Chapter 161 Disciplined Myocardium

After listening to Chen Jue’s explanation of "Hundred-step Piercing Willow" and "Yuan Gate Halberd Shooting," Wu Fang couldn’t help but exclaim, "That’s still incredible! The furthest distance in Olympic Archery is only 70 meters, but your shot clearly exceeded a hundred meters."

"To hit such a small target from that far away... if you entered a competition, you’d definitely place well!"

Chen Jue was a little tempted by Wu Fang’s high praise.

However, the world of competitive sports is a brutal path. Once you step onto the field, you need a heart of iron.

With Chen Jue’s current mental fortitude, wearing a Face Armor to be the "Brother of Special Skills" was already pushing it. If he were actually sent to compete in a stadium, under the gaze of thousands upon thousands of eyes, he estimated he could only muster fifty or sixty percent of his abilities.

Besides, becoming famous wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Cases like Flying man Liu’s fall from grace were countless.

When you’re winning and famous, everyone puts you on a pedestal. But if you fall from grace over some scandal, you face a miserable end—your reputation destroyed, scorned by all.

Chen Jue felt that, given his personality, filming videos of his special skills and streaming once in a while would be enough to make a living.

As for becoming a sports star, constantly living under the spotlight and vying for fame and fortune... he’d rather pass.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Chen Jue could just waltz into the world of professional sports. It had countless intricacies that an outsider could never imagine.

...

After finishing their morning workout with Wu Fang, the two left the park, talking and laughing.

He’d thought about driving Teacher Wu to work, but she politely refused, so Chen Jue temporarily dropped the idea.

They weren’t officially a couple yet, after all. Driving her to school so brazenly could easily stir up gossip and affect her job.

After agreeing to meet again for their workout the next morning, Chen Jue drove back to the apartment in a cheerful mood.

With a girl training alongside him, he felt this morning’s workout was exceptionally satisfying. He wasn’t just full of energy, his entire body buzzing with excitement, but his whole mindset during the training had become incredibly positive.

Returning to his apartment, he packed his textbooks and jogged over to Jiang University to audit a lecture.

In the morning, there were two human anatomy lectures he could audit, covering both the biomedical science and clinical medicine majors.

Since he’d just completed a high-intensity Strength workout that morning, Chen Jue decided to spend his Monday morning supplementing the knowledge on his panel related to the human body.

Although Li Rui had laid out a full-day training schedule for him, from dawn till dusk, Chen Jue couldn’t possibly spend all his time at a top-tier institution like Jiang University just exercising. He also needed to absorb theoretical knowledge about the human body.

It was just like going to war. Simply adding new equipment doesn’t guarantee an increase in combat power; soldiers must also study tactics and undergo ideological training to improve their combat readiness.

...

With his small backpack on, he entered the classroom, found a seat in a back corner, and took out a hand gripper, which he began to slowly squeeze.

After several days of his Strength increasing, Chen Jue found his grip strength had improved again.

His normal grip strength limit had increased from the original 105 kg to about 110 kg. If he applied the [Outer Force] technique, that limit could increase to around 125 kg.

This grip strength was already considered excellent nationally and even globally, placing him in the first tier. He was only 17 kg away from Huaxia’s number one grip strength athlete, Lei Heng, who was at 142 kg.

If Chen Jue wanted to, he could even squeeze his way into the GM150 world grip strength rankings.

However, Chen Jue’s sole purpose for training his grip was to be able to grab a gold brick; he had very little interest in the niche and obscure grip strength rankings.

He trained his grip while listening to the two human anatomy lectures, which covered the human sternum and heart.

The sternum is a special bone located in the center of the chest wall. Its outline resembles a necktie or an inverted sword hilt. It’s wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, convex in the front and concave in the back. From top to bottom, it can be divided into three parts: the manubrium, the body, and the xiphoid process.

Its primary function is to maintain the stability of the rib cage and protect the internal organs.

A lack of Vitamin D and calcium intake during infancy and childhood can lead to a deformity where the sternum protrudes forward, forming what is known as a "pigeon chest."

As for the heart, it’s a vital organ that drives blood circulation, composed of four chambers: the left and right atria, and the left and right ventricles. Its appearance is much like a peach, and it’s filled with a large number of arteries, veins, and nerves.

Powering the heart is the most unique muscle in the human body: the [cardiac muscle]. It is found in the heart wall and at the base of the large blood vessels adjacent to the heart, belonging to the cardiovascular system.

The structure of [cardiac muscle] tissue is very similar to skeletal muscle, but it possesses the extremely special properties of automaticity and conductivity.

Automaticity refers to the ability of the [cardiac muscle] to maintain its inherent rhythmic contractions without any external stimuli.

