Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Interval Training
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Truth be told, demanding 100 squats right from the first day had been half a test.
I needed to gauge Dietrich's baseline stamina and strength.
He showed a bit of strain, but Dietrich breezed through all 100 without issue.
Not even heavy panting or collapsing flat on the floor.
What kind of physique...
Dietrich rested his hands on his thighs, leaning forward slightly to catch his breath, then straightened up with a refreshed look on his face as he turned to me.
"Hey, how'd you even know about this exercise? Feels amazing after doing it!"
See what I mean?
Most kids that age would drop dead after 100 proper squats, but Dietrich didn't show a hint of it.
This level was a walk in the park for him, huh? Fine then, on to the next phase.
My secret weapon, the queen of cardio...
"Ditri, you wike wunning?"
"Running? Love it. I'm super fast, you know."
Yeah, that's why he was always thundering down the mansion hallways.
"Stand ovew hewe."
"This is the riding track, though."
Our estate's garden had a riding track.
Flat ground, perfect for running—no worries about Dietrich's knees.
After checking the track surface, I stood up.
"Fwom now on, when I give the signaw, you walk. Then when I do it again, wun. Got it?"
"Walk, then run? That's too easy. I was gonna show you how fast I really am today."
"We'ww wepeat it."
"Repeat? How many times?"
For an energy-packed kid like Dietrich, two minutes running and one minute walking sounded right.
Add five minutes of walking at the start and end to ease the heart rate up and down, totaling 31 minutes.
Subtract the pure walking segments, and that's solid workout time...
"Seven times."
"Huh? Se...ven?"
"Seven times."
Seven sets, 21 minutes.
By constantly shifting intensity to spike and drop the heart rate, squeezing max efficiency out of a short session—this was interval training.
And today, it was time to learn my favorite: interval running.
After anaerobic work, obviously cardio next.
After 100 squats and interval running, Dietrich wouldn't just sleep tonight—he'd pass out.
Drain that stamina, and the nurse would be thrilled while Dietrich got healthier.
Win-win for everyone, so why was Dietrich dithering at the track's starting line?
"Walk, Ditri."
I stretched out my short, chubby fingers for the signal, and Dietrich made a dying-fish face before starting to walk slowly.
"Keep youw back stwaight, put stwength in youw cowe!"
Don't underestimate walking.
Just shuffling along without glute engagement is mere commuting, not exercise.
To get real benefits from walking, keep your spine straight, core and glutes tight.
Dietrich corrected his posture under my strict guidance.
"Why all the nagging over a simple walk..."
The moment he started grumbling, I clapped sharply.
"Wun!"
At the cue, Dietrich reflexively sped up into a sprint.
"This fast?"
"Fastah!"
Go all out when running.
Spike that heart rate high, then drop it—that's the core of interval training.
Dietrich picked up the pace on my signal.
After two minutes of running, he switched back to walking on cue and flashed a grin as he passed me.
"Hey, Mariella—huff—this is kinda fun! Switching between running and walking makes it interesting?"
Hope that enthusiasm holds to the end.
Dietrich, who called it doable, started clamming up dramatically by the third set.
By the fourth, he was gasping for air.
"Huff, huff—can we stop here for today, wheeze?"
"Nope. Wun fastah."
Think you can?
By the final run, all his initial spirit was gone, leaving just a ragged mess.
Interval training, including running, focuses on spiking and dropping heart rate to build stamina.
It's brutally high-intensity as a result.
Not for the weak, but my overflowing-energy Dietrich handled it like a champ, as expected.
"My legs—huff—they don't feel like mine anymore."
That's normal for this.
"My heart's—gasp—gonna explode."
Hearts don't burst that easy.
After the 31-minute interval run, Dietrich braced his knees, heaving ragged breaths.
Seeing him outperform expectations fired up my inner trainer.
Tomorrow, leg raises for those abs...
"Please don't look at me like that. Your face is scary right now."
"No way. I'm pwaising you inside fow doing gweat, Ditwi."
"Really? Guess I don't mind stuff like this."
Puffed up from one compliment already. So typically simple, this brother of mine.
That childish side wasn't so bad, though.
Today marked exactly half a month since we started training.
Dietrich followed my routine better than expected.
Interval running was too intense, so we limited it to every other day, but even that did the trick.
Mischief incidents dropped sharply, for one.
Except that early slip-up where he tried showing off the new interval run on the mansion's marble floors and ate dirt...
"Nurse, is your back okay now?"
The nurse, bedridden since the glass shard incident, could finally move around a bit.
"Yes, miss. Thanks to your worry, it's almost healed."
The doctor still advised caution, but compared to the gruesome two weeks ago, it looked clean now.
I snuggled into her arms, savoring the warmth I'd missed.
"And Young Master?"
With Dietrich, my constant shadow lately over training, nowhere in sight, the nurse tilted her head.
"Ditwi's outsiwde wunning wight now."
"Good thing he enjoys it."
I wholeheartedly agreed.
If he'd been the hyper type who hated exercise, convincing him would've been a nightmare.
And he'd have caused chaos during the persuasion phase.
No butler around, nurse recovering—if Dietrich acted up, it'd all fall on me...
Just thinking about it tired me out.
"We're grateful to you too, miss."
I blinked wide-eyed at the nurse suddenly bowing before me.
To me? Why?
"Young Master hasn't caused any trouble in two weeks, they say?"
"He did once... but that was 'cause Ditwi was twying too hawd with twaining."
"That's fine. The real win is how much brighter he's gotten training with you, and fewer incidents overall. The whole house feels lighter."
The nurse smiled softly at my awkward lip-pursing under her praise.
"Thank you so much, miss. If not for you, we'd never have known such a great method."
Her continued thanks inflated the balloon in my chest.
Unable to bear it, I jumped up.
"It's fine! I-I'm gonna check on Ditwi! You west a bit mowe, Nurse."
Sheesh, me.
I fanned my hot face and slipped out of the mansion.
Blasted compliments for something so minor.
My skin still tingled warmly underneath.
Heading into the garden like that, I spotted Dietrich—who could now self-time walks and runs without my signals—lowering his water cup.
"Hey, Baby Ella! I finished all my runs today too!"
The switch from "Mariella" or "dummy" to "baby" or "Ella" happened about three days ago?
Extra chipper today, he mashed them together with a grin.
A passing servant saw us, thumbs-upped Dietrich, and called out.
"Great run today, Young Master! You were flying out there!"
"Eh, this much is nothing."
"No way. Never seen a seven-year-old run like you in my life!"
Dietrich tried for a stern face, but expression control wasn't his strong suit.
I could see his mouth corners twitching upward no matter what.