Almighty Coach

"Li, I’m ready. What should we do first?" Mr. Zhang asked eagerly.

"Mr. Zhang, how about we do some warm-ups first?" Dai Li replied.

"Sure, as you say. Let’s do some warm-ups." Mr. Zhang was very affable.

Warming up was an essential part of any athletic training. Warming up could help individuals prepare for the upcoming exhausting exercises both physically and mentally. It enhanced the body’s core temperature and muscle temperature. The increase of muscle temperature stimulated the muscle, making it more relaxed and flexible.

Effective warming up could also increase heart rate as well as the depth and frequency of breath, using greater blood flow to carry more oxygen and nutrition to the muscles. This allowed tendons and joints to better bear harder training, while reducing the risk coefficient of physical injury.

The length and intensity of warming up must be calculated individually, for each person had different physical abilities. And they should also be adjusted from one program to another. Professional athletes who had specialized in athletic training had a pretty good body temperature regulating system, hence their need for a long, fierce warming up to produce an ideal effect. Generally, professional athletes took at least 20 minutes to warm up.

Ordinary people had no need for such a long, high-intensity warm-up. For them, 10 to 20 minutes would be fine. If one spent too much time or energy on warming up, then his energy would be used up before the real exercise started.

In addition, external factors also had influence on warming up. For example, in winter when the weather was cold, one needed a longer warm up, while in summer when it was hot, one could shorten the warm up a little bit.

Formal warming up was not about running or jumping on the spot; it required releasing knee, hip, shoulder, and ankle joints, as well as sufficiently stretching the muscle of the back of the thighs, the inner thighs, the diaphragm, and the back.

For professional coaches, helping athletes warm up was their most regular and easiest task; in their daily work, the first task was to do warm ups. After decades of accumulated experience, they couldn’t be more familiar with warming up.

But today, despite their differences in age and experience, Dai Li, Guang Wu, and Youdi Wei all chose relatively conservative and cautious ways of warming up.

The three were aware that they were not training professional athletes, but elderly men in their sixties. Hence, they didn’t put much time or intensity into the warm up.

Ten minutes later, the three retired cadres’ were all finished warming up. There was sweat on the three old men’s foreheads, and their breath was rasping loudly. Judging by the effects, the three old cadres were just right.

"Warming up is just right, seems like none of them has the better of the others in warm ups!" Tao Lin evaluated at the side.

"They determined the old cadres’ training time by observing their physical conditions. This is hardly new, any coach with some experience can tell whether an athlete is ready or not." Ping Wang continued, "Next, let’s see how they are going to practice."

...

Mr. Zhang’s clothes were wet with sweat, but at present he was still performing actively, not falling behind where a young man would have been.

Of course, this was also due to the fact that Dai Li hadn’t chosen high-intensity exercises. After all, Mr. Zhang was more than sixty; he couldn’t run or jump like a young man. Therefore, during training, Dai Li adopted "just right" as the standard.

"Mr. Zhang, let’s take a break!" Dai Li signaled Mr. Zhang to stop.

"I’m not tired!" Mr. Zhang said, looked at Mr. Chen and Mr. Liu who were far from here. He said, "Those two are still training. I can’t be defeated!"

"Mr. Zhang, you are soaked with sweat, you must have some water first," Dai Li said, handing a water bottle to Mr. Zhang. "Plus, the next program is massage, so you can simply lie down on the ground."

"Massage? Aren’t we doing fitness training? Why do we have a massage?" Mr. Zhang asked, confused.

"Massage is an essential part of professional fitness training. After exercise, the human body produces lactic acid, and once it accumulates to a certain degree, it will lead to muscle pain, and affect later practices. Massage is needed to accelerate lactic acid decomposition," Dai Li said, to generally explain the idea.

"Oh, I see. Okay then, let’s have a massage, then I will keep practicing. I can’t be defeated by Old Liu and Old Chen!" Mr. Zhang said with stubbornness.

...

"Coach, Dai Li is stopping to give a massage!" Tao Lin pointed at Dai Li and said, "Isn’t it too fast? Normally, muscle massage is given after training finishes, and right now they have only been practicing for an hour! Even though the trainee is an old man, there is no need to give a massage so quick."

Ping Wang raised his arm to check the time on his watch. "Right, only one hour past. They have taken a break, and now it’s time to have another break. But I don’t think it’s necessary to give a muscle massage at this time!"

"I say this Dai Li is overly cautious. I checked his achievements during training; he has cultivated several Asian Games champions, and our relay team surprisingly won the 4×100m relay race championship in the National Games under his influence. I used to think that he was a man who liked to struggle hard, but I never thought he was so cautious. This is over-reacting!" Tao Lin shook his head, apparently not liking Dai Li’s behavior.

"Huh?" Ping Wang made a sound with surprise. On the training field, Dai Li asked Mr. Zhang to get down on all fours, then began his massage on Mr. Zhang’s waist.

"Dai Li is massaging Mr. Zhang’s waist!" Ping Wang suddenly frowned.

Tao Lin asked quietly, "Coach, you mentioned there was a person with Lumbar Disc Protrusion... is that Mr. Zhang?"

Ping Wang nodded, didn’t say anything. He seemed to be absorbed in meditation.

By his side, Tao Lin sighed. "Dai Li, did you really notice this problem, or is this just a coincidence?"

...

On the training field.

"Mr. Zhang, how do you feel?" Dai Li asked.

"Nice! You are quite skillful, as good as a massage therapist!" Mr. Zhang nodded with satisfaction.

"Mr. Zhang, please turn around and lie down, let’s massage your backside," said Dai Li.

"Why massage my backside?" Mr. Zhang was confused. He turned around, and Dai Li put his hands on Mr. Zhang’s waist.

"Well, Mr. Zhang, I feel that your lumbar disc is a little bit protruded!" Dai Li said deliberately.

"You can feel that my lumbar disc is protruded!" Mr. Zhang was astonished.

"Of course!" Dai Li continued, "Mr. Zhang, please allow me to massage your lumbar. To reduce your discomfort from lumbar disc protrusion, I should press hard on your lumbar. It might hurt, please stand it!" As he spoke, Dai Li began a rehabilitative massage.