After a while, Lenny pointed at one of the kids that seemed the bulkiest at this tournament. Leo was impressed to say the least. To build up this mass of muscles at such a young age must have been difficult. Obviously, his genes had to be topnotch as well but that wouldn't take away from his accomplishments.
There was also the concern of usable muscles. If that fighter just trained in the gym to bulk up it won't be much of use in combat situations.
The problem is not the muscles themselves. The problem is the order and the way in which the muscles coordinate with each other. A punch for example is a full body movement. The ideal punch is thrown by pivoting the legs, twisting the hips, and punching the force through the shoulder and then through the arm.
In comparison, a traditional bench press is executed by lying on a bench, with the core rigid to push a heavy weight upwards. The used muscles are only pecs, shoulders, and triceps. There is only the arm movement, while the stiffness of the body is absolutely necessary to prevent injuries.
It is true that one can better isolate the muscles and therefore better build that muscle, but the strength acquired through that won't be easily transferred to other movements.
The problem here is the neural maps acquired through the repetition of the movement. A bodybuilders or powerlifter's way of generating their power is by pushing something straight forward from their body.
In front of a punch bag, they would do the same thing. They would punch from the torso rigid instead of using the whole body by pivoting and twisting.
Therefore, if he had built up massive and strong pecs by only doing bench presses, he wouldn't be able to use that strength standing upwards as his core is too weak and the muscles are too uncoordinated to do the movement.
The same has been found out by swimmers, who were in fact worse in vertical jumps than the untrained population because they built different muscles to swim, and their neural maps had registered a different way of generating power through the legs.
So, the correct way of building muscles while being beneficial for the sport one trains in would be to use the correct resistance training. To use weight training that closely mimics the movements of that sport.
Specifically, weight training that won't slow down the movement would be ideal. In Leo's past it was up to 75 percent of the body weight. With that weight the body can be trained in an explosive manner while encouraging greater recruitment of the fibers in a muscle for strength, muscle damage so it can heal up stronger and mechanical tension.
Anyway, the fighter seemed a bit slower than most but considering the way he threw his opponents through the air seemed to indicate that he trained combat orientated strength but that wasn't something that made him too special.
The thing that made him stand out was his blocking skills and his resilience. It seemed like he could just eat most of the attacks his opponent threw at him. The opponent of the bulky fighter was decently skilled.
He would have made it far, Leo thought as he watched the rapid kicks he sent out. His transitions were fluid and fast. The fight seemed one sided until the bulky fighter tackled his opponent before pinning him to the ground.
After pinning him to the ground he started hailing down punches. His opponent tried to turn the situation around, but it seemed like he wasn't that proficient with groundwork. In fact, he had barely reacted before he was beaten up.
The bulky fighter, whose name was Theo, seemed unscathed. He didn't look like somebody that was used as a punching bag for almost the entirety of the fight.
His opponent on the other hand seemed injured all over his body. His school sat a few meters away, so Leo was able to see the condition he was in. Obviously, his face was the worst as he took some heavy hits face on at the end, but his shins, hands, elbows, and knees had all turned blue and bloody as well.
It was like he had been throwing hands with a brick wall. Leo could remember that Lenny had mentioned him in his introduction and even now Lenny seemed adamant about analyzing this Theo guy, but Leo's next fight was announced.
Leo soon entered the ring with the referee and his opponent waiting for him. His opponent this time was dressed in a Chinese getup. Leo didn't know how it was called and he wasn't bothered to look it up.
He didn't know why but Leo imagined his opponent to be arrogant and wanting to slap his face. A slap in the face would hardly be effective, though. Maybe if he used palm strikes it would make more sense.
Leo himself preferred to use palm strikes or vertical punches in a street fight, in bareknuckle in general as he wouldn't injure his fists as easily.
He quickly let those thoughts go as he concentrated on the incoming fight. After gloves touching the fight started quickly and Leo quickly recognized that his opponent opted for speed. Leo quickly adapted to his opponent strikes. He slipped and rolled under his opponent's punches.
Leaned away from head kicks and raised his shin to meet any kicks aimed at his midsection. Leo had been on the defensive for the entirety of the round.
The next few rounds followed the same pattern and Leo's opponent was getting exhausted. He had realized that Leo seemed to play with him, and it angered him greatly, prompting him to use more power to hopefully knock Leo out.
Leo's opponent was tired and took a short rest to steady his breath only to be met by Leo's roundhouse kick to the ribs.
