable, considering their current state, even though Alaina's statement of holding back with the pressure did bring a hint of a grimace on the blonde's face. But that was soon wiped out as Isa heard the mentions of strikes and throwing each other around - that made it all sound more like another full-fledged battle against the Amazon in the ring! Besides, the blonde didn't feel like needing any further softening up...

Isa couldn't help blushing a little, and that necessitated her to counter its effect by courageously getting promptly up and entering the ring herself too. Did she really feel ready? No, but she had to still give her best effort. Besides, she trusted Alaina and appreciated her efforts, and a well-behaved mentee did what she was requested.

"Sounds like a plan... I'm ready!" the blonde braved up to state as she took up a grappling stance right in front of the Amazon, trying to prepare herself to be on the defensive the best she could.

Alaina nodded and smiled, she was going to push Isa today but not unfairly so. She lunged in, looking to grapple with Isa! Alaina wanted to press her and jockey for position using her footwork as much as her strength. Alaina was going to start off simple with a move she felt isa could counter or reverse. The amazon grabbed onto one of Isa's arms and twisted it, working her way behind her back to put her in a simple hammerlock! Alaina applied enough pressure to make it a little painful but was more focused on making the hold secure as opposed to inflicting pain. "Come on Isa.... work your way out of this. I know you can do it!"

Isa might have thought she was ready for whatever Alaina had in mind, but the reality turned out to be not quite so. It was easy, almost embarrassingly easy for the Amazon to put the blonde in the exact hammerlock that she had intended to, and the Angel had already fallen under her coach's control, and in slight pain.

But according to her mentor, this hold should have been easily escapable? Well, that was likely true as Alaina had no reason to lie, but it was anything but easy for Isa to figure her way out of this. But the only thing she could do was to cool down, and think... And luckily, she didn't have to think for too long. Eventually the blonde began taking a couple of stumbling steps to the side...before trying to twist her body somewhat awkwardly, in an attempt to get positioned behind Alaina, and hopefully get the Amazon into a hammerlock of her own!