Swimming at 1:20 Shapes the Body

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Chen Jue rested one hand on the lane line, drawing deep breaths of fresh air while gazing delightedly at the prompt that had appeared on the panel.

This swimming session had truly brought him a tremendous surprise!

Not only was the efficiency of increasing his attributes far greater than during any previous attempt, but his skill proficiency was rising with astonishing speed as well.

Seeing that a few more underwater laps would bring his Swimming skill to the next level, Chen Jue’s thoughts began to stir.

He had not expected the young man training in the adjacent lane to swim over just then. With a warm smile, the boy greeted him, “Senior Chen Jue, it really is you! I was wondering why you looked so familiar when I saw you underwater just now.”

Chen Jue came back to himself and glanced at him. To his surprise, it was Ma Qiang from the freshman physical-education class.

Ma Qiang was a specialized athlete on Jiang University’s swimming team and spent most of his days in the pool. Chen Jue had not expected to run into him on his very first visit, let alone in the neighboring lane. It was quite a coincidence.

“Senior Chen Jue, that dunk of yours was incredible!”

“When the video of it came out yesterday, the basketball team went crazy trying to track you down. They all said they wanted to recruit you and train with you.”

“I didn’t realize you were this good at swimming too. Swimming fifty meters underwater in one breath isn’t something an ordinary person can do.” Ma Qiang rested his arms on the lane line as well, casually bringing up Chen Jue’s spectacular dunk.

“Huh?”

“My skills are only so-so. I just practice on my own. I learned to swim by teaching myself in the wild rivers back home.” Chen Jue was rather surprised. He had not expected his spur-of-the-moment dunk to cause such a stir.

It was not only the Jiang University basketball team that had been asking about him—even a physical-education student like Ma Qiang, who trained in swimming, had heard about it.

“Senior, you’re obviously just being modest. There aren’t many people at our university who can dunk.”

“Still, you should avoid underwater swimming as much as possible. Doing it too often can cause severe oxygen deprivation and damage the brain.” Ma Qiang offered the warning out of kindness.

“Underwater swimming can damage the brain?”

“That serious?” Chen Jue immediately grew wary.

When he had first attempted underwater swimming so recklessly, his eardrum had been injured, and his Physique attribute had dropped by 0.01 as a result.

Having already suffered once, Chen Jue was becoming increasingly attentive to the dangers that accompanied physical exercise.

“It’s not as if a single dive will damage your brain. It’s just that…” Ma Qiang scratched his head, fumbling for words. Clearly, he was an athlete who was not particularly good with theory.

At that moment, the middle-aged coach supervising the pool walked over and blew his metal whistle.

“Ma Qiang! Slacking off again? Get back to training!”

“Got it, Coach Wang!”

Caught red-handed by his coach, Ma Qiang immediately looked like a mouse that had encountered a cat. He exchanged a few playful expressions with the middle-aged coach, then said goodbye to Chen Jue before plunging back into the water.

Training as a swimmer was extremely monotonous. For the most part, athletes spent the entire day soaking in the pool, swimming back and forth, lap after lap.

Most competitive sports were like this. No matter how great one’s talent was, there were no shortcuts. Good results could only be earned through relentless practice.

Coach Wang, however, was clearly quite interested in Chen Jue. After making a round of the pool, he walked over to the outermost lane and crouched down.

“Which department are you from, kid? Have you trained in swimming before?”

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“I’ve only practiced on my own. Please don’t laugh, Coach Wang.” Chen Jue happened to be surfacing for a rest, so he began chatting with the swimming coach.

When Coach Wang learned that Chen Jue was merely auditing classes and had never received any formal training in competitive swimming, his expression revealed a trace of astonishment.

Chen Jue’s speed during that underwater lap had been anything but slow. His technique was somewhat disorganized, but simply being able to swim fifty meters underwater on a single breath required lung capacity far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Naturally, Chen Jue also took the opportunity to ask the professional coach about underwater swimming and its effects on the brain.

“There are two reasons underwater swimming can damage the brain. First, water pressure can cause a certain increase in blood pressure, placing stress on the cerebral blood vessels and resulting in injury. Second, underwater swimming consumes more oxygen than ordinary swimming. When the body remains oxygen-deprived for an extended period, the brain receives insufficient oxygen, which can damage and even kill brain tissue.” Coach Wang patiently explained.

“Moreover, the International Swimming Federation’s rule limiting underwater swimming in official competitions to no more than fifteen meters is not only meant to improve the spectacle of the event. They are also concerned that swimmers might stop refining their technique and focus entirely on increasing their lung capacity.”

