Calves and Other Things
By Cris Leyven
My exposure to physically powerful women through my life.


INTRODUCTION
     When describing my former neighbor, Mrs. Sanders, I 
probably used up every description of how beautiful a woman 
is when her physique is graced with an athletic form.  Now I 
can easily say the muscles on a woman are high fashion, but 
that wasn't the case 15 or 20 years ago.  Certainly having a 
scantily clad muscular neighbor lady to (I'm still 
embarrassed to say) spy on every day was a turning point in 
how I saw women.  There were, however, hints to me along the 
way that an athletic woman was what I found attractive.   
Every time, from my youngest days, that I noticed the bulge 
of the checkout girl's biceps muscle lifting the dog food 
bag, looking for a price; or a solidly flexed calve rising 
above a high heeled pump as a woman walked down the city 
street, I'd think "WOW!!".  
     Then society would intervene and I thought I must be 
some kind of freak for checking out some 
woman's......muscles!  "How twisted is that?" I wondered.  
Slowly but surely it surfaced, little by little, until one 
day I found myself gawking at the rippling physique of the 
neighbor lady who, society be damned, was not at all ashamed 
of her powerful body.  Her seemingly unshakeable confidence 
about displaying such feminine muscularity lent credit to 
what I had known all along, but had been afraid to admit to 
myself...that muscular women were VERY sexy.  When the 
neighborhood women saw the reactions of their sons and 
husbands whenever that body flexed nearby, Cynthia was 
ultimately the winner.  Easily stronger than any of the women 
and most of the men, yet sexy enough to cause nothing less 
than an uproar as every man could not help but stare at her.  
I think it forced everyone to rethink their idea of how they 
saw women.  And for me, I was no longer ashamed to find 
myself admiring and desiring strong, athletic women.

PLAYBOY (about 1975)
I do remember the first time I noticed muscles on a woman, 
though.  I was about seven, and it was around the mid 1970's.  
I was walking downtown during a forced shopping outing with 
my mom.  We were in front of a newsstand while my mom paused 
read the headlines of the paper.  Right in front of me was 
the cover of "Playboy".  Two woman in blue bikinis and blue 
pumps were hanging on to a giant inflatable rabbit head.  One 
of the women had her foot pointed, flexed, and raised behind 
her.  The model's calve slyly bulged along the back of her 
shin, the line of its definition running from her ankle up to 
her knee.   Her calves were not big, but boy did they bulge 
out!  This was the first time I had seen such a display of 
feminine muscle on a magazine.  Right there...on a big name 
magazine, was a woman with muscles!  Later when I was at home 
I stood in front of the mirror in my room trying to flex my 
skinny little calves without result.  The Playboy model's 
calves were probably bigger than my teeny little boy thighs!!  
This excited me so much that I wanted to own that picture 
more than anything!  How on earth would a seven year old get 
a copy of Playboy?  Impossible!  So every time I passed a 
newsstand, I'd look for an excuse to pause and sneak a glance 
at that awesome, flexed calve!  I mourned the day that the 
next issue came out.

MY FIRST BICEPS
A bit later, I was at a wedding.  It was one of those big 
ethnic weddings for a some relative I can't even remember.  
Maybe I was ten.  There was one girl there who was the only 
one close to my age, like a third cousin who was hanging out 
with a boy who was her age...another cousin.  They were about 
15 or 16, and readily adopted me to carry out their pranks, 
as I was quite a bit bolder than they were.  When we got 
bored, the boy said to the girl, "I think I can beat you this 
time."  Beat her in what, I wondered.  Apparently the two had 
an ongoing arm wrestling match, and the girl always won!  
Both were fairly slender youths, and the boy, I remember, 
looked pretty formidable for his age.  The two sat down at a 
table and began to roll up sleeves and get ready.  I swear 
the girl's biceps were just beyond belief!  I played referee, 
and said "Go!"  They rose to big lumps on her arms when the 
match began, and the girl disposed of her opponent easily.  I 
was in love!!  Then she said, "Come here Cristoph, and try to 
beat me".  She must have seen the disbelief on my face.  I 
had never held a girl's hand before, much less one that was 
connected to muscles like those!  So I gave it a go, and 
pushed with all my might while she sat across from me 
giggling, her muscles bulging defiantly.  I finally took both 
arms and was barely able to bring her one arm down, and then 
only because she was laughing at me so much.  The other boy 
said something like "She can beat every boy in her class with 
her right arm.....and she's left handed even!"  I guess that 
was supposed to make me feel a little better about being 
bested by a girl.  What concerned me at the moment was how I 
could talk her into letting me touch those bulges without 
giving away how much they excited me.  I didn't dare!

