Sports Medicine Master System-Chapter 123 - 88: Redondo
It has to be said, the body control of professional athletes is truly incredible.
Even though it was their first time with the Five Animals Qigong and the details weren’t perfect, as they followed along, they at least looked the part.
Normally, it takes about ten minutes to go through the Five Animals Qigong once.
But for this first session, Chen Yu added a lot of explanation, so it took over twenty minutes to finish one routine.
"Alright, that’s it." Chen Yu finished the final pose and stopped.
He silently glanced at the system.
His Sports Rehabilitation experience had jumped by 19 points.
’The Five Animals Qigong counts as rehabilitation.’
"Chen, is the warm-up over already?" Robinson asked, then added with a grin, "Does this mean our warm-ups will be like this from now on?"
’If that’s the case, this will be so much easier.’
’The poses might be a little goofy... but it’s a breeze!’
For them, this level of activity was practically nothing.
Chen Yu nodded. "Since this is your first time, we’re only doing one set. Once you’re more familiar with it, we’ll increase it to two, then three sets."
’Half an hour should be enough to see a real effect.’
"Chen, you’re the best!" Robinson cheered.
For a 35-year-old veteran like him, when it came to training, any energy he could save was a bonus.
Marion limbered up his body and asked, "Chen, is there a special effect to this thing we’re doing?"
’If it didn’t have a special purpose, Chen Yu wouldn’t be teaching it to them. And the team wouldn’t allow it, either.’
Chen Yu countered with a question, "Let me ask you first. How do you feel after doing it?"
Marion wasn’t usually very talkative, perhaps because he was a rookie who had only been with the team for a year. But he was a very hard worker. While many of the others had been fooling around during the Five Animals Qigong, he had been the most serious of them all.
He thought for a moment, then said, "It feels really unique. My body is warm, and I’m sweating."
He wiped his forehead.
It was damp.
A professional athlete like him, with his level of stamina, shouldn’t have been sweating from such light exercise.
And yet, he was.
Moreover, his entire body felt faintly warm, just like after a proper warm-up.
The whole point of a warm-up is to get the body warm.
If that was the criterion, then the Five Animals Qigong that Chen Yu taught had clearly achieved it.
The amazing part was that it was all from a few simple, static poses.
"That means you did it correctly," Chen Yu said with a smile.
A warm-up gets your blood flowing faster, delivering heat to your extremities. That’s what prevents injuries during high-intensity training.
And the Five Animals Qigong clearly had this effect.
"That’s all for this part. Nelson, take J Kidd and these guys for another warm-up," Chen Yu said, pointing at J Kidd, Robinson, and a few others.
’The ones who were slacking off need some extra work to get properly warmed up.’
"Fuck," Robinson cursed under his breath. He thought they were done.
They all pulled long faces as Nelson brought out jump ropes and ordered them to start running and jumping. They should have just taken the first warm-up seriously.
But a moment later, their feelings of injustice turned to smiles.
Because they discovered that on the other side, Marion and the group that had started training first, led by Greg Davis and Jon Hamm, seemed to be having an even worse time.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Under Davis’s relentless shouting, Marion’s group was running high-speed suicides.
"Jason, do you get the feeling the training intensity has been cranked up?" Robinson whispered to J Kidd beside him.
J Kidd was also watching, frowning slightly. "It hasn’t just gone up, it’s gone *way* up."
’Feels like they’ve kicked it up a whole notch. And we’re in the middle of the season... past the halfway point, even. Logically, the focus should be on maintenance to prevent a wave of injuries late in the season. It makes no sense to suddenly ramp up the intensity like this.’
Dudley suddenly chimed in from behind, "Does that mean we have to train like that in a bit?"
He had a miserable expression on his face. The Phoenix Suns’ training was already intense. Kicking it up another notch would be murder.
’I’m getting too old for this kind of grind.’
Chen Yu stood on the sidelines, notebook in hand, recording each person’s physical condition.
Using the Eye of All-Seeing, Chen Yu could easily tell who was about to reach their physical limit.
And Chen Yu’s goal was to push every person to their physical limits.
"Tell Mario to stop," Chen Yu said, pointing at Mario Elie.
Nelson, at his side, immediately went over and had Mario Elie stop.
The oldest player, Mario Elie, had reached his limit and collapsed onto the floor.
Next was Rodney Rogers.
From time to time, Chen Yu would call someone out, telling them to stop and rest.
In the end, only a few of the younger players were left.
Like Marion, for instance. The guy’s physical fitness was truly exceptional.
But at this moment, even he was about to break, especially seeing the others stop one by one for a quick break while he alone was still being drilled by Davis.
He’d figured it out by now: Chen Yu was on the sideline, pointing out who got to rest.
’He’s not pointing at me. Is it because I questioned the Five Animals Qigong earlier? Is Chen Yu singling me out?’
Just as he was gritting his teeth and pushing on, Chen Yu finally pointed at him.
Marion instantly collapsed to the ground.
Skiles had noticed something was up for a while now. He walked over and asked, "Chen, why the change in the training plan?"
’Nelson used to be in charge of all the training. Chen Yu might be the head of the medical department, but his job is to look after their health. Since when did he start managing the training regimen, too?’
