The Importance of Massage and Stretching

After leaving the commercial sports complex, Chen Jue drove back to Looking Sun Apartments.

Now that he had already uncovered part of the logic behind the panel’s skill triggers, all that remained was to try activating a few more skills. Then the rules governing this “survival of the fittest” system would probably be settled once and for all.

However, the other skills Chen Jue could think of all required special sporting venues, and the commercial sports complex could no longer provide them.

On top of that, several skills on the panel still needed time to be trained up through repeated use, so Chen Jue had lost much of the urgent impatience he had before.

Take it slowly.

He still had classes to attend, and skills and attributes to train.

Back at the apartment, he tidied up a bit, put the newly bought javelin and shot put into a large sports bag that had come with an online order, and planned to head to the track and field grounds in the afternoon to practice Hunting Throwing. Then he strolled off to Jiang University cafeteria for lunch.

Since he could no longer perform the socially disastrous wall-climbing stunt, Chen Jue found coming and going on Jiang University’s campus a bit inconvenient.

Especially with the detour, even jogging it took fifteen minutes, and walking took even longer.

Sometimes, when the fire in his chest and wicked thoughts rose together, Chen Jue even felt tempted to quietly disable the surveillance watching the perimeter wall with a throw, then return to the old wall-climbing route.

But the moment he remembered that such a move was illegal, and that deliberate destruction of public property could land him behind bars, Chen Jue had no choice but to give up the idea.

A little fantasy in his head was enough. Acting on it was another matter entirely.

In a society ruled by law, he could not simply do whatever he pleased. Before he truly became strong, there were many things he still had to do by the rules.

As for driving to Jiang University for classes, parking on campus required a special alumni card because spaces were tight, and Chen Jue was only an audit student with no eligibility for a campus access pass.

Besides, he did not want to stand out among the students, turning himself into a daily spectacle by driving in and out of class. That would be inappropriate. Better to walk more, run more, train his legs, and incidentally increase his daily exercise.

Carrying weight while walking was indeed far more exhausting than usual, especially with a regulation men’s competition shot put in his bag.

That thing weighed 7.257 kilograms apiece. The reason for all those decimals was that shot put, like the javelin, came from the West.

The shot put event originated in primitive times, when human ancestors hurled stones to hunt wild animals or to wage tribal war.

Modern shot put, by contrast, began with a group of European artillerymen in more recent times, who, during idle moments, competed by pushing cannonballs around to pass the time.

Why push a shot rather than an iron ball or bronze ball?

Because the early Western cannons were loaded with solid lead balls, each weighing sixteen pounds, which converts to 7.257 kilograms.

Besides that shot put, Chen Jue’s bag also contained a javelin, an arm strength bar, a hand gripper, and a pile of textbooks and course materials. Altogether it weighed no less than ten kilograms.

What kind of audit student was this?

He was clearly here to cause trouble.

After walking nearly two kilometers to the cafeteria with ten kilograms on his back, he was almost at the point of a special-forces-style warm-up on a daily load march.

By the time he arrived, Chen Jue was drenched in sweat, and even the sportswear he wore had been soaked through in large patches.

Before he even sat down to rest and eat, a prompt popped up on the panel:

Ding.

After completing an efficient weighted aerobic workout, the endurance of your leg muscles has slightly improved, and your cardiopulmonary function has increased a little.

Free Attribute +0.01

“Now that I’m not climbing walls, there’s a benefit like this too?”

“Looks like I need to put more things in the bag from now on!”

Seeing that he had squeezed out a tiny bit more attribute growth, Chen Jue was greatly heartened, and the last trace of dissatisfaction over taking the long way was finally gone.

...

Because it was unwise to eat immediately after intense exercise, Chen Jue sat in the cafeteria and spent a while scrolling on his phone.

Only after the heat radiating from his body had completely settled did he go to the counter, get his food, and have lunch.