MISS AMERICA PAGEANT (1977)
A little later, well, I think it was 1977, so maybe it 
wasn't.  By some miracle I was alone in the house on the 
night of the Miss America Pageant.  Of course this was, at 
the time, the most widely broadcast display of women in 
bathing suits to hit the screen, parading one after the other 
in front of a boy's wide eyes.  I remember a few of the girls 
in my class talking about the predicted winner the day 
before.  "Apparently, there's some fella who puts all of 
those women into some computer, and comes up with a winner."  
said one girl.  "He's been right nine times out of ten." she 
continued.  "Well I heard the computer picked Miss Texas to 
win this time, but I read in the newspaper that she lifts 
weights."  Another girl chimed in, " I'll bet he didn't put 
that she was a weight lifter in his computer.  I doubt Miss 
Texas will win just for that."  "Yeah, how gross."  the first 
girl sneered.  I heard only one thing. Wow!  A woman who 
lifts weights!  This was indeed a new concept.  I knew my 
parents were going out the night of the pageant, and my 
sister was over at her friend's.  I could hardly wait.  That 
night I suffered through all of the usual stuff, and Miss 
Texas was chosen as a finalist.  Then came the talent 
competition, and WOW!!  Miss Texas was a striking tall 
blonde, and her talent was gymnastics!  I could not believe 
my eyes when she came out in her one piece gymnastics outfit 
and began her routine.  She was obviously in awesome shape, 
and very strong, especially her legs.  Her body flexed hard 
during her finale...a split on top of two large cubes she 
used as props.  I was over all too soon, and I waited with 
great anticipation to see her in the swimsuit competition.  
MY GOODNESS!!  Compared to the others, Miss Texas just had 
the most solid strong legs I had ever seen!  Enhanced by her 
high heels, Miss Texas' thighs and calves flexed as she 
elegantly cruised the runway.  Even her shoulders and arms 
had hints of muscularity.  Were the judges seeing this 
incredible body?  I hoped she would win, and women everywhere 
would try to imitate her.  I PRAYED for this!  Of course she 
didn't win, I don't remember what place she came in, but I'll 
never forget the first day I ever saw an athletic woman on 
TV.


THE NEIGHBOR LADY (1981)
Mrs. Sander was my neighbor for many years.  Her's is a story 
unto itself, and can be found elsewhere.

  
HIGH SCHOOL (~1983)
There was Cynthia (Sanders).  An older woman who was not shy, 
very muscular, and aware of her endowments.  I then began to 
notice quite a few other women and girls who had muscles.  
Those Twiggy type "babes" who held a position the typical 
High School popular crowd no longer fascinated me the way 
they once did.  After Mrs. Sanders, it the toned sprinter 
girl on the track team, who was obviously embarrassed of her 
developing leg muscles, that held my attention.  Or some of 
the other girl athletes in my school.  There were two girls 
who I remember vividly.  Jane and Angela.   Jane had the 
distinction of being sort of a brainy type, but who had the 
best calves (besides Cynthia) that I would see for years.  
She had a perfect tan, and occasionally wore a skirt with 
those Candies slip on pumps.  I never heard a word the 
teacher said on those days, since Jane's powerful calves were 
permanently flexed.  Layers upon layers of muscle stacked and 
bulging, I thought of, or looked at, nothing else the entire 
class.  Once during theater class, I was bold enough to sit 
next to her.  I think she knew I liked her legs.  During the 
class she had slipped out of her high heels to give her feet 
a break.  Then at the end of class, the lights in the 
auditorium came up.  Jane flipped one side of her slit skirt 
off of her leg, grabbed a Candies pump, leaned back, lifted 
her leg up high, flexed her calve and slipped the shoe on 
less than a foot from my not so secretive stare.  She then 
did a repeat performance with the other leg, and without 
looking at me, got up and went to her next class.  I almost 
fainted!  After a feeble recovery, I walked to my next 
class.... books in front!
     Angela on the other hand was a total jock, but still 
VERY feminine.  She was naturally dark with the type of tan 
that only people with that complexion can get.  I was in 
German class with her, even though she was a year behind me.  
One day our teacher, who also happened to be one of the 
cheerleading coaches (Angela also ran track, played 
basketball, and I'm sure I've left some out!) was commenting 
on her big biceps.  Some of us goaded Angela into making a 
muscle, and WOW was it a muscle!  The WHOLE GERMAN CLASS just 
gawked and Oooohed when she did it!!  My whole body went numb 
at the sight of her powerful arm.  She quickly put her guns 
away when she saw the reaction they produced.  She was 
visibly embarrassed when one of the boys said, "Gee, Angela 
could probably kick my butt."  Her legs were just as amazing, 
and one day she wore a brown floral print (yes I even 
remember that) dress slit to her upper thigh with black 
pumps.  She proceeded to sit down next to me, cross her legs, 
and start bouncing them.  The skirt had fallen to the side, 
and those darkly tanned, smooth, muscular legs were very 
exposed.  I put my head down on my desk and into my arms,  
pretending to sleep.  I was really looking at Angela's legs 
through a space between my elbow and the desk...yeah, I'm 
sure you guys know that old trick.  It was almost more than I 
could stand...an entire hour of Angela's muscle shaped legs, 
crossing, uncrossing, stretching, flexing and bouncing.  When 
the bell rang, I scurried to my next period class....books in 
front!  It's about 15 years later, and I still get weak when 
I think about the whole thing.


