“I think you should rest a bit…” Joe trailed off when Garnedell groaned and fell on the floor again. Joe smiled and nodded. OK… so… that should be enough.

“Yeah… you’ll need to rest more, but you should do all your forms in this state of exhaustion and any exercises as well, but don’t push yourselves too much until another week or two. Can you still stand up OK Garnedell?”

Garnedell quickly stood again and nodded, “I’m OK, although it hurts.”

Joe hid his frown, but worry underlay his thoughts, “Is it getting better?”

Garnedell paused at that then slowly began to nod, “Yes… it is getting better.”

“Are you sure? Walk around the courtyard.”

Garnedell did so, walking easily, almost as if he was unaffected, “OK. Hmm… then maybe… Do it just one more time, then rest. Zilnek, Kilniara… you should be careful… but maybe you could do it three times as well. For exercise, a good plan is to divide your body into upper and lower, and work on your legs one day, then work on your arms and chest on the next day. On the third day, your legs will have rested and recovered a little, and you can work on your legs again. On the fourth day, your arms and chest will have rested one day and you can do them again. Do this back and forth for several days then remember to rest at least two or three days every week, then begin again. That’s the basic exercise. I’ll teach you more later, and exact exercise you can do for each of you. But first…”

Joe turned Kilniara and Zilnek, both looking on with fear, fascination, and worry. Joe smiled at them and nodded. Garnedell had already completed his third Joe recommended and rested calmly on the floor, panting and exhausted, but seemingly almost unaffected by the soreness, still able to move easily and even stand and walk without it affecting him.

“Let’s get Kilniara and Zilnek doing this. Just feel what it feels like the first time. Garnedell, you should just rest now, OK? Zilnek, Kilniara, show me your status and I’ll warn you when it will start, then you can fight it as long as you can, OK?”

Kilniara nodded eagerly, opening her status immediately before passing it on to him and slipping into the horse stance. As before with Garnedell, she showed no reaction to the intense exercise while her stamina was still full. Joe left Kilniara to her training and turned to Zilnek who offered his status and began his horse stance with quite a bit less enthusiasm, his face grim and determined, but certainly not looking forward to it.

Zilnek, having started first, bottomed out first just a bit before Kilniara, and he prepped both of them, “Zilnek, you will start feeling it soon. Kilniara, you will feel it just a bit after Zilnek. Zilnek five, four, three, two, one, NOW! Kilniara two, one, NOW!”

Kilniara flinched but soldiered on when the sudden and shocking biofeedback hit her, pushing through the strange sensation and pain. Zilnek did well at first as well, but began growling quickly, fighting against it. Kilniara began shortly after as well, with soon both beginning to offer a wheezing growl.

Joe wasn’t concerned, and encouraged both to press on, but Zilnek soon began to grow enraged, and Joe became quite concerned, “Zilnek. Keep fighting, but relax your emotions. There is no need to become so angry. You do need to fight this, and anger can help you, but too much… Just be careful. It’s…”

Zilnek roared and collapsed, Kilniara lasting only a moment or so longer than him and they panted heavily in the dirt. Zilnek calmed with this and Joe smiled, nodding and returned to encouraging both. Both stayed like this only for a few moments before both stood and were once again easily moving around the courtyard. Huh… that’s… weird, right? That’s weird… definitely weirdness happening here…

“Nice. Your legs and maybe your belly should feel shaky… quivering or something like that. And you should feel very tired. This is what your body feels when it pushes too hard. You will feel this way all the time whenever you push yourselves and it will be specific to the part of your body that you’ve pushed. Today, now… you guys pushed your legs pretty far. When you have trained yourself well, you will be able to do this and your legs will feel like… a string, as if you cannot move it or use it well but not very long. It will feel this way for maybe a bell or two, then you will slowly gain your strength back. But tomorrow, your legs will feel very sore and achy. After a day or two, your legs will return to normal, stronger and better than before. If you do this for about a year, your legs and body will become stronger. You will be able to lift more, for longer without hurting as much.

“But for now, you should be cautious in practicing in this way for several weeks until your body has acclimated. If you push too hard, you will feel a deep pain and be unable to move for even a week. So please be careful. But, if you do this, you will be much stronger… within even a month or two.”

Kilniara was looking on with some awe and Garnedell with excitement, although Zilnek didn’t seem too impressed. None spoke for a while until Garnedell quickly interjected.

“Does it increase our digits?”

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Joe frowned, “This, I don’t know, sorry. We can try and see, but I’m really not sure.”

Kilniara sat up at this point and tried to stand, pressing her hands to the ground only to have her left arm collapse under her and she groaned in pain as had to push herself back up then finally stood.

“It hurts, so much. Does it stop?”

Joe chuckled, “It will stop after about a year or when you are satisfied with the strength you have gained. But, it will heal faster and faster, and hurt less and less more quickly over time. Right now, you have never pushed your body… I even wonder if your status protects you under the Coming of Age as well. I’m really not sure, but the longer you do not exercise, the more your body will hurt when you begin or begin again.”

