The Gym
The next day arrived and my wife was up and dressed by 6:30am. She was already wearing her black pair of wind pants and blue long sleeved top. Unlike me, she filled her outfit out. It wasnt skin tight but there were places in the thigh area of her pants and in the biceps and forearms area of her sleeves that the material was being starched by the muscles underneath. I quickly got up and threw on my outfit. It was loose on me but I was hoping that fact would conceal how skinny I had become.
I walked into the kitchen to see Courtney consuming another huge meal. She was having what I would consider 2 to 3 servings of oat meal, a plate full of scrambled eggs and a huge protein shake. As I watched my wife consume the meal, it didnt seem to me like I was watching my wife, it seemed as though I was watching a machine fuel up for a day of taking names and kicking ass. However, instead of staring at C with awe while she ate, I decided to grab myself some breakfast. As I walked towards the fridge, I almost tripped over a large red cooler. It wasnt the Styrofoam or plastic picnic coolers were all used to, it was a red insulated fabric cooler with the soft feel to it, with a big black strap.
Initially, I tried to pick it up off the floor and place it on the counter. It felt like it was full of led though and I only got it a few inches off of the ground before I could lift it no more. Knowing that one arm wouldnt be enough, I grabbed the cooler strap with both arms and began to lift it to the counter surface. This time, I managed to get it about half way up before the weight just became too great for me to lift. Giving up, I simply lowered the cooler back to the floor. Amazed at its weight, I decided to have a look inside. I unzipped the top and lifted the flap. The cooler was full of ice, plastic containers, a couple of bottles of ABB energizer drinks and a gallon of water. I realized that Courtney had packed our meals and thought that was smart because I hadnt even thought of that.
Giving up on the cooler, I grabbed an apple and chomped it down. In that same amount of time, my wife finished off her meal and walked up to the sink. She placed her dished in the sink, gave me a quick peck on the lips and said, Lets go honey. With that, she began to walk towards the door to the garage. Babe, I said, You want to give me a hand with this cooler?
My wife looked back at me and had a questioning smile on her face. It was obvious that she either thought I was kidding and it was funny or; she realized I was serious and was embarrassingly smirking at how weak I had become. C began to walk back towards me and the cooler with that funny smirk. As she got to me, she reached down; picked the strap up and using a bit of effort flung the cooler up off the ground and over her shoulder. Now, believing I hadnt really tried to pick up the cooler, she said, Ha Ha, very funny hon, way to get me to carry everything. I laughed a bit to hide the fact that I really couldnt lift the cooler and said, Suckerrrrrrrrrrr.
I followed Courtney to the back of her car in the garage. She lifted the back hatch on her CRV and lowered the cooler off her shoulder and into the car. As she did, the biceps muscle in her right arm swelled in size immensely as it flexed and the fabric of her sleeve was bursting at the seams. As Courtney closed the hatch, she walked to the drivers door and got in. I was still in awe of what I had just witnessed and I peered down at my right arm. I flexed it as hard as I could only to notice there was absolutely no starching of my sleeve material. In fact, fully flexed, my arm didnt seem to grow in size at all. Still perplexed, I got in the car and we began our drive to the gym.
As we drove to the gym, Courtney had her right arm down by her side and steered with her left. Still trying to make since of the sleeve stretching incident in the garage, I moved my left arm next to her right arm. Looking down at our sleeves, unflexed, my wifes arm was still filling out the sleeve completely. My arm mass was not visible at all. I flexed it again and again only to notice that there was sill no sleeve movement.
Courtney was filling me in on what exercises we would be doing during our drive. She was speaking a bit of a foreign language to me, but I figured it would all make sense when we got there. She also wanted me to know that everyone at the gym took their training very serious and she wanted me to do the same. I assured her that I wouldnt embarrass her in front of her gym mates or be joking around to the point of disruption. I also noticed a change in my wife, as we got within a few blocks of the gym; she lost her smirky attitude and developed a very serious demeanor. This was her physical release and she was about to go to war with the weights. It was awesome to witness and I noticed the same change in myself when I was going to do a hard day of running.
We finally arrived at the Golds Gym and walked inside. Courtney checked us both in and we walked to a bank of lockers. As C fidgeted with the locker door, I turned to view the vastness of the gym. It had red and gold paint on everything and the Golds logo all over the walls. There were weight machines and mirrors everywhere and the clanking of weights was persistent and very loud. I became immediately intimidated and followed my wife to the cardio area like a lost puppy staying close for protection. C wanted to get in a five minute warm up before we hit the weights.
I immediately liked the cardio area because you just stared at the TVs and the loud sounds of clanking weights was drowned out by the music. C and I quickly finished up on the bikes though and headed back to the vastness of the weight area. There were other people present in the gym but it was pretty sparse because of the early morning hour and most folks had large oversized sweatshirts and sweatpants on.