MY FIRST FEMALE BODY BUILDING CONTEST (1986?)
I can't remember what contest it was or even exactly what 
year it was.  I do remember being over at a family gathering 
at my folk's friends house.  I got bored with no one there my 
age and started flipping through the channels, and stopped 
dead at ESPN.  On stage was the most muscular woman in the 
smallest bikini I had ever seen.....posing, flexing, showing 
off her oiled bumpy, body!  Someone else came into the room, 
and I quickly changed the channel.  I was trembling with 
excitement!  A contest where muscular women compete against 
each other...to see had the best , most muscular body!!!  In 
my most incredible dreams, I could not have come up with a 
better idea.  As if an amazon goddess was smiling on me, my 
folks announced that we were leaving about 10 minutes later.  
Once at home, I dashed upstairs to our fairly private TV 
room, shoved a tape in the VCR, and recorded the rest of the 
contest.  I was at the end of the middle weight class, and 
the heavy weight class came on.....oh my goodness!!  There 
was a beautiful ex-cheerleader named Tara Dodaine (forgive my 
spelling of the names) flexing around to Stay Cat Strut, or 
Jackie Paisley moon walking across stage, her perfect glutes 
erupting out the sides of her teeny bikini.  Then there was 
the very dark Mishea Santos who would point her toes, shake 
the impossibly large, unflexed mass of muscle on her thigh 
back and forth, then BAM! her thighs would flex hard.  She 
held her leg like that for a few seconds, and then flexed an 
relaxed her thighs to Duran Duran.  I simply could not 
believe my eyes!  It was then that I knew what I was missing, 
how much the level of female muscularity had progressed.  It 
had exceeded my wildest dreams!

