A hell of a week (Maku Jemuzu trainings)

Stamina Training
Maku awoke to begin his daily training.  Today he was going to test the limits of his endurance.  By going into the jungle he was going to push his body to its limits.  He started off by physically exerting himself through any means he could find.  This was a simple task from lifting rocks and running with them to just running through the woods. The point wasn’t to gain strength or speed but simply to force himself to be tired.  Only when he became exhausted was he satisfied that his training could begin. 



Once he was good and tired he started pushing himself harder.  Finding heavier rocks and running harder.  It wasn’t easy by any means and he could barely even lift his arms by the end.  But by doing this he could feel his body starting to want to give out.  The voice in the back of his head was telling him that it was ok to give up and forget about this training.  To go back to his genjutsu training and work on chakra. 



Ignoring his own mind though Maku pushed on.  Not resting or taking a break he ate while he ran.  It hadn’t been since the academy that his muscles ached this much.  He had spent so much time on his chakra that he had forgotten what his physical body could do, or rather not do.  For a moment he considered swimming, as that is one of the best endurance exercises, however the fear of drowning kept him on land.  Eventually Maku felt himself collapse.  He was so tired that he couldn’t even lift himself up though he tried for a long time.  Maku even felt his transformation jutsu was starting to slip.  Focusing he made the jutsu hold though, this was part of the endurance training after all.  Once his physical body had given up, he needed to mentally stay focused.  Holding it for as long as he could he finally succumbed to some sleep.  Waking up he packed his things and headed home.  He ached the whole way and not stopping for a rest until he was home could be seen as part of the training.  Arriving home, he felt some of the soreness ebb away.  His endurance was already getting better, Maku laid in bed, “Damn, I really gotta start working out” He said out loud as he rolled out of bed and did 10 more pushups just for good measure.  Having done that, he fell asleep letting his body recover. 
 
Speed Training
Training was not one of Maku’s favorite activities.  Chakra training was bad enough, but physical training was the worst.  And that was all that was on today’s agenda.  Walking to the academy, Maku began running around the track.  He needed to build up his speed as he was about as slow as molasses.  Alternating between running slowly and sprinting Maku kept this up for about a mile.  He then practiced wind sprints for several laps.  This kind of sprinting was useful in building up his fast twitch muscles, and getting his speed up.  To be a competitive ninja, this was his weakest area.  



After he had done several wind sprints and rested, Maku began doing 400 meter sprints around the track.  For everyone he did in a certain time he would deduct one form the total he needed to do.  However when he was to slow he would add one.  It was because of this the training went on for some time.  Not being able to constantly keep his speed up prolonged the exercise.  Eventually the number had been met and he allowed himself to stop. 



His next exercise was to develop his manual dexterity, and hand speed.  By attempting to perform all the hand signs quickly he worked on his finger speed.  This was rather difficult as for many of the attempts, he messed up signs, and had he been trying to perform jutsu who knows what might of happened.  Eventually he felt himself get a little but faster.  Because of this he began practicing making the tiger sign In a quick draw style, to see how fast he could body flicker.  This being an easy technique as it only needed the one sign.  After having done it a few times, Maku allowed himself to upgrade to the hiding like a mole technique.  This jutsu only required two hand signs, so it was only slightly harder.  It went well however and he was able to develop the technique well. 



Maku had had a mental block with earth release techniques, but lately they had finally clicked, and his first real earth technique was very useful.  It allowed him to hide effectively.  Practicing these two hand signs over and over, he built up his hand speed.  After his hand grew weary Maku would return to his sprints, and as his legs grew weak, he’d move on to his hand signs.  This kind of training was slightly tedious; however it was getting the job done.  Maku had brought a book detailing many different running workouts and would use them as he went.  From pyramids to build up sprinting distance, to the oddly named fartlek, where he changed his speed up.  Both of these would be useful to a ninja.

His trainings went well, though he was embarrassed when some of the students came out to work out.  The embarrassment came when Maku realized that some of these tiny students where faster than he was.  More than a little ashamed, he decided to rest until they had returned to their studies in the class room.  Once that was out of the way it was business as usual.  Maku did notice a chunin out working out as well.  Approaching the older ninja Maku asked if he would help him train “Sir I am performing speed exercises, and I was wondering if I could get any help?” Maku asked politely.  The chunin apologies and sets off to help him train. 



This included racing each other, and when they got to the finish line they had to perform rapid succession of hand signs.  This kind of agility training was just WHAT Maku had wanted and with another person it seemed to make the time go by faster.  Indeed, so many hand signs had been performed so quickly that Maku could feel his fingers cramping.  After the chunin left, Maku took a nap in the sun, replenishing some of his much needed energy.

