The Martial Unity
Chapter 36: Warm up

Kane shrugged. "It's really fun. I often get scolded because I ignore other forms of training in favour of doing this. Anyways, let's warm up."

"Start with cardio?"

"Sure." Kane nodded.

They head over to a set of machines that resembled treadmills.

"How does this work? Do we have to run on our own?" Rui inquired.

"The treadmill is powered by a slime." Kane explained.

"A slime?" Rui tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah, within the cylindrical panel there is a species of slime that rotates when pressure is applied to it." Kane pointed. "You can adjust the pressure the slime experiences by adjusting this knob." He said, twisting a knob in front of him."

('I see, it's a dial that can control how much pressure is exerted on the slim.') Rui mused as he adjusted the speed to a comfortable jog.

This was yet another example of technology in this world mimicking that of the technology in the twenty-first century of Earth, not through excellent engineering, or highly sophisticated applications of science, but through the remarkable features exclusive to this reality.

The extraordinary inorganic resources that could be mined and extracted from the land, the variety of the supernatural flora and fauna and the esoteric phenomena they offered together allowed this world to achieve things that would otherwise be well beyond their capabilities.

Furthermore, in several areas, it even allowed them to surpass Earth.

The potions he had consumed in the Academy after the second round of the Entrance Exam healed his wounds completely while also restoring his stamina entirely in a short period of time. This was something no technology on Earth could replicate.

"This is pretty amazing." Rui said.

"It's pretty normal though." Kane threw him a confused look.

"Anyways, that's enough cardio, my muscles have warmed up. Let's stretch for a round before we begin."

It was a well-known fact, on Earth and on Gaea, that stretching before heavy exercise or any physically intensive activity was a must. There were several benefits it provided, and several detriments that were associated with not stretching.

The most basic benefit was, of course, maintaining and increasing range of motion. Muscles were bound together by web-like sticky tissue called fasciae, this connective tissue bound muscles and restricted their elasticity. Regular stretching was needed to prevent them from building up.

Range of motion was not the only benefit, of course. Flexibility was highly relevant to multiple physical attributes; power and speed.

The amount of kinetic energy the body could generate depended on the physical acceleration due to muscular power, and the distance over which that acceleration could be maintained. Low flexibility inevitably meant the effective distance over which muscles could accelerate was limited, because low flexibility meant muscles could not stretch. If they could not stretch, then the net energy they generate was very limited.

Stretching exercise also prevented loss of muscular tissue, during exercise. Muscular tissue collapsed at much lower rates when stretched before being put through intensive workouts. It also increased blood circulation which ultimately increased the net output of the human body. Reducing fatigue, stress, tension and risk of injury were also some of the more prominent benefits among others.

('Furthermore, static flexibility exercises are not energy intensive. You can obtain a lot of benefits with very little physical effort.')

So much so that even as asthmatic patient like himself could manage to stretch daily as long as it was slowly paced. Flexibility exercises were an absolute must in the field of martial arts and combat sports, Rui himself had published several papers demonstrating the correlation between the probability of a KO victory and flexibility.

"Alright, that should be enough." Kane said.

Rui nodded in affirmation as he lifted himself from a split. Splits were the pinnacle of flexibility when it came to combat sports. They were at the perfect level where flexibility was optimal, not too little to smother and suppress one's own power and acceleration, but not too little to prevent dislocation of joints.

It had taken Rui two years to achieve a split after he began a tad earnest rigorous exercise at the age of five. Normally splits could be achieved earlier, but given the delicate and fragile bones and muscles his body had at the time, stressing them too much for an earlier result, would be more detrimental in the long run.

"We can spar there." Kane pointed to a matted section. "No leaving the area. We can start slow and light rolling, after moving onto light half-contact sparring. Once we've gotten comfortable, we can move onto full-contact geared sparring and maybe some conditional or free form sparring. Whatever works for you. Ah, let me know if you don't entirely know the differences between some of them." Kane explain patiently.

Rolling was the primary form of wrestling practice and sparring in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it was a good of breaking the ice in regards to jiu-jitsu maneuvers and honing them. Back on Earth, half-contact and full-contact sparring were two popular and distinct types of sparring introduced by the ITF, the International Federation of Taekwondo. Concepts such as conditional sparring and free-form sparring were well-established forms of sparring used in all MMA gyms in the twenty-first century of Earth. He was not just familiar with them but an irrevocable expert. Rui was glad some of the more colloquial knowledge he possessed was of use on Gaea.

"We can start with some light rolling sure, but I'd rather move onto some heavy positional-grappling, if you don't mind. My experience in full-contact grappling is paltry compared to my striking practice. It's a lot harder to practice grappling by yourself than striking. After that I don't mind half-contact and full-contact sparring either, though free-form is my preference you see."

"..." Kane stared at him.

"Hm?" Rui tilted his head under his stare.

"Uh nothing. I'm just surprised because you seem to be extremely familiar with different sparring forms and their purposes."

('Familiar? I probably know more about them than you ever will.') Rui mused. This was not an exageration.

"Ahhh, well I read about them in a book about Martial Art when I was a kid."

"I see. Well, that's all the more better."

Kane took his position on the mat.

"Let's begin."

Rui crouched a little, aligning his right foot behind his left foot. He brought balled his fists and brought them up in a guard.

"Yeah." He grinned. "Let's get this show on the road!"