For instance, Chen Jue had personally witnessed Fatty Bai’s sudden death. It was caused by his long-term diet of greasy, high-cholesterol food, combined with an irregular sleep schedule from staying up late. This led to blocked blood vessels in his heart, which created an oxygen imbalance in the [cardiac muscle] and disrupted its automatic contractions.

The principle is like a car engine’s air intake being blocked. Without oxygen, the gasoline can’t burn properly, causing the engine to misfire and eventually stall.

The main component of [cardiac muscle] is [cardiac muscle cells]. Just like the body’s [skeletal muscle] and [nerve cells], they also produce an action potential when excited.

Once the action potential of the [cardiac muscle cells] becomes imbalanced, it affects the automatic contractions of the [cardiac muscle], leading to high-risk conditions like myocardial infarction or ventricular fibrillation.

The principle behind using an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) for emergency first aid is to apply an external electrical current. This current stimulates the action potential of the [cardiac muscle cells], essentially rebooting the [cardiac muscle] and restoring its automatic function.

It’s like when a car has been sitting for a long time and the battery dies. You need an external power source to jump-start it. Only with the stimulation of external voltage can the engine be restarted and get back to work.

Since Chen Jue’s background was in auto finance, applying his work experience to this medical knowledge made it surprisingly easy to grasp. The learning process wasn’t dry or difficult in the slightest. Soon, he had unlocked several of the "???" annotations for human anatomy under his [Designated Points].

...

Having spent the morning attending two useful classes and grinding out another 0.01 points for his Strength Attribute with the hand gripper, Chen Jue felt it was a morning well spent.

After lunch, he walked back to Wangyang Apartment and made a stop at the Cainiao Station.

A lot of things had arrived, all of them items on the training list that Li Rui had compiled.

Everything from dumbbells and barbells to protective sports gear had arrived. The 75 kg set of weighted training equipment he’d bought was also delivered.

When Chen Jue went to pick up his packages, the station owner ribbed him a little, saying his orders were getting heavier and heavier. Even the delivery courier had been grumbling.

The pile of stuff added up to nearly half a ton. The courier’s small electric tricycle had struggled to haul it all, forcing him to make several trips just to get everything delivered.

Chen Jue could only offer an awkward smile. He made some small talk with the Cainiao Station owner, then went to the convenience store next door to buy a pack of cigarettes, which he passed around. After borrowing a flatbed cart, he still had to make several trips himself to haul all the training equipment back to his room.

Looking at his increasingly cramped 40-square-meter apartment, Chen Jue thought, ’Maybe I should move somewhere bigger.’

’Never mind anything else, just the barbell rack alone took up a huge amount of space when placed against the wall.’

’Forget it. I only just moved in. I’ll hold off on finding a new place for now.’

’If it really gets too crowded, I’ll just rent a bigger space specifically for the training equipment,’ Chen Jue mused, rubbing his chin.

...

He took a one-hour nap in his apartment. After waking up, he started rummaging around and getting his gear ready.

First, he packed his swimsuit, goggles, and some supplements into his bag, then he put on the adjustable weighted vest.

It was a low-profile weighted vest, manually adjustable from 2 to 50 kg by simply changing the number of inserted plates.

Since this was his first time using weighted gear, Chen Jue didn’t dare to load it up too much. He set the vest to 20 kg for now and also strapped on weights to his arms and legs.

With a total added weight of 27 kg, he pulled on a tracksuit over everything and tried moving around.

He discovered that, compared to just carrying a large sports backpack, these form-fitting weights restricted his movements far more.

Especially with the weight hanging from his limbs and shoulders, every step and movement felt awkward.

Fortunately, his [Strength] Attribute was quite high now. He managed to get downstairs and began jogging toward Jiang University.

He didn’t go to the track, instead heading straight for Jiang University’s indoor swimming pool.

According to the training plan Li Rui designed for Chen Jue, a Swimming session was scheduled every few days.

Swimming not only helps with body sculpting and fat loss, but it is also exceptionally effective at improving cardiovascular and respiratory fitness. Plus, compared to activities like running or hiking, Swimming is the easiest on the knees.

However, since it was his first time jogging with a 27 kg load, Chen Jue found that the 2.5-kilometer journey was exceptionally draining!

By the time he reached the entrance of the indoor swimming pool, Chen Jue was soaked in sweat, far more tired than after any of his previous warm-up jogs.

Just then, a notification popped up from the panel:

——————

[DING~]

[You have completed a high-intensity weighted cardio workout. All muscle groups have been thoroughly exercised. Muscular endurance has increased. Stamina has been slightly enhanced.]

[Strength Attribute +0.02]

[Free Attribute +0.01]