The kick came so unexpected that it almost knocked him out. He fell on his knees and held his side in pain before getting knocked out by a fist.
Leo again won with ease. Although, his opponents couldn't be called weak or unskilled, Leo still felt disappointed. He hyped himself up and became nervous because of this tournament only to win with leisure.
He certainly didn't imagine his fights like this, but it was still early. There were 5 fights left and it would only get more difficult from here on.
Leo regained his excitement with that thought. They waited for Shunlei's and Lenny's fight, which they won with ease as well, until they drove back home. It wasn't that far, so they wouldn't need to find a place to sleep.
Rosy was especially animated as she retold her brothers fight and apparently Leo could level entire buildings with one punch.
Leo couldn't resist and pinched her cheek which she didn't take kindly. After arriving back home Leo got ready for bed and thought about Theo and the other fighters that seemed formidable. No homo. Obviously, Leo had realized how Lenny had focused on Theo, so he figured that maybe one of Theo's people targeted him.
Honestly, Leo didn't think much about Theo other than being a brute which was a judgment he came to due to his appearance. It was a bit unfair to Theo as Leo himself was built strong in his past and he wouldn't have described himself as a brute.
If Leo won the next fight, he would clash with Theo anyway. He had already seen Theo's battle style and imagined to just clash with him. A slugfest in which he would focus only on raw strength rather than speed, angles, and timing.
However, he will probably choose the same approach that he used for today's matches. Cautiously and calmly wait for an opportunity and then strike heavy to one or two shot his opponent.
He then went through some scenarios against the first opponent he would fight against the next day. Leo wasn't too anxious anymore. In fact, he was excited and couldn't wait to fight more.
Leo could only compare his current strength with his past if there was a real danger of heavy injuries or even death. It didn't matter how good he was in theory or in training if he couldn't convert it if he really needed it.
Obviously, he had an inkling of his current strength, but he wouldn't count sparring as combat experience. So, it wasn't until this tournament that he realized how fluid he had become in actual combat. His body control was already greater than it has ever been.
But still he knew that his past life's fights weren't for naught. He had a healthy amount of nervousness and he didn't pull his punches. Finally, after only being able to imagine his goal, he could now see it.
His path to his goal became even clearer to him now. He knew what to improve on and what to learn to become even better. He confirmed a few things in this one day and was able to discard some ideas.
The future was looking bright, and this tournament would be his first steppingstone to become the greatest. He will make sure he will succeed.
With happy thoughts and a determined mind, he finally drifted to sleep.
Like the day before, he woke up early and drove with his family to the tournament's avenue. As usual they occupied a section of the tribune, dropped their belongings there and Leo started to warm up. He would have the first fight for the day.
He quickly went to his ring and waited for his opponent. Many eyes were on him as it was one of the first matches and the attention of the people was still at a high. He coincidentally saw that Theo was watching his match as well.
It seemed like Theo was getting ahead of himself. Theo's mind was already on his second opponent.
It took some time until his opponent arrived.
Leo was surprised when he saw a beautiful girl with silver hair done in a bun entering the ring. Leo could only think of one thing at that moment. 'Is this some kind of anime or did she dye her hair? And why am I fighting a girl? I should have read the name of my opponent!'
Leo looked at the referee, who saw his confusion. The referee only nodded to him indicating that this girl was indeed his opponent.
It was a bit weird. Although, there was only the age division for the fighters as weight at their age was a bit much to regulate, girls and boys were usually still divided into their respective group.
Obviously, there were some exceptions to that rule, younger people could fight in the older division and there were group fights in which gender wasn't a participation criterium but those were for the adult division.
Additionally, if asked a girl could compete with the boys or the other way around. At their early age, the groups weren't as strictly divided as they would be in the professional league.
It also didn't help that she seemed to be Leo's age, so either 8 or a bit older 9. Frankly, it was impressive that she had advanced this far. Not only was she younger than the other fighters by at least 2 years but she also fought against the boys instead. Even Shunlei had opted for the girl's division, well she chose the girls division because of other reasons...
Unusual, it was but it wouldn't change anything for Leo.
He just concentrated on the upcoming fight as he went through the motion. As they were touching gloves, the girl said something, but Leo didn't register anything coming out of her mouth.
"-ay for me to lose!" Leo had finally brought himself to his peak state. His mind now sharp and his body battle-ready.
The girl seemed to have realized that Leo had ignored her and gave him a death-glare. Leo was unperturbed.