The armwrestling tomboy
By Del
A true story about a muscular girl who ignited my interest in femuscle -- and a request


There was a girl in my neighborhood when I was growing up who was the
definition of power and athleticism. Jane was a broad-shouldered tomboy who
was always the strongest, toughest, fastest kid in the neighborhood compared
to anyone close to her age. This young powerhouse would even give us older
boys a run for our money.

Every summer there would be about 6 boys and 3 girls who regularly played
backyard sports together. Jane loved any athletic competition, especially
tackling games and wrestling. And she preferred to play with boys because the
neighborhood girls were just too weak and girly for her. With each passing
summer, her parents more and more strongly disapproved of her playing contact
sports with boys, explaining that boys were tougher, and that she would get
hurt. But Jane chose to listen to the lessons of her own body, and those of
the boys she played with. She knew that she was tougher than these boys. She
was usually the one to insist that we play tackle, not touch, football and
other games, and she was always the first to be picked for any team.

The other remarkable thing is that Jane always had these amazingly thick, hard
biceps. I loved the way they seemed to explode whenever she reached up to push
her hair behind her ears. She was undefeated at armwrestling by anyone her age
or younger and she especially enjoyed beating the boys. Armwrestling matches
were frequent and it was always an awe-inspiring sight when Jane would lock
hands with a boy, someone would say go, her thick biceps would pop up, and she
would just power (or slam) his arm down.

By age 14 or so, the boys her age started outgrowing Jane. One mid-summer
afternoon, Rick became first boy her age to start winning armwrestling matches
against her. He was on top of the world about it. Outwardly, it didn’t seem to
make much difference to Jane. Older boys had always managed to beat Jane, and
it seemed like she just shifted Rick into their category.

Perhaps to compensate for losing to Rick, Jane seemed to increase her
dominance over the boys who were a year or two younger. She relished showing
them who was boss at armwrestling and in tackle football. She would also
occasionally chase down one or another of the boys, wrestle him into a
schoolgirl pin, and tickle him until would gave in. And, struggle as they
might, the boys were no match for her strength and they always eventually had
to give in. Jane was never mean or vicious when she did this, and she never
hurt a kid or went out of her way to humiliate him.

It was such a thrill watching the way this teenage girl joyfully overpowered
boys, but some of us were troubled that Jane could no longer beat Rick. We
hated the thought of her losing to anyone, and it was made worse by Rick’s new
cockiness. We were sure that she could beat him again if she started working
out seriously, and we offered to join her. She was into it, and we had some
sessions where we were all doing exercises and lifting whatever we could find
in the garage. Unfortunately her family was very traditional about these
things. They forbade her working out and they increased the pressure on her to
behave like a "young lady."

A one sunny afternoon a summer or two after Jane’s first loss to Rick, the
neighborhood kids organized their first backyard armwrestling session of the
season. Jane’s first match was Debbie, who had grown taller than her and who
was looking quite athletic. In the match, though, Jane’s biceps swelled up
into that big hard mound, just like always, and she quickly forced the bigger
girl’s arm down. Rick’s younger brother Mark won against another boy, and he
was paired with Jane. Mark had also grown taller than Jane, but she was
accustomed to dominating this younger boy effortlessly, and her easy victory
against Debbie reinforced her confidence that Mark would not be much of a
challenge.

As she took her place across the table from Mark, she smiled confidently. She
brushed her hair behind her ears, displaying those unbeatable arms, and
reminded Mark that he didn’t have a chance. Then they locked their right
hands, the match started and that thick biceps of hers popped up, looking
bigger than ever. But this time she couldn't power his arm down. They
struggled evenly for awhile as Jane concentrated harder and redoubled her
effort, but slowly Mark gained the advantage took her arm down.

Jane was stunned at this defeat by a younger kid, especially a boy who had
never even seemed like a serious challenge. It was clear that Mark was as
surprised as she was. Just to be sure that it wasn’t a fluke, they armwrestled
left-handed too, and he beat her again. Still, neither of them, and none of
the rest of us, could really believe at first that their positions had been so
dramatically reversed over the winter.

As the defeat sank in, it seemed to shake Jane’s whole identity as a tomboy
and tough kid. Her parents and big brother had been pounding her for so long
with the admonition that girls are naturally weak and delicate, and it seemed
that after this loss she became demoralized and started believing them. She
lost interest in neighborhood sports, and she wouldn't even armwrestle Allan,
who was 3 years younger than her and who she could still have easily beaten.
When we asked why she didn’t want to play anymore, she would say something
about how boys are too tough for girls. In only 2-3 years Jane’s attitude had
gone from tough, confident and dominant, to that of a submissive "young lady."
She more or less totally gave up on anything athletic, even if it involved
only girls.

Many of us were saddened to see her defeat at armwrestling and its after
effects. We hoped we would see those arms in action again, and we wondered
what would have happened to her athletic career (and self-confidence) if her
family had been more open to her training and competing. She surely would have
regained her advantage over Mark by the fall, and she would have rebuilt her
confidence. Perhaps, she could have gone on to more victories in mixed and
women’s competitions. Sadly, it was not to be, but years later I still have
fond memories of Jane’s big biceps and her heydays as neighborhood powerhouse.

Does anyone have a similar true story of the shock that happens when a
muscular teenage girl is first overpowered by a younger boy that she used to
dominate easily? Stories like this must be common. Unfortunately Jane’s story
is at the depressing end of the spectrum, but there must be cases where the
defeat galvanizes the girl into action, she trains like never before, and
climbs back to the top of the heap. Please share.