Training Start!

I was in deep thought, trying to remember what kind of training a kid's body could endure. My body is that of a kid around 4 years old. So I need to be careful to not injure myself. No reason to risk my whole future by being too hasty.

"Let's start with warming up. Some basic yoga shouldn't hurt. Nothing too extreme though. I hope Master Dhalsim won't learn about me doing this kiddy stuff. He was a good man, an incredible fighter, but his training was… a little unreasonable."

I then start stretching. First, Child's Pose. It was good to begin a stretching session, I kneel with my toes touching and knees spread apart, I slowly bend over and touch my forehead to the ground. It looks like my body is more flexible than I thought. Both my hands extended in front of my head with my palms on the floor. I then start to inhale and exhale slowly and deeply. Next is normal stretching, overhead Arm Stretch, Arms Wide, Shoulder stretch, etc.

When my body was done warming up, I then started to jog around the house. It was less than 1,000 square feet. I think the distance around the house should be enough for a kid. After 10 laps of jog circling the house to loosen the muscles on my legs, I started to run to find out my stamina limit. After 19 laps of running, I was already out of breath.

"Damn, just this and I'm already on my limit?" I struggled to catch my breath.

"Not like I expected much from this small body. Let's push myself and try of another lap"

—

For the next month or so, my daily routine was simple: Yoga and running in the morning. Doing Kata and Wu Shu stances in the day. Pestering the old man for magic training in the evenings. Rinse. Sleep. Repeat.

When I felt that my body needed rest I just sat there and looked at how the old man meditated or chopped wood. Sometimes I helped him with cooking. And I kept pestering him about training me.

Seems like it started to get his nerves. Ha! Serves him right. One time he even dragged me all the way to the lake and threw me in, like I was a kitten. Then he left me there alone. Luckily no wild beasts appeared till he came back to refill his gourd. Damn, one day I will be strong enough to walk freely in this damned forest!

"So, I've been in this for months already. I guess it's time to add some bodybuilding exercise."

Sometimes I caught the old man looking at my training with a deep thoughtful look on his face. Maybe it's another chance to ask him?

"Old man do you…" but before I could finish my words he left. All I could do was sigh helplessly. Am I really that talentless? When that thought came to me. The fire of determination inside me started to burn.

"Just you wait old man, I will make you acknowledge me"

—

Five months have gone by since I found myself in this forest. 'Note to myself, it seems like I'm a training addict'. I felt a wave of despair washing over me. 'I'm in another world. There is magic and monsters. And almost all of the things I did were either training or asking gramps to give me more things to train in…'

In the afternoon, I was thinking of adding another training to my menu "Now I need some training weights. And makiwara won't hurt either, but let's wait with that."

I then ran outside the house, looking for stones. "These two stones are just right. Nice catch, me! Training weights, check!"

I went to the back of the house. I found myself a patch of flat ground and took a classic right-hand stance. Let's see how rusty I am with all my techniques.

Few slow punches. Jab, jab, cross. Straights, one-two, one-two. Shift to the side left hook. Again. Faster and faster. Don't forget about footwork. Move your head, me. Box.

My stance shifted slightly. Time to mix up some kicks in. Mae Geri. Mawashi Geri. Brazilian switch kick. Slow, so slow, I couldn't believe myself. I kept increasing my pace. Karate

Strange feeling. The more I fought, the clearer my head became. Another stance change. Another mix-up. Finger strikes. Palms. A little bit of acrobatics. Wu Shu.

How long have I been doing this already? Blood pumps in my head. My stance shifted to Tang Guard Muay. Last mix-up. Closer. Sharper. Elbows. Knees. Let's finish it with a bang, Kao Loi! (Flying Knee). Muay Thai.

'Who was laughing? Wait, It was me! How long ago was the last time when I felt my blood boiling?' With this thought, someone suddenly turned off the lights.

---

The next morning, I woke up tucked in bed. 'Seems like my last training session went a little bit too far. But this feeling when I was shadow fighting was absolutely exhilarating. Worth it!' It looks like the old man picked up my ass and brought me to the bed. This tsundere old man seems to be a good person. It's just that he was too stubborn when it came to magic training

"First I need to thank him."

I went outside the house and he was, as usual, still sitting there meditating.

"Hey Gramps, Thank You for bringing me inside last night." I decided to call him "gramps", since always calling him old man seems rude and distant

"Who are you calling Gramps?"

"Who else could it be than you? We've been living together for a few months. Why not teach me magic already?... Gramps"

"How many times do I need to tell you?"

"Until you agree to train me" I grinned confidently as a bit of provocation.

Gramps could only sigh and shake his head before he closed his eyes again.

—

Another month passed with me doing nothing but training and pestering gramps to teach me magic. The same as always. I was now standing in front of the banana tree. I noticed this not too deep in the forest when I was training at the back of the house. This tree was thicker than the norm, this is good for my punching bag.

I went to the old man and asked him "Old man, Do you have a rope?"

Surprisingly he didn't ask me why I would need it and just waved his hand for the rope to appear.

"Here"

"Thanks"

I took a rope and tied it around the tree, making a makeshift makiwara. Time to do what every martial artist loves the most, condition my limbs.

Bang!

"Good! I felt contact, but not much pain. Well, this makiwara won't punch itself, I guess"

I was planning on doing this for the next few months, till I could start using trees as punching bags at the very least. Damn, how I miss a proper sandbag right now.

—

All in all, training again was fun. I also took a note from Gramps' book and tried meditation when I was free. It was incredibly effective to relax and sort out my mind at the same time. I should've picked it up earlier.

Last, but not least, the result of my training started to kick in as well: I felt more energetic and lighter. There is not much definition under all of this baby fat, but I definitely grew taller and even bulked a little. Still, it was nowhere near enough. I want… No, I need more.