Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 206 Dog Paddle
For Xiaolimao, eating is naturally the top priority, not to mention eating delicious food.

As for whether she was taken alone, she didn't particularly care.

"It would be embarrassing if you only took me with you, although sometimes I also want to go eat delicious food by myself."

Scratching his head a little embarrassedly, Ogurimao looked at Kitahara sheepishly, and then looked at Maruzenski who was looking amused behind him.

"But as for eating, we'll have to wait until after training."

"Just like what you said, Kitahara, they have already swam quite far to the small bay. I have to hurry and swim over there as well."

Seeing that Oguruma seemed to have calmed down from his previous hesitation, Kitahara did not delay any further.

Naturally, swimming training had been planned long ago.

If it is the "floating board posture" training method, there will be many options, but after leaving the floating board, Ogurumao can basically be said to be a beginner.

The swimming method suitable for beginners is almost the answer that comes to mind.

"Then adopt the 'dog paddle' position."

After speaking directly, Kitahara explained: "This is the easiest for you now. The relevant key points have also been taught in previous swimming lessons."

"After Ogurimao goes into the water, I'll trouble Maruzen to lead him." After instructing Ogurimao, he asked Maruzenski for help.

"OK, that's what I agreed to help do."

Maruzenski responded very straightforwardly. Her swimsuit did look very fashionable, as if she was on vacation at the beach.

But the swimsuit is of course for swimming, so she agreed to train with Oguruma and the others for a period of time, and she also agreed to all the training in the process.

With the guidance of experienced seniors during swimming training, Oguruma was still a little nervous before and after entering the water.

However, with the demonstration of Maruzenski and the reminder of Kitahara, she quickly moved away from the seashore and began to try to flap her wings towards deeper areas.

The "dog paddle" swimming posture is not elegant. As the name suggests, the swimmer's limbs will hang in the water like a dog, swinging back and forth constantly.

But this is indeed a very simple swimming style and very suitable for beginners.

With the help of this swimming style, even if you have just started swimming, or have just gotten rid of swimming rings, floats, etc., you can quickly master the way to maintain buoyancy and balance in the water by relying solely on your body.

Although the action is easy, dog paddling does not require much skill or coordination from the swimmer, and these are exactly not what Oguruma needs now.

What she needs to master is to practice breathing control and water skills, and to be able to move freely in the water without any auxiliary tools.

Once she gets used to these basic movements and water conditions such as currents and waves, it will be convenient for her to further learn other more effective swimming styles.

The dog paddling at this stage, combined with subsequent methods such as freestyle and butterfly stroke, will not be a problem if you want to improve your endurance, breathing control, rhythm, etc. during the training period.

Unlike Oguruma, who just tried to swim on his own, Maruzenski was an excellent swimmer.

Judging from the way he swam like a fish next to the frantic Ogururoshima, Maruzenski received a lot of special swimming training or swimming, both when he was in the military and after retirement.

Not only can she swim freely on her own, she can also help Oguruma to feel the rhythm of the water and her body.

"Don't be so anxious, Xiao Limao, just stay on the surface of the water and I'll get closer."

After Oguruma made a big splash but failed to swim forward much, Maruzenski moved closer to her.

During this process, Maruzenski paid great attention to details.

She was swimming towards Xiaolimao, making sure that the other party could see her, and she didn't get too close, keeping about an arm's length away.

It is easy to get panicked when you are just learning to swim. If you approach someone from a direction out of sight, it is easy to make the other person panic.

Even if you keep yourself within the other person's sight to ensure that he or she can feel at ease, you cannot get completely close to them.

Otherwise, if you get panicky, you might grab yourself and disrupt your balance.

So, at a distance of about arm's length, Maruzenski waved one hand towards Oguruma and stretched out the other hand, motioning her to grab it.

"When you first try to swim, it's not enough to just use your strength. You have to feel the current and the buoyancy of the water."

Holding Oguruma's hand with one hand and doing the same with the other, Maruzenski's upper half floated on the water, and his body rose and fell slightly with the rise and fall of the water.

"Like I am doing now, with my legs swinging slowly underwater, my arms can be spread out a little."

"The specific gravity of water is 1, and our specific gravity is about the same."

“So, if you just want to float on the water, you don’t actually have to do anything. The calmer, the better.”

As he said this, Maruzenski gestured to Oguruma to look below the water surface.

The environment of this beach is very good, and the water in the shallow sea is crystal clear.

The bright sunlight shines directly into the light blue water, clearly showing Maruzenski's white and slender legs under the water.

"I remember Kitahara said this, but..."

Looking under the water, Xiao Limao pursed his lips and smiled a little embarrassedly, "But I was a little nervous when I got into the water. I just waved my arms and pushed the ground vigorously..."

"No, it's kicking water."

"Then it seemed as if all the knowledge I had heard and the skills I had practiced were forgotten all at once."

"Hmm...it would be nice if I had a floating board. If I had one, I would definitely not trouble you like this."

Maruzenski couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"You think this is running on the track, and you're pushing off the ground..."

She laughed twice, thought for a moment, and nodded, "But to be honest, there is not much difference between swimming and running."

"They are both sports, and the same things you need to pay attention to when running are the same things you need to pay attention to when swimming."

"When running..."

Muttering something, Oguruma tried to move his arms and swing his legs underwater with the help of Maruzenski's hands.

"But the difference is still huge. I always feel like I can't use any strength in the water."

"I'm obviously very strong, and I used a lot of force just now, but something's not right..."

"As I said, calm down first, float up first, don't be anxious."

Like a trainer, Maruzenski patiently explained, "If you want to swim, you need to slowly feel the buoyancy of the water and the rhythm of your body."

"Now hold my hands and use the balance I give you to give it a try."

