Chapter 53: Loss Exercise and Massage
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was true that many athletes wanted to obtain a low body fat percentage, such as top-level sprinters, who could maintain a body that was 8% body fat. The same went for basketball players. More muscle and less fat could help increase their physical resistance.
Nevertheless, not all sports required a low body fat percentage. For example, skiers had to gain enough fat to keep themselves warm because a low body temperature would reduce cell viability, as well as make organs function slowly, which could affect their performance. Therefore, muscular men were rarely seen among skiers.
Other sports, like aquatic sports, also required athletes to have some fat. Fat could enlarge the volume of the body and increase buoyancy, meaning athletes could save effort when swimming. Water polo players were not muscular for this reason. Otherwise, before each game began, they would sink directly to the bottom of the pool.
Divers also needed fat to enhance their body coordination and do complex actions. In addition, because the body received such a strong impact when entering the water, fat could protect organs. Even though divers did have muscle, they were not as strong as bodybuilders for this very reason.
Moreover, swimmers needed fat for the same reason as water polo players. Fat generated a lot of buoyancy, which meant swimmers could save effort when accelerating in competitions. Because of this, it was not guaranteed that swimmers with a lot of muscle would win first place, while world champions may not have obvious muscle.
The system told Dai Li, "Slimming exercises and fat loss exercises are two different things. To athletes who do not need a low body fat percentage, the slimming exercise would be beneficial. But for those who want a low body fat percentage, they need the fat loss exercises to reduce fat while maintaining muscle."
"I understand what you mean. But where can I find so many athletes that need to lose weight? I used all my luck finding Feifei Yu, it is impossible to find another one like her. Her weight increased due puberty, but normally, with sufficient training everyday, it’s really difficult for athletes to gain weight." Li was upset. Then he turned to the second book.
Fat loss exercise is a chicken rib. I hope this one will be better. He read the title carefully. There were four words: "Massage and Muscle Relaxation."
"Such a weird name!" Li scorned.
"After receiving a large amount of exercise, the trainee will have muscle soreness. Such pain will reach its peak after 24-72 hours, and later disappear after 5-7 days. In addition to soreness, the trainee will also have muscle rigidity. In less severe cases, the individual only feels tenderness. But when it becomes more severe, the muscle will swell and prevent normal actions. This is called ‘Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).’ If we do overload training in hot weather, dehydration, hypocalcemia, low protein, and other symptoms will also be seen," the system explained.
Li continued discussing the topic. "I know. There are three factors that lead to muscle soreness. The first one is physical injury, caused by rapid increase of muscle tension and elasticity, or the change of the head structural component; the second factor is stronger toxic effect raised by more metabolon from the augment of metabolism; and the last one is muscular spasms, caused by the change of neuromodulation. I have already learned all of these!"
"Then you should know that a massage could adjust and improve the mechanism of the central nervous system while reducing fatigue. Those anaerobic metabolites can be transformed or eliminated through massage. That’s how it works." The system paused, then moved on. "In addition, for athletes, massage can take the pressure off the muscles and ligaments, thus avoiding ligamentous injury and muscle strain."
Athletes received high-intensity training every day, which meant their muscles were always in a tense state. This could easily cause muscle strain. Take a bow for example: if one pulled the bow for too long, the bow would lose elasticity and could even snap.
It was the same for the human body. If athlete stayed in a tense state for too long, he or she could get injured easily. Therefore, when doing high-duty exercises, trainees needed some aids to facilitate their performance. Massage was one of the economical and practical methods. Many training teams had professional masseuses. Some professional teams also had a reflexologist and acupuncturists to assist with relieving muscle strain. Because he had learned all the things the system had introduced, Li felt tired during the presentation.
"All right, all right, I got you!" Li yawned. But all of a sudden, he realized something was wrong.
"Wait, you are quite talkative today. Did you say ‘for athletes’? is there anything else you haven’t told me yet?" Li suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I haven’t told you this yet. This massage is effective for anyone," the system explained.
"Anyone? Including ordinary people?" Li immediately asked.
"Yes, it is effective even on ordinary people. But the fat loss exercise only works on athletes," said the system.
"Sounds good. Looks like the massage book is more useful than the fat loss exercise." Li felt a little more comfortable.
"To be honest, I don’t see any difference. You are now a junior coach, would you be willing to massage ordinary people in your spare time?" the system chastised.
Daydreaming for a second, Li felt that it did make sense. He was different than he had been just one year ago. He was coaching junior middle school students during that time. But now, because he had trained many people, including a world champion, he would not bother massaging ordinary people.
"Then it’s not as useful as I thought," Li thought.