The bench press area was vacant and chest was first on Courtneys list. We grabbed a bench and Courtney laid a towel down. She laid on the bench and pressed out 15 quick reps with just the 45lb. bar. C popped up and I took her position. She quickly told me where to hold the bar and I lifted it off the rack. I lowered it to my chest and all the way up three times quickly. By the fourth rep I began to feel a little heat in my triceps and chest. I figured that that was a good sign and continued to warm up. By the 10th rep, my arms were really feeling some heat and the originally light 45lb. bar began to feel heavy. I pushed out the last five reps but was immediately nervous as I felt way more heat and weight than I should have. I stood up from the bench and looked at my wife trying not to let her know about the burn.
C said, Ok hon, grab a 25. I grabbed one with my right arm and began to slide it off of the rack behind me. As I slid it off of the bar, it immediately slipped from my grip and fell to the floor. Luckily, the floor is rubber and it just kind of made a thud. C laughed but told me to be more careful. I grabbed the weight off of the floor but by the time I got it to my waist, the weight was again proving to be too much for my weak grip. Instinctively, I used my other arm too, and with both hands for support, I slid it on to the bench press bar. My wife quickly banged out 12 reps this time and placed the bar back on its rack.
I again switched places with Courtney and looked up at the bar. As I lifted it out over my chest, it felt immensely heavier than the last one and it swayed uncontrollably above me. To hide the fact that I was having trouble, I quickly lowered it to my chest. This seemed to stabilize me slightly and I raised it back up. Thinking the weight was of no significance, Courtney was busy grabbing something out of the cooler and was unaware of my struggles. I lowered the weight again and again. By the time I got to six reps, my arms were on fire and I had no strength left in my chest. I was stuck. An immediate panic overcame me as I could not allow my wife or anyone else to see me stuck with a 95 pound bar. Using every bit of strength I had left, I lowered the bar to my chest and then threw it up in a massive serge of energy. Luckily, I got it to the lowest rung on the rack and placed it there.
Just as I popped up from the bench, Courtney turned from the cooler and looked at the bar. Why did you leave it on the lowest rung silly? she said. I was trying to goof with you, I replied, thanks for spoiling it. Honey, remember what I said, take this seriously OK. She replied. I walked over, told her I would take it seriously and gave her a quick peck.
Helping with the next rack, I grabbed a 10lb. weight and placed it next to the 25 already on the bar. Courtney say the 10 and said, No babe, Im not that weak, lets jump it to a 45. No problem. I replied. Amazingly, Courtney slid the 25 off her side of the rack with one hand, and lifted a 45 over the edge of the bar with the other. I didnt want to seem weak so I slid the 25 off of my side with one hand as well. I tried to quickly turn with the weight and make it to the weight rack before it started to fall. Unfortunately, I couldnt make it and I had to use the other arm for support. I then grabbed a 45 from the lower rack. Using both hands and holding onto the top edge, I lifted it to the end of the bar. Unfortunately, my shoulder strength was weak and I missed on my first attempt to line the hole in the weight with the end of the bar. Shoulder strength gone, I had to lower the weight to the floor.
Courtney was on the bench looking at the bar and just about to lift it. Hold up. I said as I needed to still put the 45 on the bar. This time, I grabbed the 45 at the sides and lifted with my legs. This allowed me more strength and leverage and I got the weight on. Now ready, C lifted the weight off the rack and lowered it to her chest. She was going slowly, but very in control and she forced the bar up with a lot of strength. There was no wobble at all and I could tell this was not a problem weight for her. She banged out 10 reps and easily placed the bar back on the rack. Pretty awesome I thought. I had a wife who could bench 135. Not bad, not bad.
I then took my place on the bench. I looked up at the bar knowing it was my mortal enemy. Courtney asked if I needed a spot. I said, No, not with 45s hoping she would again get occupied with something else and I could fake my way through a few reps and make her think I did 8 or 10. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Courtney looked away towards the cardio area. I quickly lifted the bar off the rack and lowered it to my chest. The weight felt like a ton and I quickly tried to lift it up. My arms were frozen solid and I was only able to lift it a few inches before I was stuck. Courtney noticed my situation and said, Cmon babe, quit messing around. I didnt respond and gave another go at lifting the weight. Within a few seconds my face began to turn red from effort as I struggled with the weigh. Finally, my arm completely gave out and I rested the bar on my chest.
