Chapter 1 A High-Energy Warning—A Large Number of Professional Science and Introductions in This Chapter, Don't Read If You Don't Like It!

“It’s been a week of physical training, Oliver. How are the players’ physical conditions?” Klopp asked Oliver Bartlett, the head of the physical training coaching team sitting across from him.

“Most people are doing fine, and their physical fitness has improved. In addition…”

“Hmm?”

“One person has improved particularly quickly.” Bartlett pulled a report from the physical fitness reports and handed it to Klopp.

“Zhou Yi’s?” Klopp saw the name on the report.

“Yes,” Bartlett said. “I told you he’s a naturally gifted player in terms of physical fitness. His previous poor physical condition was because he had never received formal professional physical training. I bet his previous physical training was probably just running a few laps around the soccer field.”

In fact, Bartlett overestimated Zhou Yi. In the past, Zhou Yi only ran two or three laps on the track when the school had physical fitness requirements. As long as he could pass, he wouldn’t continue to torture himself. Compared to boring running, he preferred playing soccer.

While Bartlett was talking, Klopp looked down at the report, which visually showed the changes in Zhou Yi’s daily training with charts.

Dortmund's physical training phase opened Zhou Yi's eyes because it was so professional.

When each player undergoes physical training, they have to wear a special tight-fitting T-shirt. There are some electrode pads inside the T-shirt, which are attached to the body to monitor the player’s heart rate and pulse changes in real time, and upload them to the physical training coach’s computer through a wireless network. In this way, the physical data of each Dortmund player during the physical training phase can be easily archived and managed, which is convenient for the coaches to grasp the player’s situation in real time.

If a player's heart rhythm is found to be abnormal during training, the coach will immediately intervene and ask the player to reduce the intensity of the exercise until the heart rate returns to normal.

On the one hand, it ensures the safety of the players during training, and on the other hand, it ensures the quality of training.

“We had him train at 85% or more of his maximum heart rate for sixty minutes, once a day, for seven consecutive days. As you can see, his maximum heart rate has decreased five times. This is a remarkable change. You know, even professional endurance athletes need to train like this for seven weeks to decrease it ten times. But he only took a week to decrease it five times, which shows that he has a high talent for endurance,” Bartlett continued to explain.

"In addition, we had him train at 60% to 90% of his maximum heart rate for twenty minutes to an hour, five times in seven days, and his cardiovascular function also improved significantly. This is all reflected in the changes in his physical fitness. There is a very obvious and intuitive change. It’s hard to see him collapsing on the ground after training like he did on the first day, right?”

Klopp thought about it carefully, and it was true. He trains three times a day, and Zhou Yi's performance after each training session in the past few days was indeed better than before.

"It's really unexpected. I didn't expect such a huge amount of energy to be hidden in this kid's thin body," Klopp said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, speaking of this, I find it incredible," Bartlett said. "Training someone like this makes me feel very accomplished."

Klopp put Zhou Yi's physical fitness report aside and looked at Bartlett: "But it's not enough, Oliver. This kind of result is not good enough."

This made Bartlett feel a bit splashed with cold water. He asked in surprise: "Not good enough? This is much better than when he was in the youth team..."

"The youth team is the youth team, and we are the first team. The first team has the requirements of the first team. That and the youth team are completely different worlds."

“But even if you consider him as a first-team player, if he continues to train according to our current training plan, he will be good enough to meet the standards for playing in the first team.”

“Is it enough just to play?” Klopp asked with a smile, “I don’t think he himself would think that way, right? Me neither. My requirements for him are not just being able to play in the first team.”

“This…” Bartlett didn’t expect Klopp to value such a youth team player so much.

If he knew that Klopp had personally flown to Barcelona to persuade Zhou Yi to join Dortmund, he probably wouldn't be so surprised.

Seeing Bartlett hesitating, Klopp turned to ask Dr. Markus Braun: "Doctor, do you think Zhou Yi's body can withstand a greater amount of exercise?"

Forty-two-year-old Dr. Markus Braun is a sports medicine expert and the leader of Dortmund's team doctor group. He leads his team to closely monitor the players' physical conditions every day. If any discomfort occurs, he immediately notifies the coaching staff to stop training or adjust the training plan to reduce the intensity and avoid player injuries.

So if you want to ask whether Zhou Yi can withstand more intense training, you must ask Dr. Braun.

Dr. Braun opened a form on his laptop and said to Klopp: “I noticed an interesting phenomenon. When he first started training, his lactate threshold was not outstanding in the whole team, which was in line with the impression he gave us that he was not an inexhaustible player. However, as the training progressed, I found that his lactate threshold didn’t increase very much, but the feeling was that he wasn’t as tired during training. The lactate threshold didn’t increase significantly, but his athletic ability improved. I wondered why this was the case?”

The lactate threshold is a reference index used to measure a player's athletic ability.

When people exercise, lactic acid is produced and accumulated in the blood due to anaerobic metabolism in the body. Lactic acid makes the muscles in the body feel a burning pain. This is why many people have muscle soreness after exercise.

