"Huh?"
"My body's three years older than my actual age?" Chen Jue put on his glasses and took a careful look at the fitness assessment report.
Li Chaoqun stood nearby, dutifully explaining the results to Chen Jue.
The report was packed with data, covering everything from body water, protein, bone mass, and body fat to skeletal muscle, waist-to-hip fat ratio, visceral fat, metabolism, and nutritional assessment.
Most importantly, the machine could also measure a person's body age.
For example, Chen Jue was currently 29. Because of his various unhealthy lifestyle habits, his body had already aged three years faster than his actual age.
"Damn!"
"Premature aging?"
"Is the price of coming to work really this high? I'm burning through my lifespan!" Chen Jue was shaken and even a little panicked. He couldn't help asking whether the machine was accurate.
After all, this concerned his health. How could Chen Jue not have doubts?
Li Chaoqun chuckled at his reaction. "The basic model sells online for 35,000. The boss had this one custom-made by the manufacturer for 50,000. If it wasn't accurate, why would he buy it? Just because he had money to burn?"
Hearing how expensive the machine was, Chen Jue had nothing more to say.
There was no reason for the fitness coach to lie to him. He could just take a picture and look up the price online.
"Coach Li, is my situation serious?"
"Can exercise help me recover?" Chen Jue asked nervously.
"I can't guarantee that."
"I'm a fitness coach, not a doctor."
"But sticking with exercise can be very effective! I've trained quite a few clients whose reports were even worse than yours. After training for a while, they took another test on this machine, and their results had generally improved." Li Chaoqun offered a few words of reassurance, then led Chen Jue out of the small room.
As for the report, he let Chen Jue take it home for reference.
After his first fitness assessment, Chen Jue was even more certain that he needed to make a change.
If he kept going like this, his body age would probably be pushing 40 before long.
Damn it!
He wasn't even 30 yet!
Was working a job really supposed to cost him years off his life?
Li Chaoqun had no idea what was going through Chen Jue's mind. He led the anxious Chen Jue into the workout area.
"Your right hand is injured and needs time to recover, so you can't use the upper-body machines today."
"I'll start you off with some cardio on the treadmill to warm up, then we'll do a few exercises targeting your lower body." As he explained, Li Chaoqun had Chen Jue step onto the treadmill.
He pressed the switch, set a suitable incline, then gradually increased the treadmill's speed.
At first, Chen Jue didn't feel tired as he walked slowly. It was as relaxing as taking a stroll after a meal.
But once the speed picked up, he could barely keep going after just over two minutes of running. He began gasping for breath.
"Treadmills usually have ten speed settings."
"Settings one and two are for slow walking, while three and four are for brisk walking. Your body fat percentage is quite high, so you've got a lot of fat to lose. Running at setting five or above should suit you."
"Since it's your first time, let's see if you can stick with it for ten minutes."
Seeing how weak Chen Jue's stamina was, and how he was already close to giving out after a little running, Li Chaoqun hurriedly lowered the speed. Chen Jue slowed from a run to a brisk walk.
By the time the ten minutes were up, Chen Jue was exhausted.
"I can't... I can't do this... Let me catch my breath..." Gasping heavily, Chen Jue stepped off the treadmill.
The ten-minute warm-up of running and brisk walking felt at least ten times more exhausting than riding a shared bike for 25 minutes the day before.
At least his hard work had paid off. A notification popped up on the panel in his field of vision.
[Ding~] [Completed one qualifying aerobic workout] [Free attribute points available +0.01] [Ding~] [Completed one qualifying cardio workout]
"Huh?"
"Do you get more rewards the more exhausted you are?"
"Hard work is rewarded by Heaven... No, it's rewarded by the panel!" Chen Jue looked at the notification and immediately put the attribute point he'd just earned into his Constitution.
His Constitution rose to 0.93.
A warm current swept through him, and his heavy panting eased a little.
Seeing this, Li Chaoqun looked surprised too. "Looks like you recover pretty well! Most people need more than ten minutes to catch their breath after their first time on the treadmill."
"I... I guess so!" Chen Jue gave an awkward smile.
He knew his own body.
He was incredibly out of shape. If he hadn't had the Constitution points to support him, he'd probably be lying on the floor by now.
