Chapter 18: New Coach
Having nothing to do for the rest of the day, Michael decided to binge read some web-novels.
Waking up the next day, he felt strangely energetic and well rested.
'Must be the effects of the DMP.'
He summoned the DMP and quickly gulped it.
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The next day, he woke up feeling even more energetic and overall better.
'This DMP really is magical.'
He then took the DMP before a bowl of chocolate cereal.
Taking out his phone, he called Kai.
*RING RING*
"What's up Mike?"
"Nothing much. I wanted to ask, where am I going to be meeting your coach? did he even agree?"
"Yes he did agree, and just come to the swimming pool I practice in at 4PM."
"Alright, thanks. Bye"
*CLICK*
'Kai's swimming pool is about an hour away. While it is a long journey back and forth, to train with a world-wide coach is more than worth it.'
Michael watched some TV until 3PM, then headed out to Kai's swimming pool.
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(Egypt, Alexandria, professional swimming pool)
Arriving at the place, Michael saw almost a copy of his swimming pool. Except with no seats surrounding the pool or second floors.
Walking over to the pool, he saw a tall looking man, about 6"2', seemingly waiting for someone. Walking a bit closer to him, Michael saw a light-skinned guy with a trimmed beard and mustache, he had sharp looking eyes and a frown on his face.
"Excuse me? Are you Kai's coach?" Michael politely asked.
Turning to look at him, the guy said, "Yes I am, and for today you may call me only as "Coach". Today will be a sort of trial, to see if you're worth training or not."
Quickly understanding, Michael responded, "Yes coach."
"Take off your clothes except your boxers." The coach said.
"Huh?" Dumbfound, Michael responded.
'Why did Kai not mention his coach having a weird.. kink?'
"Don't take it the wrong way, I need to see your current body composition. What muscles are developed, what are underdeveloped, and how much fat you carry."
'Phew.'
"Alright I understand."
Michael proceeded to take off his clothes.
"Your arms, abdominal muscles, and lats are well developed. But your legs and the rest of your core are severely under developed. It's a miracle you could even score gold with such an imbalance." The coach paused for a second then added, "Alright that's enough, put your clothes back on and we will do a pull-up test."
The coach brought Michael to a pull-up bar suspended by two pillars, he then turned towards him and said. "Do as many pull-ups as you can in a row, if your chin doesn't go past the bar I will not count it, Understood?"
"Yes coach."
Michael grabbed the pull-up bar and started to pull himself up. 1, 2, 3, 4.... 12, 13, 14.
After barely finishing his fourteenth, Michael felt his arms almost die of exhaustion, he went as hard as he could to impress the coach.
"Thirteen, not bad. You kicked your legs for the last one so I wont count it. You will now do 186 more pull-ups. I will only continue after you finish the rest."
"But coach, that's literally impossible. I physically cannot do 200 pull-ups." Michael responded.
"I already know your problem, your limitations are self-imposed by your own mind. In exercise, the weak link will always be your mind. It's not the muscle being physically unable to continue, it's your mind telling you that you're too tired. I won't repeat myself twice, you either do the 200 pull-ups or go home."
"Yes coach." Michael said begrudgingly.
After 2 hours of doing pull-ups Michael collapsed after finally finishing his 200th pull-up.
'It's already nighttime?' Michael thought as he looked at the night sky.
"Get up." Michael heard the coach's voice.
"Alright, what's next coach." Michael said while getting up to his feet.
"Now we will do the pushup test. Get on the ground and do as many pushups in a row as you can."
"Yes coach." Michael said with a tired voice.
1, 2, 3, 4.... 23, 24, 25... 30.
"30?! A swimmer of your caliber got a gold medal while only being able to do 30 pushups?! This is an insult to every decent swimmer in the world. Do 470 more pushups, if you do them I will consider accepting you into my team. I can see from the look on your face that you're thinking this is too hard, but let me tell you something. Training isn't just about pushing past the limits of your body, it's also about pushing past the limits of your mind."
The coach paused then continued saying, "Your mind is your greatest weapon and your greatest enemy of all time. You must force it to become your weapon."
'This guy is a douche-bag, but at least a motivational douche-bag.' Michael couldn't lie, this coach's words really are the most motivating words he had ever heard.
"Yes coach."
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