My wife, now confused said, Seriously honey, not even one rep? I just looked up at her as my last ounce of pride flew away and said, Nope C, not one. She then reached down, grabbed the bar with both hands and lifted it up and onto the rack. I sat there for a few seconds, totally dejected at my utter loss of strength. Finally, C broke the silence and said, dont worry about it hon, youve been running so much and trying to loose a lot of weight for that, you were bound to loose a little muscle too. I know, I replied, I just didnt think it would be soooo much. C then leaned in and whispered, Well, I love you anyway OK. And gave me a nice, fairly long, wet kiss on the lips.
After our brief moment Courtney said, Well, do you still want to work out? I said No, but Ill help you work out today. She seemed fine with that and said, Great! Grab a 25. I grabbed a 25 with both hands and placed it on the bar. C slid onto the bench and slowly and methodically banged out 8 reps.

retty good

retty Good I said. Courtney smirked and gave me a wink. This time, she didnt get off the bench. She just looked at me and said 10s. I quickly grabbed two 10s and put them on the bar. My wife lay down and lifted the weight into the air. This time, at 6 reps she began to have some difficulty. With a good amount of effort, she forced up 2 more reps. It took a few seconds but I realized Courtney had just lifted 205 pounds eight times!
Courtney got off the bench and said, nows the tough one babe..225! With that, she had me remove the 10s and 25s. In place of those, we added two 45s. After a brief rest and a few moments of quiet, my wife reached down around her waist and began removing her long sleeve shirt over her head. As she did, she faced away from me which exposed her huge back. It was thick with muscle and there seemed to be large muscles now connecting her back and arms, making her appear very wide. I couldnt believe my eyes and I became immediately aroused. C then removed the shirt over her head and tossed it on the cooler. She was wearing a blue sports bra and as she turned to face me, her arms were now bulging with pumped up muscle. They seemed huge in comparison to mine and my heart skipped a few beats just looking at them. My stomach became uneasy and I tried to speak but I think it came out as total blah. My wife kind of laughed and she walked up in front of me. Standing sideways to me with her huge shoulder and arm in my face she said, Feel it honey, its what Ive been working on for 2 plus years!
I slowly and fearfully reached my hand out to feel her now massive arms. As I did, we both noticed my hand was shaking badly. Undeterred, I finally grabbed her rock hard, huge arm. Just as I started to wrap my fingers around the front of her biceps, C flexed quickly. The sudden shock startled me and I screamed. Courtney again laughed and said, OK, play times over. Lets lift some weights. With that she slid under the now 225lb. bar and said, give me a spot.
In a bit of a daze, I stood in back of the bench to provide her a spot. Courtney lifted the 225 pounds off the rack and held it above her. Methodically, she lowered it down and lifted it up again. I stood ready to give a spot but as of yet it hadnt been necessary. Courtney again and again lifted the bar. Finally, on the 6th rep, my wifes gorgeously muscled chest and arms began to weaken. With my help, and her, grunting madly, she pumped out 2 more reps. We placed the bar back on the rack and Courtney popped up and clapped her hands loudly with joy. Whats that for? I said. 7 reps at 225! she said. Its m new record! I gave her a fist pump and said Alright! Youre awesome hon! We kissed quickly and she said, How bout 10 more?
I was still amazed by her mass and strength but at least I could talk now. After a minute we put another 10 on each side. Now at 245, my wife slid under the bar again. She pumped herself up, let out a few serious grunts and grabbed the bar. I helped her lift it to the start position and she went for it. Courtney quickly lowered the weight to her chest and with an explosive push, she raised it all the way up
NO SPOT!. She couldnt leave it at that and attempted another rep. It wasnt meant to be and I had to help her lift it to the rack. Even so, C stood up and clapped again. 245!!! she said with enthusiasm, Another new record!
I stepped over and gave Courtney a big hug. She was huge and solid and I felt like I was hugging a tree. With little effort, my wife leaned back and lifted me off the ground. She then spun around quickly not realizing my feet were off the ground. My legs kind of flung out wildly and I clipped the water fountain. It was made of aluminum so it made a huge drum sound when I hit it. Of course everyone looked over to see my wife swinging me wildly in the air. There were a couple laughs but I tried to ignore them and not worry about it.
Courtney put me down and took a small step back. She had a strange and questioning look on her face and I wasnt sure what she was thinking. She then said, Are you going to be OK with this hon, all this muscle? What do you mean? I said. Well, she replied. At first I was just firming up, and I knew you really liked that. Then I started to get fitness girl type muscle, and you said you really liked that. But now Im developing some bodybuilder size strength and muscle. Are you going to be OK with that? OK with that? I said, Honey, youre amazing and Im not only OK with it, I am overjoyed with it! Courtney walked up, gave me another huge hug and whispered, mmmmmmm, I just love you so much right now! And she gave me a quick lick and peck in the ear.
to be continued...