Diamond Heart Gym.

January 4th, 2027. I'm standing in front of the gym, Diamond Heart Gym to be exact. It's affordable, close by, and has perfect reviews through and through. Perfect. My New Year's resolution starts now. Time to get in shape.

I entered the building with my gym bag across my body and the whole place was pretty much empty, just a few people and the smooth cold air coming from above.

I got on the treadmill and started shredding it, but after three minutes my heart signed the cease and desist order. All my motivation disappeared like my Dad during my childhood.

I was sweating like a filthy beast and sucking the air for any morsel of oxygen. The number of people started declining and soon enough it was just me and two other guys. One of them was lifting weights and the other one was casually jogging on the treadmill.

I did some light dumbbell exercises and leg presses before packing my things. "Tomorrow," I said. "I'll do more workouts tomorrow, I swear."

I walked to the doors and it was gone, the whole world was gone. The gym was just floating in an infinite void of whiteness. I stepped outside and teleported right back into the gym. It happened 9 more times before I finally started screaming at the top of my lungs.

The two guys stopped their exercises to look at me. Then they started chuckling. "First day, huh?" One of them said. I fell to my knees and started crying, going off on an insane rant. "What's going on?! Are we dead?! Did we just cease to exist?!"

"Yo, dude, chill, calm down. None of that happened, man." One of the guys said.

"Yeah." The other added. "You just haven't finished your set yet."

They sat me down and explained everything. "Everyone comes in here with an internal exercise decision and the gym doesn't let you leave until you've completed it." They said.

"Name's Doyle and this is Tyson."

"On my first day I told myself that I'll do 500 of every exercise with every machine. Yeah. I was in way over my head, but I couldn't leave until I did. The gym didn't let me." Doyle said.

"Mine was during the beginning of summer." Tyson spoke. "I was super chunky and I'd broken my arm, so I could only rock the treadmill. Made a promise to myself that I'd lose 30 pounds and the gym trapped me in until I did. I was stuck in here for months."

"Dear God, months?" I almost choked on my words. But he clarified moments later. "Time is distorted heavily in this place." He spent 7 months in there, but only 3 hrs passed in the real world. "Calling for help won't work, and escape is impossible. You want out, complete your set."

"So...?" Doyle asked. "What's your internal decision?"

I replied solemnly, "You ever heard of Doctor Hercules?"

They paused in utter disbelief and shock. "Yeah, you're fucked." Tyson said. And he was right. Doctor Hercules is a massive online fitness influencer, and he looks exactly like a Greek Statue. And I was a pot bellied couch potato. "I'm gonna be here for the rest of my life." I cried.

"You better get started man." Doyle patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you can't get hungry or thirsty or anything like that."

"But..." Tyson chimed in. "You can get hurt and tired. Fatigue is part of the process, so the gym doesn't take that away. Also, we didn't catch your name."

I replied, "Kevin. My name's Kevin."

They nodded, wished me luck, and went back to their workouts. That's when I properly saw what they were really doing. Doyle was bench pressing 450 pounds on one side of the bar and 450 on the other side. And he's doing it effortlessly.

Tyson was casually jogging, is what I thought. But really he was just moving too fast for me to see. He was actually sprinting. 62 km/h.

I later on found out that the time distortion also distorts the body, allowing for superhuman like performance, which you get to keep once you leave the gym. That's why everyone always came back. There was no other gym that could possibly help maintain their insane physique.

For the next 2.4 years I was trapped in that gym. And when I finally made it out, only 9 hours had passed. So yeah, that's how I got this ripped.

"Sure, man. Totally." They awkwardly stared at him.

"Gang, just say you're gonna gatekeep the method. Why waste our time with all that BS."

"Yeah, you're right. He's probably on steroids or something."

"Totally."

Sigh. No one ever believes me.

The End