COLLEGE (1987)
I went to a large state school in the south.  I decided to 
stay in my home state of Georgia since the rates were 
cheaper.  From my first day on campus I thought I was in 
heaven.  Those tight, teeny little nylon "dolfin" shorts were 
in vogue, showing off girls legs.  An award should be given 
to the person who designed dolfin shorts.  Female swimmers, 
gymnasts, track athletes....many the best in the county, all 
strut around campus showing off their pumped bodies and 
shapely legs.   I was athletic too, but that is beside the 
point.  I never paid attention in my first two years of 
classes, and without the help of my Fraternity brothers, I 
would have never passed!  It wasn't until the women thinned 
out in Engineering that I actually could paid attention in my 
classes.  I remember vividly many of the girls who just 
stunned me.
-Buns of steel:  I was studying Chemistry at the dorm pool 
with my pals, and in walks this girl in a red bikini, throws 
a towel down next to her girlfriends, and lies on her back in 
profile to us.  She had a beautiful tan...nearly all the 
girls at this school did!  Her body was obviously athletic, 
and when she lay on her back, her glutes refused to flatten 
out.  It was almost unreal, so much that when I got back to 
my room, I laid down on my back and looked in a mirror to see 
what would happen to my butt.  It just flattened out like a 
pancake until I flexed with all my strength, then they 
started to show some of the tightness that girl had at the 
pool.  I could not imagine how hard her glutes were when she 
actually flexed them!!!
-Thighs of steel:  I was sitting on a bench outside one of my 
classes. As I look up, a girl with dark hair is walking 
towards me, wearing the smallest pair of white running shorts 
and sporting the obligatory perfect tan.  Each time she 
stepped, her thighs just sprang to life, I must have been in 
some sort of trance as she walked by.  Her legs were just so 
muscular, I guessed she had to be on the track team.  I 
managed to look up, and she was just looking at me, grinning 
from ear to ear, as if to say, "Yeah, I know I have great 
legs little boy".
-Cinderblock calves:  I was really into cycling and racing 
road bikes.  Maybe it was the imprint of Mrs. Sanders 
muscular legs that made me get into a sport that developed 
legs.  Outside the bike shop one day,  I was talking to a 
girl I had just met.  Suddenly we both stopped in mid 
conversation, and a girl with the most incredible calves both 
of us had ever seen walked by.  We both just gawked until she 
was about 15 feet away.  I swear her calves were like 
cinderblocks...just so large and powerful.  Me and my friend 
just looked at each other and said in unison "Great calves!".  
The girl hear us, turned around, and smiled.
-Muscles in the gym:  I actually started lifting weights 
rather late for a college frat guy.  It was kind of 
embarrassing actually.  Me and one of the other guys from the 
frat would go lift in the college gym every evening.  One 
evening a beautiful girl walked in, and I thought I was 
seeing things!  In contrast to the other girls, she was not 
tanned at all.  Her long, light brown hair was in a pony 
tail, and she had some of the bluest eyes I had ever seen.  
Her body was like it was sculpted from stone!  She was the 
first woman I had ever seen in person that was more muscular 
then Mrs. Sanders, easily more muscular.  I just stared as 
she moved weights on to the leg press machine, incredible 
quads separating with power, and veined biceps tightly 
erupting!  I  snuck a glance at the huge amount of weight she 
piled on the leg press and watched her go!  WOW!  I never saw 
her again, but I still wonder today if I was seeing things.
-Sara:  Sara was my friend.  Sara was the kind of girl that 
caused traffic accidents.  By some misfortune we never went 
beyond friendship.  She always wore very sexy outfits, and I 
told her many times that she would make a great bodybuilder.  
Her muscles were just amazing, a fact made more amazing by 
her rather effortless workouts.  She took the bodybuilder 
comment as a great compliment.  After each trip to the gym, 
she would make her way over to my apartment in little nylon 
shorts and her exercise bra.  "Hey, Cris, come here and look 
at my new muscle!" she said her sweaty body bursting in my 
screen door.  Then she carefully flexed whatever body part 
she had chosen to work out that day, as she tossed her long 
blond hair back defiantly, and striking her best bodybuilder 
pose!  Yes, Sara was my friend, but what muscles!  She always 
invited me to feel how hard they were (I know you are 
thinking right now that this is big lie...but I can assure 
you it's not!), and asking me if I could tell how much they 
had grown from the previous time!  I kind of think she liked 
it when I got a little excited as I made the comparisons...as 
much as I tried to hide it.  I took her to the beach once, 
and she was the type who loved to show off her body.  We 
rented a condo for the weekend, and each morning I got a 
fashion show of the five or six sexy swimsuits she brought 
along to wear, demanding that I make a choice of what she was 
to wear to the beach that day.  Each time she ran to the room 
to change, her muscles ripples and her generous breasts 
bounced under the spandex that barely kept her muscular body 
from being naked.  I marveled at the effort that must have 
gone into designing some of those bikinis!   I thought of 
some excuse to sit down a little longer each day, I was so 
excited.  Was I stupid for just being her friend....yes.  By 
the way, yes, Sara had a big boyfriend on the football team.
-Catey:  Catey was one of my first steady girlfriends, and 
was the lean runner type.  I loved her legs, they were 
extremely long and muscular.  Catey didn't own a car, and 
biked EVERYWHERE.  I'd be driving miles from town, and there 
was Catey, muscles flexing as she pumped the bike to her 
destination.  Her quads and glutes were probably as tight as 
that girl at the pool.  Besides that she was also gorgeous 
with her black hair and royal blue eyes.  One day, when we 
were first dating, she asked me to sit on her short short 
clad rump and give her a back rub.  I sat down and it was 
like I was sitting on two footballs!  And as if they couldn't 
get any harder, after I sat down she flexed them one at a 
time, causing me rock back and forth (180 lbs) like I was 
nothing!!  She looked up at me, smiling and giggling as if 
she had pulled some great prank.  I just looked at her 
stunned, wondering how I could ask her to do that again, and 
again, and.....I was in love!
-Cara:  I first noticed Cara when me and my friends were 
sitting at our favorite outdoor pizza place.  We all looked 
across the street and there was this girl, easily six feet 
tall, blond, kind of punk with a sundress that stopped at her 
knees.  One of the guys murmured "Wow, look at those calves." 
in a way that made him sound like he wished they were on his 
body.  Another guy said "Yeah, gross, they're just too big."  
I said, "No way, man.  Calves can never be too big."  and I 
leapt up, dodged traffic and made my introduction to this 
amazon.  Cara's were the kind of calves that, if you ever put 
her in high heels, it would have been just tremendous!!  They 
looked as pumped and muscular as any bodybuilder's.  She was 
smart, obviously fearless and a bit cocky.   Smirking 
defiantly, asked me why I had come running over.  I told her 
"...because you're beautiful, and you've got the best calves 
I've ever seen."  She looked surprised  "Man, I've always 
hated them, they're just too big."  I looked at her and 
grinned.  She came over and ate some pizza with us.  We dated 
for a while, and had a great time.  I still see her around 
the town when  I go back to visit....calves bulging!