"Try to adjust the frequency and amplitude of your leg kicks to find the rhythm and strength that suits you best. Also, pay attention to keeping your body balanced, using all parts of your body, and don't rely too much on your legs."

"Wait until you feel your legs, then try your arms." "When you stroke, your arms should be as straight as possible in front of you, then pull out and in."

"Keep your arms straight and try to keep the stroke and recovery smooth to reduce drag and increase speed."

"I think you can understand it now. Isn't it the same as running?"

"It's a matter of slowly finding the right rhythm and strength, the only difference is that one is on the ground and the other is in the water."

"Oh, I think I understand."

Oguruma showed a look of realization, then smiled and said, "This is actually the same as swimming with a kickboard. That's what everyone told me when we were practicing."

"It seems that I am still a little too panicked."

"Besides, Beiyuan has explained everything you said to me seriously."

"I was so flustered when I was swimming just now that I didn't think of it for a moment."

"When you mentioned it, I remembered it. Beiyuan told me about it."

"but……"

After speaking for a while with some gratitude, she suddenly looked away in confusion, "Why didn't he teach me like you are doing now, Maruzen...?"

Maruzenski was stunned for a moment, then looked in the direction Ogurumao was looking.

On the other side, Kitahara had already entered the water on a motorboat, but he did not get too close, but instead kept a distance parallel to it.

The trainer over there was also very patient, as if he knew that we were sharing swimming techniques here, and he was looking at us with a very gentle gaze.

"Maybe it's because I'm here? So he wants to slack off?"

Maruzenski, who was used to finding time to slack off during work, quickly made a joke.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, Little Chestnut shook his head seriously and retorted, "No."

"......Huh?" Maruzenski was stunned.

"I mean, Kitahara wouldn't do that."

After repeating the affirmation, Oguruma suddenly laughed, "Because Kitahara is not that kind of trainer."

"From the time I met him, I knew he was a very hard-working and responsible trainer."

"...Since the time we met?" Maruzenski couldn't help but look in the direction of Kitahara again.

"Yes, it started when I was with Kasamatsu."

Nodding vigorously, Oguruma showed a look of reminiscence, "Come to think of it, at that time, it was only Guanghui and I who were training with Kitahara, and we didn't know Xiaowan, Xiaoyu and the others yet."

"Oh, by the way, from that time on, Guanghui seemed to be not training most of the time, but more like researching something."

“Since she was confirmed as a central trainee, she has increasingly focused on various trainings and has embarked on her own path, which has enabled her to help us a lot.”

“But I was training non-stop.”

"Because I trained too much, I got scolded by Kitahara."

"Huh? Is this true? Kitahara... would actually scold you?" Maruzenski was surprised.

"Yeah, he taught me a lesson."

Xiao Limao nodded, but there was no dissatisfaction on his face, but a look of gratitude. "The one I remember most vividly was when I was doing barbell squats."

"At that time, Beiyuan came to see me. He probably wanted to ask about other things first, but when he saw my training, he frowned all of a sudden."

"Then the theory of training, how do you say it..."

Since it involved theory, Oguruma's narration became a little confusing, but as an excellent horse racing girl, Maruzenski still understood it.

Kitahara usually arranges barbell squats for Oguruma, which is a versatile way to exercise muscle groups.

By loading the barbell and squatting repeatedly with the body vertically up and down, the thigh muscles can be exercised to varying degrees, and it can also simultaneously exercise some of the arm and buttocks muscles.

According to Oguri, Kitahara believes that compared to "free weight squats", this training method is best combined with a "Smith machine" to fix the barbell, that is, to use "Smith machine squats" instead.

This allows you to confidently move your body's center of gravity backward during training without worrying about losing balance, while minimizing the negative stimulation to the muscle groups.

But at that time, I was still in Kasamatsu, and the academy’s facilities were not comprehensive. The population of Hashima County was not large, and there was no gym with comprehensive facilities.

So Kitahara could only arrange "free weight squats" at that time, and only when he came to Oi did he arrange a better training method.

But whether in Kasamatsu or for a long time afterwards, Kitahara set the upper limit of the weight that Oguruma could carry was 500kg.

A weight of half a ton is already the limit of human weightlifting, but for the talented horse girls, it is just a regular training weight.

The drag tire training commonly used in the industry often uses mining truck tires weighing several tons, with one tire being as big as a small truck.

But no matter how strong your physical fitness is, the body still has its limits.

What's more, Kitahara has calculated that with Oguruma's physique, if he wants to increase his strength, barbell squats with a weight of about half a ton will be the most suitable, and there is no need to increase the weight without special reasons.

The barbell that Oguruma was lifting when he was scolded had 10 neatly arranged barbell plates on both ends, with "100kg" clearly written on them.

She was lifting a one-ton barbell.

"…'Little Limao, why did you add so much weight?'"

The theory was vague, but Oguruma remembered her trainer's words clearly. She murmured:
"I remember he walked up to me with a frown on his face and told me very seriously that half a ton of weight would be enough for daily training."

"Then he said that I was already a little tired from the competition and needed to rest well. He also asked me what was going on."

“At that time, I seemed to still have a lot of my own ideas.”

"Or maybe I was too focused on training?"

"Anyway, I didn't notice Kitahara at first. I just kept repeating the number of squats. I didn't notice him until I finished 1000 squats with a ton of weight."

"Then he scolded me harshly."

"That should be how he looks when he's angry, because from what I remember, he never seems to be angry."

"At least I've never seen him lose his temper over anything."

"It seems that he becomes very aggressive only when I take it upon myself to train too much."

"But I'm not like that anymore, so why doesn't he come and teach me like you, Maruzen, during swimming practice?"

(End of this chapter)