After awakening, Maku spied a dog wandering around the field.  He suddenly had an idea.  Using his genjutsu he created illusionary chains to poke the dog until it got angry and ran at him trying to bite him.  By having a real creature to run from he felt himself running faster than he normally would.  He even used this opportunity to stand still, and let the dog get close before using hand signs to escape.  Eventually the dog tired and left him alone, which a heavy breathing and sweaty Maku was grateful for.  It hadn’t occurred to him how he was going to get the dog to stop chasing him.

Sprinting home was the last detail of the training.  Hopefully these kinds of exercises would help a lot in combat.  Maku had yet to really spar with another ninja at an equal rank to himself.  Perhaps because of this Maku doubted his skills slightly and knew that his low speed was a hindrance, but with all that sprinting and signing, today had been a step forward in the right direction.


Strength Training

Maku lay in bed with the covers over his head.  This wasn’t going to be a good day.  Lifting weights and training strength was one of his least favorite things to do.  He thought of himself as a genjutsu kind of guy, not wanting to get up close and personal with people. Finally forcing himself out of bed, Maku headed out.  Walking towards the gym where he would inevitably lift boring weights for hours.  And this was exactly what he did for an hour.  The monotony of the whole thing was ridiculous.  Up, down, up, down.  It was enough to drive him insane.  Maku prided himself on being imaginative, and witty, but weight lifting was the opposite of these things.  He did however conform and put himself through the rigors of the training.  His biceps burned, and his triceps felt as though they’d tear, but on and on he went.
During this time he reflected on how he had been so lazy as an academy student, and now this past week had been hell on earth with training after training.  Moving on to squats, Maku felt himself fall under the weight of the bar.  Embarrassing, He thought to himself as he adjusted the weight to a lower setting.  Counting with the workout he just wished there was a better way.  Skipping out early, Maku just couldn’t stand it anymore.  It was so boring he just couldn’t do it anymore.

Walking past a dojo, He noticed that people where inside wrestling.  “Well this might be a bit more fun.” Maku said as he walked inside.  There were several individuals, and they were all wrestling.  Some where even doing a sumo wrestling contest.  Challengin several people to matches for fun, Maku saw how weak he was.  Not using any of his tricks made it hard to win any matches and he was overpowered continuously.  However He knew that he was getting his workout, and each defeat only led to a victory in the future.  14 individuals did Maku face, and only once did he win.  Even then he was kind of worried he only one because his opponent slipped on the mat.  However he had made many friends, and promised to return for more training later. 

Maku had decided maybe strength training could be fun.  Because of this he headed to the local tavern.  It was there that thanks to alcohol he was able to whip the tavern into the mood for a good old fashioned arm wrestling tournament.  Maku was of course out in the first round.  However some of the other losers were still willing to let him try his luck.  This was fun, though Maku wasn’t sure why.  The laughing and joking where contagious.  Though his arm felt as if it was on fire, he still found himself having a good time with everyone.  Once the hour was late, Maku went home for some rest.  He had promised himself that tomorrow he would return to the wrestling dojo, and try to improve his record.

The wrestling went only slightly better the next day.  By the end he was 2 and 12.  Which led his total record to be 3 out of 26, which the other patrons informed him was the worst record on file.  Though an embarrassing affair, his training was much more enjoyable with these folks.  He even didn’t mind all the weight lifting now that he had partners.  Maku had defiantly changed and even could see himself being ok with strength training if they went like this. 

After the dojo closed, Maku returned home.  His next kind of strength training was of a different sort.  He would use his chakra control to push and pull against his own muscles.  This would cause them to flex and remain tight for extended periods of time.  Through this way he was able to gain strength by seemingly sitting still.  He had to be careful though; if he pushed too hard he could rip right through his own skin and cause serious injury.  This was probably even harder than the physical stuff he’d been doing the past two days.  Because not only could he feel his muscles burning and hurting, his mind was getting tired by focusing chakra levels up and down on a constant basis.  This continued until he finally was exhausted both physically and mentally.  Though he had pushed himself a little too far he feared.  It wasn’t for 18 hours that he awoke again, ravenously hungry and weak.  After bandaging several cuts where his chakra had been to strong he got himself something to eat, and continued to relax.  It would be another day before he was up to training again, though he knew that this was a viable training method for the future, and it was guaranteed to be put to good use. 
 
(strength training = Word Count = 806, 4 stat points towards strength)
(speed training = Word Count = 836 towards 4 Speed stat points)
(stamina = Word Count = 418, so 2 stamina stat points)
(Total word count of 2060)

Cool, glad you separated the trainings (and by days too) - approving all.