Zilnek grimaced as he stood, failing to hide his glaring anger, “Then why do this if the pain is so much.”

Joe smiled, taking his anger in stride, “I understand you discomfort as I went through this same thing when I was a kid but if you want to excel or use great power, you need a strong body.”

Joe shrugged after this but didn’t say anything else, simply staring at them. He’d said what he needed and nothing else. As his stare wrote obvious in the moment that he had nothing else to say, the three began to shift, nodding with in agreement, Kilniara and Garnedell in excitement, Zilnek with forced acceptance.

Joe nodded and began again, “So. Just so you understand. This is from the perspective of my people, so I do not know what is best for you or how healthy it is for you. But most of my people found that exercising each part of your body three times, then resting for two days, then repeating is one of the best, healthiest, safest, and fastest ways to develop the body. The parts of the body that you need to exercise match your body. I’ll have to double check each of you, as you may have a different body than mine in even more significant ways, but from what I can see, most of your body is similar to mine.

“That said, I’m uncertain how to handle your rest, natural, and base forms, Kilniara, Zilnek. And Garnedell, while we both share the base form, you are still quite young and will continue developing into a full adult. We can do some exercise now, but it will change and be affected by your growth into your adult body.”

Joe spent the next five minutes explaining bodies, muscles, and how they functioned before identifying major muscle groups using his own body. He then had Garnedell come forward and checked him out rather quickly, finding his body identical to his own, which through Joe for a bit of a mental loop once again, before moving on to the Acokzau.

Showing Zilnek his major muscle groups and carefully touching him to help him understand where and how his muscles acted, in all three forms, proved not too difficult, although a bit intimate, which Zilnek seemed to not appreciate. This made Joe much more cautious with Kilniara as he didn’t know how adding a different gender to the mix might affect her, but she was much more open and did not reject his help. He had taken the time to explain he would be getting quite personal in his touch before he’d even started with Garnedell and all three had accepted and understood what he was doing. This left Joe at a bit of a loss on how to handle Zilnek as he seemed to be a bit on edge.

After having shown the major muscle groups, Joe then showed them a basic way to separate muscle groups into sets, depending on how much of a rotation they wished to go through, then he showed them the proper exercises for each of the muscle groups. He did take a much more deliberate and cautious tone with the natural forms of the Acokzau, warning them to be very cautious and certain of their strength before exercising, also demanding they use a spotter until the danger could be assessed.

This led to a quick detour of what a spotter was and how one assisted as a spotter, and Joe was able to get the message across for the base form, as well as caution for the Acokzau rest form. After, he wrapped up and had everyone sit in a circle to discuss a program for each.

“Right. So, I know this is a lot, and you can ask as many questions as you need, but let’s set up a program for you. You can do a two, three, or five day rotation… well, I guess you could do four or others as well, but the basic sets that are around are two, three, or five day full body workout sets. With two or three day sets, its best to work them in pairs, so you can work out one set of your muscles for two days and rest them for three days, while on the three rest days, you workout other muscle groups and rest for two days. An easy example of this is to work out legs for two days and the upper body for three days. You would work on the upper body for the first day. The second day would be legs, the third upper body again, fourth legs, fifth upper body. Then you would rest for a day or two before doing it again.

“You can also divide your body into five sections and work out one time in five days before starting again. This will give each section several days of rest before you start again. An example of that would be chest and trice… uh… back arms, back and front arms, body, arms and calves, and cardi… uh… running or exercising easily but for a long time so your lungs and heart must work a lot. I’ll… yeah… I’ll explain cardio later. Anyway, the fourth day would be shoulders and back arms and the fifth day would be legs and front arms. The arms are a bit different, as the first two days you do them light but long, and the last two days you do them short but very hard and heavy. This develops different kind of muscles…”

Joe sighed and brought himself to an end then continued again, “Right… I’m going to have to explain a lot to you, but you’ll … I think you can understand. So… I would probably recommend that you do more of a two three pattern, doing a basic overall upper body exercise alternating with doing legs and arms on the other days until you’ve become stronger and are able to spend more time without so much pain or effort… or at least getting used to the effort.”

Kilniara seemed determined although a bit confused after hearing everything Joe had to say while Garnedell seemed to grin wildly. The promise of greater strength seemed to have him well and truly gripped. Zilnek wasn’t pleased at all, but nodded and looked to his sister before nodding again.

Joe waited on them but saw they weren’t really making a decision before he finally decided to step up and make it for them. Garnedell and Kilniara’s determination really encouraged Joe, but Zilnek’s growing dissatisfaction decided for him, and he settled on a simple basic daily full body workout that would be mainly light until all three got used to using their actual bodies again instead of whatever magic was being supplied them from the system.

Joe nodded and stood, “Right. So… first exercise is this. Just copy me, burn through your stamina, and then keep doing it until you become tired, but do not do this until you collapse for a week or two. Then, you can do as you did today; until you are so tired you fall. But for today, don’t do any more past your SP. Just copy and learn it before we move on. Ready?”