When swimming along the bottom of the pool, resistance was far lower than at the surface, allowing swimmers to move considerably faster.

Some professional underwater swimmers could even cover nearly two hundred meters in a single breath without equipment or added weight.

However, competitions of that sort were both lacking in entertainment value and extremely dangerous. If a swimmer failed to surface in time, they could easily suffocate and die at the bottom of the pool. That was why the underwater distance was capped at fifteen meters.

Exceeding that distance would result in disqualification, just as strictly as a runner being ruled to have started 0.1 seconds too early in a track race.

…

“So that’s how it works!”

After listening to Coach Wang’s explanation, Chen Jue nodded thoughtfully.

Just as he was about to continue swimming underwater to increase his attributes, Coach Wang spoke up.

“Your swimming technique is rather wild. Your efficiency when gliding and treading water is poor, so you’re wasting a lot of energy.”

“If you want to swim faster, you should train with Ma Qiang and the others.”

Coach Wang had apparently recognized Chen Jue as someone with potential and offered him a few kindly pointers.

After all, Chen Jue was a gifted man with a status panel. Following a period of training, his various physical attributes had already reached a level approaching that of a national-class athlete.

Although he had only just begun learning Swimming, his Physique of over 2.00 was enough to reveal that he was no ordinary swimmer.

“Thank you for the guidance, Coach Wang. I won’t interfere with your training.” Chen Jue was tempted by the suggestion. After thanking the coach several times, he continued resting his arms on the lane line and began observing and learning.

Naturally, his subject of study was Ma Qiang, who was nearest to him.

The boy trained in the individual medley, a rather special all-around event in competitive swimming. Competitors had to master four different swimming techniques.

The individual medley consisted of 200-meter and 400-meter events. During the race, swimmers had to complete one-quarter of the distance in each of the following strokes, in order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

Chen Jue happened to lack professional knowledge in this area, so he watched Ma Qiang closely as he trained.

His eyesight had improved tremendously, and he could now be considered half an expert in athletics. With the panel’s powerful correction function, he alternated between observing Ma Qiang above and below the water. In less than twenty minutes, he had more or less mastered the techniques of all four strokes.

Furthermore, through his close observations, Chen Jue noticed that the muscles of professional swimmers were not as robust and prominent as those of track-and-field athletes.

If the physiques of runners and bodybuilders could be described as lean and sharply defined, swimmers were more supple and full-bodied, as though they had been soaked in water for so long that their bodies had expanded like dried sea cucumbers.

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In addition, swimmers tended to have more elongated physiques, with skeletal structure and muscular arm strength that were exceptionally well balanced. They looked almost like runway models, pleasing to the eye wherever one looked.

He also discovered that swimming exercised the body comprehensively. From the neck and shoulders to the waist, back, and limbs, virtually every muscle in the body was brought into play.

Such full-body exercise was obviously highly effective for reducing body fat.

Chen Jue looked around the pool, yet he could not find a single swimmer with a particularly heavy build.

All seven swimmers, including Ma Qiang, had slender physiques. There was hardly any sign of excess fat on their bodies.

“No wonder Teacher Li Rui said swimming could shape the body.”

“This must also be a form of the human body adapting to its environment, right?” Chen Jue analyzed silently.

…

Having tasted the benefits of increasing his attributes, Chen Jue submerged himself once more and began imitating Ma Qiang’s four professional racing strokes.

With the panel’s assistance, he judged whether his movements were reasonable and effective by observing how quickly his Swimming proficiency increased by one or two points.

Unexpectedly, after practicing more than twenty laps in the water and choking down several mouthfuls of it, the panel once again displayed a prompt:

——————

Ding!

Proficiency has reached 100%. Skill level increased.

Swimming Lv. 2 → Lv. 3

You have become increasingly proficient in the underwater sport of swimming. You have begun experimenting with a swimming posture better suited to you. Your swimming speed has increased dramatically, and you have mastered a special breathing rhythm.

Under the unique pressure of the aquatic environment, all the muscle groups in your body have received highly effective training. Muscular endurance and explosive power have increased slightly. Your metabolism has been enhanced, accelerating the rate at which subcutaneous fat is consumed.

After remaining in a state of oxygen deprivation underwater for an extended period, you have developed a degree of immunity to the fear of running out of oxygen. Your willpower has increased.

Strength +0.01

Physique +0.01

Spirit +0.01

First update~

End of chapter

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