With class starting at 1:30 in the afternoon, it was no longer appropriate to go back to the apartment for a rest. So, like many Jiang University students, Chen Jue found a wide grassy lawn shaded by trees and lay down for a midday nap.

The campus environment was excellent, with greenery that surpassed that of an ordinary city park.

At noon, the lawns were either occupied by student couples or by self-study prodigies hugging textbooks and cramming away.

In the more than a week since he had started attending classes on campus, Chen Jue had not seen a single Jiang University student or teacher wasting time.

Everyone came and went in haste, either heading to class, going to the laboratory for research, or to the library for self-study.

The only activities that could be considered leisure were probably training at the track, basketball court, or gymnasium, or sitting on the grass during lunch break to soak up a little sun.

“I never expected even a top university to be this cutthroat!”

“Probably not many students in this school are gaming in their dorms, right?” Chen Jue muttered to himself.

After enjoying a beautiful one-hour nap in the autumn sunshine, he strolled over to the classroom just before class began.

There was only one course he could attend that afternoon: Sports Massage for the Sports Training major. Since Chen Jue had recently begun high-intensity physical training, he had also become increasingly attentive to recovery and relaxation.

So he was rather looking forward to this Sports Massage class.

“I just hope it isn’t that substitute teacher, Mr. Sun, again.”

“If he’s just going to read the textbook verbatim, how boring would that be?” Chen Jue said as he entered the classroom with his conspicuous large bag on his back.

To sports-specialty students, a bag that size was nothing special.

Those who trained basketball, tennis, badminton, and similar sports often came to class carrying bags of roughly the same size.

But Chen Jue’s bag was obviously a little different. When he set it down lightly on the floor, the shot put hanging at the very bottom still struck the ground with some force.

With a dull thud, it drew the attention of several classmates sitting nearby.

“Senior! It’s you again!”

“This time you didn’t bring that gold brick, did you?” Ma Qiang greeted him with a playful wink.

Last class’s discussion on how to calculate the grip strength needed to hold up the gold brick had truly opened the eyes of the freshmen in the sports class.

After appearing again, Chen Jue was practically becoming a campus celebrity in their class.

“No gold brick this time! I’d be dead tired carrying that thing around.”

“Just brought a shot put. Planning to practice with it after class,” Chen Jue replied with a wave.

He was bound to be coming to classes often in the future, so building good relations with his classmates was very necessary.

Besides, Chen Jue intended to ask Ma Qiang about swimming. Among the many skills he expected to activate, swimming was certainly indispensable, so he chatted with Ma Qiang a bit more.

“Ma Qiang, I saw the outdoor swimming pool in the northeast corner of the school isn’t open to the public. Where do you usually train?” Chen Jue asked curiously.

“Ah, the one you’re talking about is the open-air pool. It’s only open to the public during the summer vacation,” Ma Qiang explained, since he knew Chen Jue was a newly arrived audit student, and gave him a few extra pointers.

When the bell rang, the two finally stopped talking.

And the teacher who came in from outside was actually someone different this time, not the substitute teacher Sun from last time, but Li Rui, whom he had met in the morning exercise park before!

This not only surprised Chen Jue, but even the sports students in the class howled in delight.

“Teacher Li Rui! We missed you to death!”

“Teacher Li, you’re finally back!”

“No more classes with Teacher Sun at last! Long live!”

The students all seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. It was obvious they had been worn down by the dull, read-from-the-book theory lectures.

Seeing the class so excited, Li Rui raised a hand to calm them, signaling everyone to take it easy and not get too worked up, so as not to disrupt classroom discipline.

“I took quite a long leave this time, so I should apologize to everyone first,” Li Rui said with a slight bow, then surveyed the whole class.

Unexpectedly, he spotted Chen Jue, his benefactor, in the corner of the classroom, and nodded to him before formally beginning the lesson.

...

The sports massage course mainly covered massage content and precautions before training and after exercise.

Li Rui did not begin with stiff textbook slides. Instead, he played a video of a gold-medal athlete from the national weightlifting team receiving massage treatment before training.