Still, the term "aerobic exercise" had caught Chen Jue's interest. It kept appearing on the panel, so he took advantage of the rest break to ask more questions.
"Aerobic exercise is exercise that mainly relies on aerobic metabolism. It helps burn fat faster. Jogging, brisk walking, cycling, and swimming are all forms of aerobic exercise, and they're suitable for you since your body fat percentage is high."
"By contrast, anaerobic exercise involves intense, fast movements performed when the muscles are short on oxygen. It's characterized by high intensity and a fast pace. Your heart rate gets high and your breathing becomes labored. Squats, deadlifts, and bench presses are all anaerobic exercises."
Li Chaoqun was a fitness coach by profession, and answering his clients' questions was part of the job. On top of that, a good attitude helped secure a sale. He showed no impatience and explained things to Chen Jue in considerable detail.
Chen Jue worked as a risk-control data analyst. He was good at math and quick-thinking, with strong learning, memory, and comprehension skills.
He hadn't had much experience with fitness before, so this was outside his area of knowledge.
After having someone explain it to him once, he had a general idea and a rough understanding of exercise.
"I had no idea there was so much to learn about working out."
"I'll have to look it up online later. I can't just exercise blindly." Chen Jue thought to himself, glancing at his right arm, which was covered in pain-relief patches.
The previous night, he'd been too reckless. He'd focused entirely on the thrill of raising his Stone Skipping level, and ended up wrecking his arm.
After learning that lesson the hard way, Chen Jue became even more careful.
He figured exercise had to be approached gradually.
After warming up on the treadmill, Chen Jue rested for about five minutes. Then Li Chaoqun led him to a Seated Leg Press Machine.
"This machine is specifically for training your quadriceps and gluteus maximus—the muscles around your thighs."
"I'll demonstrate first. Pay attention to the key points of the movement." Li Chaoqun sat down on the machine and adjusted the weight plates, marked with yellow numbers, to the lowest setting.
Then he gave a light push, lifting the neatly stacked plates into the air through the machine's mechanical linkage.
Chen Jue glanced at the weights and was floored.
"Holy crap!"
"How many kilograms is 400 pounds?"
"About 180?"
"That's insane!" Chen Jue was stunned by Coach Li's leg strength.
Especially since he looked so relaxed doing it. Clearly, the machine couldn't measure the limits of his leg strength.
"This machine's pretty easy for me. You're just starting out, and your lower-body strength isn't that great yet, so you should start at 100 pounds and work your way up."
"Once you get stronger, there are more advanced options. You can try the leg press over there. It uses weight plates, and you can load it with more than 400 kilograms." Perhaps noticing Chen Jue's shock, Li Chaoqun smiled faintly and pointed to another leg press machine farther away.
"Holy shit!"
"400 kilograms?"
"I can barely carry a 10-kilogram bag of rice!"
"Could you really push up 40 bags of rice stacked together in one go?" The numbers made Chen Jue's head buzz. He'd just seen a whole new world.
He'd seen videos online before. The comments always said that people who worked out at the gym only built dead muscle—good for show, useless in practice—and a bunch of people piled on with snide remarks.
Chen Jue wanted those keyboard warriors to try pushing 400 kilograms.
Let's see if their "functional" muscles could handle that much weight!
Still dumbfounded, Chen Jue sat down at the machine and tested his leg strength.
Well, there it was!
Chen Jue could only press 200 pounds at most, about 90 kilograms.
Anything heavier was already becoming a struggle.
Following Coach Li's instructions, Chen Jue did a set of 15 leg presses, then tried to estimate the corresponding value on the Attribute Panel. "Strength is 0.77. My legs can push about 90 kilograms before reaching their limit."
"Then Coach Li's Strength must be at least 1.5 or even over 2?"
He glanced at Li Chaoqun's muscular, sculpted physique. He figured the fitness coach's Strength was at least double his own, maybe even triple.
When Chen Jue thought that, with enough time and enough attribute points, he might be able to train himself into a strong, muscular man like that, he felt a surge of excitement. He put even more effort into each leg press!
He gritted his teeth through five sets, completely exhausting himself until his legs felt stiff as boards. Finally, several familiar lines of pixel text appeared on the panel.
[Constitution attribute +0.01]
[Ding~]
[Completed one qualifying anaerobic workout]
[Free attribute points +0.01]
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