Training

Next morning,

I, grandpa, and Iris stood out of the house,

The front yard looked normal once more, thanks to the grandma.

"The training will be divided into two parts. Your first part of the training involves your body, while your second involves your mind." Grandpa said.

"We'll start by training your body. To become a good martial artist, you need a solid foundation. To build a solid foundation, you need to train your body step by step…."

"… First, you have to strengthen your body through exercises and a healthy diet."

"Second, you need to learn how to use your body weight. Third, your eye-hand coordination."

"And last, but not least, you should find a suitable fighting style. But the above three are essential components of every fighting style."

"Do you understand me?"

"Yeah." Both Iris and I replied.

"Let's start with push-ups."

"To get the most out of your push-ups, you have to take care of your body position, your arm position, your range of motion, and the movement of your shoulder blades."

During the explanation, Grandpa showed us how to do push-ups.

'I feel like I'm at the gym.'

After explaining, Grandpa said,

"Ethan, you'll perform two push-ups, and Iris, you'll perform ten."

"Okay,"

"Anyone wants to say anything?"

"No," Iris and I shook our heads.

'Two push-ups are nothing, I used to do 100 push-ups a day in my past life.'

I get into a push-up position.

I took a deep breath. As I exhaled, I pushed my hands toward the ground. I got down, but I felt as if someone had put a heavy weight on my back as I tried to get up.

'Shit, I can't get up,'

As I struggled to lift myself, I lay flat on the ground.

'Let's try again,'

Once again, I tried to do a push-up, but I could not do it this time also.

'Fuck, this body. I can't even do one push-up.'

For many minutes, I lay on the ground.

Seeing me lying motionless on the ground, grandpa asked,

"What happened, Ethan?"

"I can't lift my body," I replied.

Hearing my words, grandpa said,

"Get up, Ethan. If you want to learn the martial arts, you have to do this,"

"I know that but.."

"No buts," Grandpa said while cutting off my words.

Grandpa helped me to stand,

"Listen, Eethie, if you would like to achieve anything in life, then the first thing you have to do is to stop complaining about things. Today, you've complained about not being able to lift yourself; tomorrow, you'll complain about pain in your arms, and so on…."

"…As you train your body, the pain will worsen, and if you keep complaining, you'll never be able to achieve your goals. But if you stop complaining and overcome the pain, the result will be worth the pain."

'Grandpa is right. Complaining is not going to help me,'

Grandpa's words made me realize that being reincarnated in a magic world would not make the importance of hard work and dedication go away.

"Starting today, I won't complain anymore," I said with a determined look.

"That my boy," Grandpa patted my head.

"Now hurry and do your push-ups. Iris has already done hers."

I looked towards Iris, who was sitting on the ground while holding her arms.

After getting into the push-up position, I tried to do it again, but I could not do it. This time I didn't stop trying. I tried again and again.

After a few more tries, I managed to do my first push-up. This one push-up helped me gain more confidence in myself.

Several minutes later,

I was lying on the ground, looking up at the sky. I was sweating, and my clothes were dirty.

'I finally did it.'

After several attempts, I finally succeeded in doing two push-ups.

As I completed push-ups, grandpa came near me and smiled.

"Congrats, Eethie,"

"Thanks, grandpa," I said as I sat on my buttocks.

"Now that you've completed the push-ups, it's time for squats,"

"Okay,"

"We'll be going to do squats now. Squats strengthen your lower body muscles and increase your flexibility."

Grandpa explained while demonstrating how to do proper squats. After grandpa completed the demonstration, I got into a squat position.

As compared to push-ups, I found squats much easier.

Having completed squats, we moved on to crunches.

"Crunches are helping you, in building your abdominal muscles or you can say it makes your core strong. It also helped you with maintaining good posture." Grandpa explained.

We lie on the ground with our lower backs to the ground, and our knees bent, our hands holding their heads. Grandpa held my legs with one hand while holding Iris's legs with the other.

"As you exhale, lift your upper body and keep your neck and head relaxed. As you inhale, return to the starting position." Grandpa said.

It took me ten tries to complete four proper crunches. Iris was able to complete seven crunches without much difficulty, but it took all of her energy for the final three.

After doing a few other exercises, Grandpa said,

"That's it for today,"

"Finally, it's over,"

Both I and Iris said at the same time as we fell exhausted to the ground.

After a few moments later, Iris asked,

"How do you feel, Ethan?"

"I feel like I don't have arms and legs anymore. What about you, big sis?"

"I am also the same as ---"

Iris paused and asked,

"What did you say?"

When she realized I had called her 'big sis'.

"I feel like…."

"No, not that part. The last one." She said, cutting my words.

"Big sis,"

"Yeah, can you call that once more?" She said with an excited face.

"Big sis"

"One more time,"

"Big sis"

I said, confused, unaware of Iris's desire for a brother. Therefore, when I referred to her as the big sister, she became so excited that she forgot all the exhaustion she had earlier felt.

"You are so precious." She hugged me tightly.

I had difficulty breathing while my head was between her undeveloped breasts.

"Big sis, I can't breathe," I said while tapping her arms.

"Oh!, I am sorry about that," she released me from her embrace.

From a distance, grandpa and grandma watched both Iris and me. Seeing Iris and I get along made both of them smile.

"It's good that Iris decided to learn martial arts since Eethie now has a friend," Grandma said.

"Yeah, you are right about that,"

----------------

Five months later,

Both I and Iris were doing our training,

As if now, I could do 40 push-ups and crunches easily.

As for Iris, she could do 100 push-ups and crunches at once. But what surprised me was that even after doing 100 push-ups and crunches, her beautiful arms were the same as they were before training.

"Today, training will end here," Grandpa said.

"Tomorrow there will be no training, right?" Iris asked.

"Yeah,"

"What are we doing tomorrow, Grandpa?" I asked with an excited face.

"That's a surprise," Grandpa said, showing a mysterious smile on his face.

Tomorrow (May 3) is my birthday. I will turn 4. To celebrate my 4th birthday, Grandpa threw me a surprise party.