Working has worn me out before I've even grown old.

"What?"
"My body is three years older than my actual age?" Chen Jue put on his glasses and studied the physical assessment report carefully.
Beside him, Li Chaoqun responsibly explained the results.
The report was filled with data: body water, protein, bone mass, fat content, skeletal muscle, waist-to-hip fat ratio, visceral fat, metabolism, nutrition evaluation—everything was included.
Most importantly, this machine could also measure the body's physical age.
For example, although Chen Jue was only twenty-nine, due to various unhealthy habits, his physical condition had aged three years beyond his actual age.
"Damn!"
"Premature aging?"
"Is going to work really this costly? Am I just burning through my lifespan?" Chen Jue was shaken, even a little panicked, and he couldn't help but ask how accurate the machine was.
After all, it was his health at stake—how could he not be concerned?
Seeing his reaction, Li Chaoqun chuckled, "The basic model of this machine sells online for thirty-five thousand. Ours was custom-ordered by the boss, fifty grand. If it wasn’t accurate, why would we buy it? Just for fun?"
Hearing how expensive it was, Chen Jue had no retort.
The fitness coach had no reason to lie—one photo and a quick search online would reveal the price.
"Coach Li, is my situation serious?"
"Can exercise help me recover?" Chen Jue asked anxiously.
"I can't guarantee anything," Li Chaoqun replied. "I'm just a trainer, not a doctor. But consistent exercise is very effective! I've trained plenty of clients whose reports were worse than yours at the start. After a period of training and another test, most saw improvements." With these words of comfort, Li Chaoqun led Chen Jue out of the small room.
As for the report, he told Chen Jue to keep it for reference.
...
After his first physical assessment, Chen Jue realized more than ever that he needed to make a change.
If he kept going like this, his body age would soon reach forty.
Damn it!
He wasn’t even thirty!
Was working really worth burning away his lifespan?
Unaware of Chen Jue’s inner turmoil, Li Chaoqun led the anxious Chen Jue to the gym floor.
"Your right hand is injured and needs rest, so you can’t train upper body today."
"I’ll have you start with some aerobic running as a warm-up, then we’ll do a few targeted lower-body exercises," Li Chaoqun explained as he guided Chen Jue onto the treadmill.
He pressed the power button, set a gentle incline, and gradually increased the speed.
At first, walking slowly, Chen Jue didn’t feel tired at all—it was as relaxed as a stroll after dinner.
But once the pace picked up, he was out of breath after just over two minutes, gasping for air.
"The treadmill has ten speed settings," Li Chaoqun explained. "Levels one and two are slow walking, three to four are brisk walking. Your body fat percentage is quite high, so fat-burning runs at level five or above are more suitable."
"For your first session, let’s see if you can stick it out for ten minutes."
Seeing that Chen Jue was struggling, Li Chaoqun quickly lowered the speed, bringing him from a run back down to a brisk walk.
After ten minutes, Chen Jue was exhausted, practically collapsing.
"I can’t... I can’t... Let me catch my breath..." he panted, stepping off the treadmill.

He felt that this ten-minute session—part running, part brisk walking—was at least ten times more exhausting than the twenty-five minutes he’d spent riding a shared bike the previous day.
At least his efforts were rewarded: a notification popped up in his field of vision.

