Chapter 157: Jump Training

After finishing lunch with Zhao Jianguo, Chen Jue drove back to his apartment.

His arms were a bit sore from his morning archery practice, so he applied some topical medicinal liquor and ointment before crawling into bed for an afternoon nap.

The winters in Hang City were damp and cold. Even on a sunny day, the rooms still felt chilly and moist.

This climate was perfect for holing up under the covers in autumn and winter. If he hadn’t unexpectedly awakened his Attribute panel, Chen Jue would have spent his entire work-free weekends in bed without ever going out.

He’d order takeout for his meals and only get up for the bare necessities.

After sleeping for over an hour, he woke up to find a long voice message from Coach Li Rui on WeChat, along with a large compressed file that had been sent over.

“The custom training plan is finally here!”

Seeing this, Chen Jue let out a triumphant howl and scrambled out of bed.

He changed into his workout clothes, sat down at his computer, and downloaded the compressed file, which was nearly 8 GB.

After unzipping it, he saw several neatly arranged folders appear before his eyes.

The file was so large because it contained a wide variety of content, including training tutorials and videos for professional athletes covering running, rope skipping, Swimming, equipment use, and more.

There were tutorials for dumbbell and barbell training to strengthen the upper body and core, exercises for lower body explosiveness and jumping power, and even a folder specifically marked as containing cutting-edge sports theories and tutorials from abroad. This included things like fascial stretching from yoga, blood flow restriction for muscle growth, methods to improve Cardiovascular Ability, and techniques to increase metabolic rate.

It even detailed which supplements to take and what protective gear to wear for each specific type of exercise.

“Coach Li Rui is incredible!”

Just from a quick glance, Chen Jue saw many sports he had never even touched upon before.

In addition, there was a daily training schedule specially customized for him.

It wasn’t the typical weekly plan used at sports schools for regular physical education students, but a detailed schedule based on a 28-day cycle.

According to the notes on Li Rui’s custom plan, the 28-day cycle was based on the most advanced theories of human physiological cycles from both home and abroad.

A person’s physical condition doesn’t remain at a constant level; it fluctuates like a wave, with daily peaks and valleys.

In his theoretical notes, Li Rui mentioned that cell regeneration, metabolism, emotional factors, and the digestion, metabolism, and absorption of protein all directly affect the body’s changes after exercise.

Things like the renewal rate of skin cells and cyclical emotional fluctuations, for example, happen to follow a 28-day cycle.

A training plan structured around this physiological cycle was currently the most suitable one for Chen Jue to try.

…

Since this professionally customized training plan was so extensive and covered such a wide range of subjects, Chen Jue decided to spend a few evenings getting familiar with it.

First, he sent a thank-you message to Coach Li Rui on WeChat. After all, the man had worked for free, spending so much time putting all of this together. It was only natural for Chen Jue to show his appreciation.

This verbal thank-you was just the first step. Once Haohao was out of the hospital, Chen Jue planned to visit with some toys or maybe some practice exam papers that kids love, just to express his gratitude.

If he ran into any problems during his training later, he would need to ask Li Rui for clarification, so he had to make sure the gift was a good one.

He printed out all 28 pages of the schedule, then used nails to pin them up one by one, in order, until they covered an entire wall of his room.

“This is a bit over the top!”

“But this atmosphere… it definitely suits me.” Chen Jue grinned. Staring at the densely packed papers covering the wall, he felt like he’d walked onto the set of a crime show. It was a familiar feeling—like looking at a wall full of clues and intel that you don’t understand but find incredibly impressive.

As for his afternoon training, since some of the specialized equipment hadn’t arrived yet, Chen Jue picked out an excerpt from the schedule that focused on lower body strength and jumping power.

‘Jumping power, huh?’

‘My lower body is definitely a bit weak. I’ll work on that this afternoon,’ Chen Jue thought to himself, taking a photo of that part of the plan with his phone. He first went to the Cainiao Station to pick up a dozen or so packages that had arrived. After going upstairs and unboxing them, he followed Li Rui’s instructions and drank a bottle of a liquid nitric oxide pump supplement before his workout. Then, he packed a pouch of electrolyte powder and a few energy gels into his bag to take afterward.

He slung his gym bag over his shoulder and went for a light, 3-kilometer jog to the track and field at Jiang University.

Chen Jue found that after taking the liquid nitric oxide pump, his body felt exceptionally energized. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of fatigue after the 3-kilometer jog.

Even his panel popped up with a brand new notification:

——————

[Ding~]

[Under the stimulation of a special substance, your muscle endurance, explosive power, and Cardiovascular Ability have been enhanced. Your stamina has been temporarily boosted, your Spirit is in a state of excitement, and your athletic performance is at a high level.]

[Temporary Constitution Attribute +0.15]

[Temporary Strength Attribute +0.10]

[Temporary Spirit Attribute +0.05]

——————

“Temporary Attributes?”

‘It has this kind of effect?’

