Chapter 3

Since we needed to train intensively, we started boarding at school this semester.

The dorm manager let us choose rooms. "There's still one on the 2nd floor and one on the 6th floor..."

"I want the 2nd floor!" Melody quickly rushed up to grab the key, then looked at me provocatively.

I shrugged and took the key to the 6th floor room.

In the days that followed, any chore involving stairs, such as delivering materials to the teachers, Melody found a way to push onto me with one excuse after another.

I knew exactly what she was doing.

We were weightlifters. Our training already placed enormous strain on our knees.

Melody wanted to pile on more damage by forcing me to climb stairs constantly.

Once they were shot, I'd be eliminated. Problem solved.

Melody bragged to her friend. "Maya's been climbing so many extra stairs these past few days, her knees must be toast!"

"Once she gets eliminated from the team, she'll have to marry that disgusting idiot!"

Her friend scratched her head. "But she seems to be training pretty well lately. The coach even praised her!"

Melody frowned. "That's impossible. Even normal people can't handle climbing that many stairs, let alone us weightlifters!"

She thought for a moment, suddenly understanding.

"I know! She must be pretending!"

"Maya is really good at pretending! Just wait a few more days, the effects will definitely show!"

Melody waited. She watched my snatch and clean-and-jerk weights climb, listened to the coach's growing praise, seethed as my name made the shortlist for the city team.

Finally, she cracked. Snatching up her phone, she vented to a friend training in another city.

"What is going on? Are Maya's knees made of iron? How come after all those stairs, there is no effect at all?"

Poor Melody. She never learned that with proper form, stair climbing is actually good for your knees.

With correct form, climbing stairs not only doesn't damage your knees, it can even improve cardiovascular function.

After climbing stairs for so long, even my long-distance running had become smoother.

Even when going down stairs, which does cause some knee strain, I would rest after every few floors to give my muscles time to recover.

Melody didn't like studying theory in her daily life. As an athlete, she knew less than a fitness instructor.

She was furiously tapping at her phone, oblivious to the banana peel on the ground. Her foot landed squarely on it, and down she went.

"Aaah-!"

I saw it all from upstairs and heard the continued screams. I shook my head

If you want to ruin your knees, falling while texting is far more effective than just climbing stairs.

After Melody's fall injury, she quieted down for a while.

Just a few days after she recovered, she was sneaking around again, up to some new scheme.

But I was busy training and had no time to worry about her.

I concentrated, gripped the barbell, took a deep breath, and lifted it in one go!

"You're amazing! You broke the record again!"

The team members cheered and exclaimed for me, but the coach frowned slightly.

"Maya, do that movement again."