“We can see that before Lu Shen begins training, a professional massage therapist performs a comprehensive stretching routine.”

“Starting with full back compression and kneading, then opening the hips, focusing on the iliopsoas and tensor fasciae latae, followed by bouncing stretches for the gluteus maximus and lumbar-sacral region, as well as muscle relaxation around the sternocleidomastoid. Finally, the atlas and axis are adjusted to regulate the central nervous system and enhance the body’s reflexes.”

“After that, the treatment concludes by relaxing the brow area and pressing and adjusting both humeral heads.”

“To achieve such comprehensive and professional stretching massage, the therapist must possess six professional qualifications: a chiropractic license, a massage therapist certificate, a rehabilitation and physical therapy certificate, a physician’s qualification certificate, and a rehabilitation therapist certificate.”

“So the starting point for becoming a national team team doctor or massage therapist is very high. Even the therapist in the video is massive in build, with very strong technique and force, selected from the top massage therapists across the country.”

“Because sports massage is the most professional form of manual massage, with no instruments involved, it must use sufficient force to stimulate the deepest muscles and nerves.”

After introducing the techniques shown in the video, Li Rui called on a student who was raising his hand.

“Teacher Li, our school doesn’t have top-level massage therapists. What are we supposed to do after normal training then?” the student asked, voicing the thoughts of every sports major in the classroom.

Even Chen Jue, as an audit student, was hearing such a professional explanation for the first time, and he too listened intently, hoping to hear a massage plan suited to individuals from Li Rui.

“Before you become a top athlete and set up your own rehabilitation team, if you want proper stretching and massage, aside from paying out of pocket to find a professional therapist on the market, you can also try learning massage yourself or finding a partner to work with you, using the massage tools already available, such as percussion guns and fascia knives.”

“But you must be careful when using these tools, especially with percussion guns. When massaging the lumbar spine, do not apply force blindly. The previous sports class I taught had a student overdo it with a percussion gun, causing edema in the subcutaneous soft tissue around the posterior superior iliac muscle and sacroiliac joint.”

Li Rui opened the courseware and introduced several professional massage tools on the market.

Especially when the fascia knife appeared, most of the students in class let out pained groans.

It was obvious they had suffered plenty at the hands of the school doctor and the massage staff before.

“Is this thing really that scary?” Chen Jue asked Ma Qiang, whose face had turned pale with fear.

“A fascia knife, senior!”

“In the eyes of us sports students, that thing is one of the ten great tortures!”

“If you try it once, you’ll know what real agony is,” Ma Qiang said in a low voice, sharing the wisdom of an experienced sufferer.

On the platform, Li Rui smiled at the chorus of pained reactions and said, “If you want to grow into a top athlete, this little bit of pain is something you have to endure.”

“Good stretching and massage can loosen our muscles, prevent adhesions and knots, speed up the breakdown of accumulated lactic acid, and maintain muscle elasticity and vitality.”

“If you want to go far on the path of athletics, then besides training, you must learn how to take care of yourself. You have to protect your body at all times and avoid injury, because an athlete’s shelf life is very short.”

...

By the end of the sports massage class, Chen Jue had listened with great interest. He had not expected there to be so many points of knowledge and precautions involved in recovery and relaxation.

The masseuse treatments he had previously received at Capital Top were, compared with professional sports stretching and massage, not even in the same league.

But most importantly, Teacher Li Rui’s teaching level was superb. Compared with the substitute teacher who merely read the textbook, he was indeed much stronger. The difference could be seen from the lively atmosphere in class alone.

When the bell rang for dismissal, Chen Jue not only took out his phone and ordered the fascia knife and percussion gun Li Rui had mentioned online, to use for self-massage and muscle relaxation, but also deliberately carried his large bag and caught up with Li Rui’s pace.

“Teacher Li!”

“I didn’t expect you to be back at school so soon for classes. How’s Haohao doing?” Chen Jue stopped him and exchanged pleasantries.