——————
[Ding~]
[Completed a qualifying aerobic exercise]
[+0.01 free attribute point]
——————
[Ding~]
[Completed a qualifying cardio workout]
[Constitution +0.01]
——————
"Huh?"
"The harder I work, the better the rewards?"
"Hard work pays off... Actually, the system rewards hard work!" Chen Jue looked at the message and immediately allocated the newly earned point to constitution.
His constitution stat rose to 0.93.
A rush of warmth surged through him, and his heavy breathing eased somewhat.
Li Chaoqun looked surprised. "Seems your recovery ability is pretty good! Most people need more than ten minutes to recover after their first treadmill session."
"It’s... not bad," Chen Jue replied awkwardly.
He knew the real truth—his body was weak. Without those stat boosts, he’d probably be lying on the floor by now.
But the mention of aerobic exercise piqued his interest, since it kept appearing on his system interface. He took the opportunity to ask for more details during his break.
"Aerobic exercise refers to activities that rely mainly on aerobic metabolism. They’re characterized by accelerating fat burning in the body. Jogging, brisk walking, cycling, swimming—those are all aerobic, and they’re especially suitable for your current high body fat."
"Anaerobic exercise, on the other hand, is intense, high-speed activity performed by muscles in a low-oxygen state. It’s high-intensity and fast-paced, raises your heart rate and makes your breathing rapid. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses are all anaerobic."
As a fitness coach, Li Chaoqun was used to answering questions, and his good attitude was crucial for business. He explained everything thoroughly to Chen Jue.
Chen Jue, a risk control data analyst, was quick-witted and mathematically inclined, with strong learning, memory, and comprehension skills.
He’d never really tried fitness training before, so this was a blind spot for him.
With a guided explanation, he quickly formed a general impression of exercise and workout types.
"I had no idea there was so much knowledge behind fitness."
"I’ll have to look up more information online—I can’t just work out blindly," Chen Jue thought to himself, glancing at his right arm, still covered with pain patches.
Last night, in his eagerness to level up his stone-skipping skills, he’d pushed himself too hard and injured his arm.
Having suffered once, Chen Jue was now much more cautious.
He realized that with exercise, slow and steady was the way to go.
...
After resting for about five minutes post-run, Li Chaoqun brought him to a seated leg press machine.
"This machine is great for training the quadriceps and gluteus maximus—the muscles of the thighs and buttocks."
"I’ll demonstrate first. Pay attention to my technique," Li Chaoqun said, sitting on the machine and setting the yellow-marked weight stack to the lowest setting.
With a gentle push, the stacked weights were lifted smoothly.

Chen Jue glanced at the weight and was stunned.
"Whoa!"
"Four hundred pounds? That’s about a hundred eighty kilos, right?"
"That’s incredible!" Chen Jue was amazed by Li’s leg strength.
He watched him handle the weight with ease; clearly, the machine couldn’t even measure his true lower-body strength.
"This machine is pretty light for me. You’re just starting out, so your lower body isn’t that strong yet. It’s best to start at a hundred pounds and gradually increase."
"Once you’re stronger, there are advanced methods. You can try the inverted leg press over there—it uses weight plates and can go up to over four hundred kilos." Seeing Chen Jue’s astonishment, Li Chaoqun smiled and pointed to another machine in the distance.
"Good grief!"
"Four hundred kilos?"
"I struggle with a ten-kilo bag of rice!"
"That’s like pressing forty bags of rice at once?" The numbers left Chen Jue’s mind buzzing—it was a real eye-opener.
He’d seen online comments claiming that gym-built muscles were just for show and useless in real life, with plenty of naysayers chiming in.
Chen Jue wished those keyboard warriors would try pressing four hundred kilos themselves—let’s see whose muscles could handle that!

Still bewildered, he took his seat and tested his own leg press.
As expected, Chen Jue could only manage two hundred pounds—about ninety kilos—before it became difficult to increase the weight.
Following Li’s guidance, he did a set of fifteen reps, then checked his system stats: "Strength attribute 0.77, both legs max out at about ninety kilos."
"So Coach Li’s strength must be at least 1.5 or 2, right?"
He glanced again at Li Chaoqun’s sculpted, muscular physique. He figured the coach’s strength was at least double, maybe even triple his own.
Thinking that, with enough stat boosts, he too could one day become as strong and powerful, Chen Jue felt a surge of motivation—he pressed on with renewed energy!
Gritting his teeth, he completed five sets, exhausting his strength and leaving his legs stiff as boards. At last, familiar lines of pixelated text flashed on his system interface.

——————
[Ding~]
[Completed a qualifying anaerobic exercise]
[+0.01 free attribute point]
——————
[Ding~]
[After a period of training, your leg muscles have grown slightly.]
[Strength +0.01]