SENIOR YEAR, COMPANY INTERNSHIP-
-The bosses wife's biceps:  I went to work the summer for a 
company in Mobile, Alabama like any other good engineering 
goof.  One day the company was having a cookout, and the head 
boss was there with his family.  I saw his wife, a pretty 
woman who was a little shorter and had shoulder length brown 
hair, and a friendly smile.  She wore conservative flat slip 
on shoes, some rather clingy polyester shorts, showing off 
some rather muscular looking legs.  I'm not talking the has 
been worked out kind of muscle.  More like the very shapely 
muscle that just jumps and flexes slightly every time she 
walked.  The kind of muscle some women are just born with.  
Big solid calves, larger than expected thighs and a powerful 
rump that bossed around the fabric of her shorts like it was 
an out of line employee.  But then, she took her place as a 
volunteer behind the grill, and off went the long sleeved 
cotton shirt she was wearing, leaving a modest tank top.  Oh 
my!! What biceps!!!  It was the same as her legs, not as if 
she went to the gym, but they bulged around like Grade A 
Extra Large Eggs bouncing underneath her skin!!   I waited 
patiently for her to pick up the charcoal bag and load the 
grill.  She picked up the big bag with ease, and POW!!  Up 
popped those peaks like little mountains!  Her body was just 
waiting to go to the gym and develop!  I looked over at her 
rather scrawny husband, and wondered if she had ever tested 
her strength against him.  I have no doubt that if she did, 
he would soon realize exactly who the boss really was!
-The technician's wife:  The company gym was open to all 
employees and their adult family members.  I remember one 
time I was in the gym with one of the other interns.  I was 
stretching out, and in walks this woman, wearing Oakley's, a 
white exercise bra, and green nylon running shorts.  This 
woman had an absolutely phenomenal wall of abs!  Her 
midsection was not the typical narrow feminine type, and she 
had obviously worked hard to get it as lean as possible, but 
somewhere in there an armor like wall of muscle had sprung 
out.  The rest of her was VERY fit as well.  She only stayed 
a few minutes.  I think she noticed my almost gawking 
glances, and as she left, turned her back to me and did a 
double biceps pose in the mirror.  I felt like I had the wind 
knocked out of me!!  Her tanned body just exploded!  I 
couldn't tell if she was watching my reflection stare at her 
developed back since she was wearing those sunglasses, but I 
didn't care!   Then she went out the door to the women's 
lockers.  "Wow, who was that??"  I asked my fellow intern 
goof.  "Oh," he said "that's one of the technician's wives.  
Her husband is such a slob, it's no wonder she shows off like 
that!"

So that is a partial list of my encounters with amazons.  
They still happen, even more frequently.  Have you noticed 
that?  Not so long ago, seeing a muscular or athletic woman 
was a rare sight indeed!  Not so now.  It seems more and more 
women are not afraid or shy about showing off their powerful 
bodies!  And that is as it should be!!