“Oh, it’s Xiao Chen! Haohao is much better now. He’s already lined up for the follow-up rehabilitation surgery and should be able to be discharged in as little as half a month.”

“I still have another practical sports training class later. Would you like to come and listen?” Li Rui asked, clearly happy to talk with Chen Jue.

After all, it was Chen Jue and Wu Fang who had saved his precious son.

“Practical sports training class? Is that the kind of specialized guidance class you give at the track and field grounds for sports students?” Chen Jue immediately became interested, remembering the two javelin throwers he had met before.

“That’s right. Besides being a teacher for theory courses in the sports department, I’m also the track and field coach for the school team. I’m in charge of sports students from freshman year through senior year,” Li Rui introduced himself, then led Chen Jue toward the track and field grounds.

On the way there, Chen Jue hesitated for a moment before finally voicing his request.

“Teacher Li, I actually have a rather presumptuous favor to ask. I’d like to ask you to design a professional, systematic training plan tailored specifically for me.”

“A training plan? You’re not a sports student or an athlete. What do you need a training plan for?” Li Rui asked, finding it a little novel.

The group of sports students he coached were trained day after day by him until they were tired and even fearful of high-intensity programs.

He had not expected a regular outsider like Chen Jue to actually want something similar for himself.

Wasn’t that like giving up an easy life just to increase the intensity and jump into a fire pit?

“Teacher Li, just think of me as a sports enthusiast!”

“I just want to improve my physical condition through professional training,” Chen Jue said, changing his approach and speaking more tactfully, having probably noticed the doubt in the other man’s eyes.

He couldn’t exactly drag out his middle-schoolish Human Supremacy Training Plan 1.0.0 and make a case with that, could he?

Wouldn’t that be a public embarrassment on the spot?

“Sports enthusiast?”

Li Rui was slightly stunned upon hearing the term. Then, looking Chen Jue over again, he realized this plain-looking benefactor did indeed have some of the physical traits of a professional athlete.

High, broad shoulders, a straight posture, a brisk and agile gait, and very steady breathing.

On top of that, Chen Jue was wearing loose sportswear and carrying a sports bag that clearly weighed quite a bit. He looked the part of a sports student through and through.

“Have you trained in any events before?” Li Rui asked curiously.

“International darts, concealed weapons from traditional martial arts, climbing, street fitness, javelin, and I just recently learned archery...” Chen Jue counted off the things he had practiced on his fingers.

The moment Li Rui heard that jumble of sports, he stopped in his tracks and nearly stumbled, missing a step on the stairs beneath his feet.

As a professional coach, this was the first time he had heard of a non-professional actually dabbling in so many obscure sports.

Young people these days really knew how to play at being unconventional!

“Xiao Chen, you’re saying you’ve trained in all those events? Have you done deep, serious training, or just tried them a few times for novelty?” Li Rui put aside his earlier surprise and condescension, and began asking seriously about Chen Jue’s specific circumstances.

“I trained seriously for a while, but lately my progress seems to have slowed down a lot, so I wanted to ask Teacher Li to guide me and help set up a professional training plan,” Chen Jue said as his mind turned, bringing up the javelin result he had just achieved.

When Li Rui heard that Chen Jue had thrown 63.7 meters on his very first attempt, he was shocked.

“Sixty-three point seven meters in the javelin?”

“That’s already second-class athlete level!”

“No wonder... no wonder you call yourself a sports enthusiast! To break the second-class standard on your first throw and come so close to first-class athlete level—that’s not a result an ordinary enthusiast can achieve!”

He had eaten some bad fruit and had diarrhea at night.

That damned virus has made my stomach weak.

I’ll put up a two-in-one chapter tonight for now. My cough has already improved noticeably, and tomorrow I can start increasing the update volume.

Also, the Lu Shen mentioned in the text is Olympic weightlifting champion Lu Xiaojun. If you’re interested, you can look up his stretching videos; they’re extremely professional.