Training Mr Right

Chapter 4: Winners Never Quit

As weeks passed, Yue had been increasing the intensity of his workouts. When he used to do 10kgs for his upper body workouts, it was now at 15kgs. 20 reps for HIIT instead of 15. His track running was now 10km. Didi was excited to have lost 5kgs so far but he also felt stretched with the new set of workouts. Every night, he would soak his feet or bathe in sea salt to relieve his body aches.

It was his last training with her this week. Didi was exhausted. Yue had been shouting at him throughout the session, pushing him beyond his limits. His body was aching and he felt no strength left for anything.

"Come on Didi! 70 more burpees!"

He had done 30 and 70 more was impossible.

"I CAN'T DO IT!!!" He shouted, glaring at Yue.

She raised her eyebrow and looked at him calmly. "You can't do it or you don't want to do it?"

"BOTH!! I'm quitting!"

"Nobody quits today, Wang He Di."

"Coach! I'm tired! Stop pushing me!"

"Just a little bit more. You can do it."

"I CANNOT!!!" He threw his towel down and scowled.

"I will do it with you." she responded calmly. "100 for me and 70 for you. Let's go!" She started getting onto the ground and jumping up and down, repeatedly.

Didi watched her, with his mouth open,  shocked. He did not expect this response from her at all. The previous trainer had reprimanded him and left when he had an outburst.

"20, 21, 22, 23...." she counted loudly as she did her burpees, effortlessly. Suddenly, Didi did not feel angry anymore. Or frustrated. In fact, he felt bad.

He got down and restarted his burpees. "31, 32,33,34...." by the time he reached his last burpee, Yue was at 89. She was fast. She stopped in between to rest and continued with some grunts, here and there. He knew she was fit but he found himself admiring her tenacity. She surprised him.

When she finished, she put her hands on her thighs to catch her breath. "You....." pointing at him. "Don't you dare say quit again." She grabbed her water bottle and squirted the liquid into her mouth. Didi watched her throat as she swallowed. Her skin was red from the blood circulation, glistening with sweat. His ears suddenly felt warm.

"You can skip Mike's bootcamp tomorrow. Take a rest. I see you on Monday." She said as she turned to look at him one last time before leaving.

Didi sighed. He blew it but she saved the day.

____________________

Yue decided to stay at home tonight. She felt sore from the 100 additional burpees she did with Didi, on top of her own 100 in the morning. She might have pushed Didi too far this week but she had to stick with the timeline. Her 30 days here was almost up and she was happy with his progress so far. He might be a little stubborn for his own good but she admired his willingness to work for it until this morning's outburst. I don't blame him. I did the same to Mike. Her phone rang. It was Hsu-jie.

"Hi Hsu-jie! How are you?"

"I'm fine. I want to thank you for doing a good with with Didi so far. I knew you are the right person to help him."

"Didi has put in the effort as well. He deserves the credit."

"I was wondering if you can do me a favor to stay with him till after the prelim is over. I feel better if you can support him."