The lactate threshold refers to the starting point where the blood lactate concentration increases sharply when the exercise intensity reaches a certain load. It is also the turning point where the body's metabolic energy supply mode changes from mainly aerobic metabolism to mainly anaerobic metabolism.

A sharp increase in blood lactate concentration means that a large amount of lactic acid has accumulated in the body, which indicates that the body's ability to break down lactic acid has decreased, and the rate of lactic acid production is much faster than the body's recovery rate. At this time, the local tissues of the body will change. In order to avoid damage to muscle cells, the body's metabolic process will slow down. This is the body's self-protection and a manifestation of fatigue.

A high lactate threshold means that the starting point for aerobic to anaerobic is high, which also means that the body's ability to perform aerobic exercise is more outstanding, because the range of aerobic metabolism energy supply is extended. Therefore, the lactate threshold of endurance athletes, such as long-distance running, long-distance swimming, and cycling, is higher than that of non-endurance athletes such as sprinting and short-distance swimming.

But Zhou Yi's lactate threshold did not increase much, but his physical fitness became better, which was indeed a bit strange.

“Later, we tested his maximum oxygen uptake and found that his maximum oxygen uptake was very high, ranking among the top in the team, completely comparable to those physically strong players. I think this is the reason—he has a pair of outstanding lungs that can inhale and process an extraordinary amount of oxygen, and he also has a very strong heart that can compress those oxygen to all parts of the body to the maximum extent with blood. From this point of view, he is indeed a naturally gifted player in terms of physical fitness.”

Maximum oxygen uptake is also an indicator of a person's athletic ability, referring to the maximum amount of oxygen that the human body can absorb, transport, and utilize during exercise.

Generally speaking, the lactate threshold can be significantly improved through professional training. However, maximum oxygen uptake is limited by genetic factors and cannot be significantly increased through acquired training. Therefore, Dr. Braun said that Zhou Yi is a naturally gifted player, which is completely scientifically based—maximum oxygen uptake depends on genetics. What is this if not talent?

"In addition, because of the problem with our means of detecting lactic acid, we generally draw blood to test lactic acid after the players finish exercising. At this time, the players' blood lactate concentration has already begun to decrease, so the detected lactate threshold cannot represent the player's highest data. But I think this can indirectly illustrate that Zhou Yi's physical recovery ability is very outstanding, otherwise his physical performance would not have become better and better with a not-so-high lactate threshold."

Hearing Dr. Braun say this, Bartlett next to him also nodded: “Yes, after all, soccer does not require prolonged aerobic exercise at a steady pace, but rather constant switching between aerobic and anaerobic exercise. The body’s recovery ability is often more important than the lactate threshold.”

“So through monitoring and analyzing his physical data, I believe… Zhou Yi’s excellent physical recovery ability does allow him to withstand more intense training.” Dr. Braun finally gave his conclusion.

Klopp clapped his hands together: “Then let’s see how much potential he still has to be squeezed out!”

He thought of the scene when Zhou Yi told him that he wanted to get a first-team guarantee.

Did that kid think that everything would be fine as long as he came to the first team? That being in the first team meant he could make a name for himself?

Okay, now I'll tell him that it's just the beginning of a journey to hell! Want to make a name for yourself? How is it possible without putting in more effort than others?!

Being in the first team doesn't mean it's a good thing at all…

※※※

In the hotel room at night, Zhou Yi turned on the computer and left a message for his parents on QQ, reporting on his training and life recently.

This was the first time he had logged into QQ since coming to Radexburg. He hadn't had the energy or thought to use QQ before.

Recently, he felt that he was coping with the team's physical training more easily, which was an improvement, so he came online to give his parents good news.

“…The training in the first team is much harder than I thought, Dad. But I think I’m pretty awesome too, because I actually persevered. Now I feel like it’s not as hard as it was in the beginning. My physical fitness is much better than before. Now I can go up to the fifth floor in one breath without panting or feeling weak…”

In fact, Zhou Yi has a very intuitive way to know his progress in physical fitness, but he can't tell his father about this, so he has to tell his dad about his current physical condition in this joking advertising way.

In the virtual world, Zhou Yi pays attention to his attributes every day.

In addition to the perverted vision, his highest value now is short passing, which has reached seventy-nine. This is thanks to his continuous training in the virtual world and in reality.

Passing is the foundation of his career, so he naturally attaches great importance to it. In the training in the virtual system, he spends more than half of his time doing passing training. Fortunately, the virtual system has various training methods, which are quite interesting and challenging, so Zhou Yi doesn't feel bored when practicing—Zhou Yi is most afraid of boring things… So he used to be very uninterested in physical training, also for this reason. He couldn't stand running, running, and running without any change.

Later, after coming to Dortmund, he found that he couldn't improve his physical fitness, and he couldn't even play in the youth team games, let alone the first team games. Only then did Zhou Yi grit his teeth and insist on accepting the boring physical training.

But his persistence is rewarding.

In addition to short passing being the best-looking value, there is also stamina.