Seeing this, Chen Jue quickly opened his panel to take a look:

——————

[Name: Chen Jue]

[Strength: 1.60 (+0.10)]

[Constitution: 2.02 (+0.15)]

[Spirit: 1.30 (+0.05)]

[Skills: Omitted]

[Assignable Free Attributes: 0.03]

(Character Evaluation: You are a strong ordinary person. Having broken free from base pleasures and the pressures of survival, you have begun to pursue physical health, as well as mental freedom and stimulation.)

(Temporary Attributes will disappear in: 01:59)

——————

Seeing his Three-dimensional Attributes suddenly skyrocket, Chen Jue finally understood why athletes would risk taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Because under the stimulation of the substance, not only was his body temporarily enhanced, but even his Spirit became excited.

In such a competitive state, one could often achieve extraordinary results that were completely unattainable during normal training.

‘Good thing the side effects of the nitric oxide pump aren’t very strong, or Coach Li Rui wouldn’t have recommended it to me,’ Chen Jue thought.

All medicines have their downsides. Many of the performance-enhancing drugs used by athletes have severe side effects that cause significant harm to both mind and body.

For example, the frequently mentioned “juicing” in bodybuilding circles involves injecting muscle-building steroids. Overuse can lead to hormonal imbalances, abnormal growth of the inner organs, and more.

At competitions like Mr. Olympia, you often see contestants with abnormally protruding abdomens. This is what’s known in the community as “Olympia gut,” caused by excessive juicing which leads to a buildup of visceral fat around the inner organs. Some bodybuilders have even died from it.

There have been deaths from doping in Olympic history, as well as scandalous cases like shooting athletes who, after taking excessive stimulants, suffered psychotic breaks and opened fire on people.

The “nitric oxide pump” that Chen Jue took was a major international brand recommended by Li Rui. The dosage was controlled to the safest level, with side effects so minimal they were negligible.

Besides, with his panel, Chen Jue wasn’t worried about any problems arising after taking it.

He followed his usual routine and bought a large bottle of mineral water from the campus store, poured in the electrolyte powder he had prepared, shook it a few times, and then slowly walked over to the long jump sandpit.

Since it was Sunday afternoon, the physical education students and track and field athletes at Jiang University were all on their customary day off, so there weren’t many people at the field.

Chen Jue put down his gym bag and began his lower body training according to Li Rui’s customized plan.

First, he did stretching exercises to loosen up his joints and ligaments to prevent injury. Then, he did bodyweight squats and frog jumps. After completing 5 sets of 50-meter frog jumps, Chen Jue started his jump training.

He did 5 sets of 30 vertical jumps, 3 sets of 30 lunging knee-raises on each leg, and 5 sets of 20 touch-and-go squat jumps.

After finishing all the exercises, which took nearly an hour including rest and relaxation periods, his panel popped up with a notification:

——————

[Ding~]

[You have completed a high-intensity comprehensive workout. Your leg muscle groups have been thoroughly exercised, effectively increasing their endurance and explosive power. Your leg joint strength and ligament elasticity have been slightly enhanced.]

[Strength Attribute +0.02]

[Constitution Attribute +0.01]

——————

“WOOHOO!”

“This efficiency is off the charts!”

“As expected of a professional track and field coach’s guidance.” Looking at the 0.03 Attribute points that popped up on his panel, Chen Jue bounced on the spot excitedly.

He found that, boosted by the nitric oxide pump, his stamina was exceptionally abundant.

After finishing his workout for the afternoon, he still had energy to spare, so he decided to give the long jump pit a try.

He sprinted forward, planted his foot on the takeoff board, and launched himself into the air, his body forming a “>” shape mid-flight.

Chen Jue had practiced difficult L-sit pull-ups before, so he was very familiar with the motion of bending at the waist and raising his legs in mid-air. Combined with the jump training he had just completed…

…this near-perfect long jumper’s form allowed him to soar an incredible distance over the sandpit in one go.

When he landed in the pit, butt-first, Chen Jue looked back and saw that he had jumped an astonishing 7.5 meters!

That was a full meter longer than his jump during Li Rui’s physical assessment!

“Holy crap!”

“Is this past the national first-class athlete standard for the long jump?”

“The boost from the Temporary Attributes is this powerful?” Chen Jue was shocked. While the Temporary Attributes were still active, he drank some electrolyte water to replenish his energy and ate an energy gel for an extra boost.

After packing his bag, he walked over to the Jiang University basketball courts on the edge of the track. Chen Jue found an empty hoop, dropped his bag, and took a running start, leaping toward the rim.

To his amazement, the rim he could never even touch before was now easily within his grasp!

He grabbed the rim firmly and hung from it!

When Chen Jue let go and landed, the metal rim shook violently with a loud TWANG, causing a group of Jiang University students playing a half-court game nearby to turn and stare in his direction.

“Holy shit! He grabbed the rim bare-handed?”

“That vertical is insane!”