Zhou Yi's current stamina value is seventy-one, which is almost a qualified stamina level for a first-team player. Of course, whether he can play the full ninety minutes in every game is another matter, at least he won't even have the qualifications to play in the first team.

Physical fitness is no longer a major factor holding Zhou Yi back.

And Zhou Yi can see very clearly that before starting first-team training, his physical fitness was actually sixty-four. In just one week, the value increased by seven points, indicating that the effect of this physical training is very significant.

Zhou Yi was a little surprised to see this progress—when did he become so talented in physical fitness? He had always thought that he was the kind of player who had poor endurance, not fast speed, but a good brain. He didn't rely on his body, but on his brain. Now he found that his endurance was much better than he had imagined. Zhou Yi had a feeling that he had chosen the wrong talent points before.

But it's always a good thing to have good physical fitness, because his playing style requires a lot of running, and good physical fitness can prevent him from being substituted off or disappearing in the final stages of the game.

In addition to physical fitness, Zhou Yi has also made good progress in strength.

Do you remember what Zhou Yi's strength data was when he first got this system?

A pitiful eleven.

And now his strength value is already forty-nine, close to half of the full value. Although he still can't be considered a very strong player, it's much better than being knocked down with a single bump. Moreover, Zhou Yi didn't spend as much time on strength training as he did on physical training.

As for the other data, crossing is not Zhou Yi's strength, only forty. Shooting is only fifty-seven because he didn't deliberately train it. Heading is fifty-one, and volley is forty-six.

From the perspective of offensive data, after Zhou Yi transitioned to playing as an organizing midfielder, the foundation he had as a forward was still there. It's just that he didn't deliberately train his abilities in this area.

Zhou Yi's defensive data is terrible, with man-marking at ten, tackling at fifteen, sliding tackle at fourteen, and interception at nine.

Zhou Yi was never good at defense, and in the youth team, his defense was at most "eye defense" and "stream of consciousness defense."

He had never practiced defense, nor had he considered developing in this direction.

In terms of personal skills, Zhou Yi's dribbling is mediocre, with fifty. He is not the kind of dribbling king with fancy moves. In the game, he rarely dribbles past several people alone. His dribbling may only be used to get rid of the first defender, so that he can pass the ball out.

In terms of curve, Zhou Yi's data is fifty-one, which is also mediocre. He is not a player with a particularly good curve like Beckham, but he is not very bad either.

In terms of free kick accuracy, Zhou Yi only has forty-one, because he has not practiced free kicks. He himself has no ideas in this regard, and the team has not asked him to take free kicks.

Long passing is Zhou Yi's weakness, only forty-seven. Looking at the data alone may be fine, but compared with the seventy-nine short passing, the difference is too big.

Zhou Yi has fifty-nine in ball control, which is not bad. However, Zhou Yi's ball control is mainly dragged down by his lack of strength, because in soccer games, no matter how good your footwork is, if the opponent bumps into you reasonably and pushes you off balance, you can't be considered to be "controlling the ball."

In terms of physical attributes, Zhou Yi's shooting power is fifty-two, which is mediocre.

Jumping is fifty, which is also very ordinary.

As mentioned earlier, stamina is seventy-one, which is not bad.

Strength is forty-nine, and long shot is forty-seven. Both are average.

Zhou Yi's progress in acceleration and sprint speed is very slow, because speed is a quality that cannot be improved much through acquired training. Without talent, it is difficult to improve. Fortunately, the speed-type muscles in Zhou Yi's muscle fibers have a slight advantage, so Zhou Yi's speed is not too bad. But after so long of training, the increase is also very slow.

Acceleration is sixty-one, and sprint speed is sixty, both only increased by four points compared to when Zhou Yi first got the system. From this growth rate, Zhou Yi can never become a speed-type player like "Extraterrestrial" Ronaldo and Kaka in his life.

However, there must be gains and losses. Zhou Yi is not good in speed, but he is not bad in agility, balance, and reaction.

Agility is seventy, reaction is sixty-eight, and balance is sixty-nine. This may also be related to Zhou Yi's short stature and lack of strength. Too strong players will definitely be affected in the agility score.

In terms of other attributes, Zhou Yi's aggression is forty-one, which is much higher than his initial value. However, the psychological quality is a very big change, and the data is actually not accurate. It is this data one day, and it may become another data the next day. Moreover, aggression does not only refer to aggression in defense, but also refers to the degree of enthusiasm to participate in the attack. Zhou Yi has no aggression in defense at all, but after coming to Dortmund, he is becoming more and more active in participating in the attack.

Vision is still ninety-nine, unchanged.

And Zhou Yi has forty-seven in penalty kicks. He is not the kind of player that any team would give priority to when taking penalty kicks.

Zhou Yi has sixty-six attributes in offensive position, which is also not bad.

In terms of total score, Zhou Yi has risen to sixty-eight.

As an eighteen-year-old player, this attribute is considered passable.

However, Zhou Yi is a player with serious partiality, so you cannot only look at the overall score.