Backyard Barbecue By DanboyII One of my wife's gym friends invited us to her house for a cook out. I need to provide some detail about the people that were there before I describe what happened. My wife Paula and I are in our mid thirties and have been married for almost twelve years. Even before we were married, Paula had an awesome body. She was very athletic at 5'5" and about 130 pounds. Early in our courtship we fooled around with some play wrestling as couples often do. The very first time we did it she wrapped her legs around my waist and quickly squeezed me into submission. When I gave up she relaxed her hold some but didn't let me go. She wanted me to try to get loose and when I tried she squeezed hard again and I quickly gave up a second time. She let me go then saying that she wanted to make sure that I wouldn't say that I hadn't really tried and that I had more or less let her win. I was very surprised that she had such enormous strength in her legs. From then on when we played around I was very careful to try to avoid her legs. I wasn't always successful but when I was I usually managed to pin her down. I should mention that at the time I was 5'11" and about 160 pounds and in good shape. Now I'm 190 pounds and kinda soft. Paula is 155 now and hard as a rock. She is in the gym about four times a week plus crunches and push ups every morning. Six or seven years ago she experienced a real spurt in strength and from then on she was able to pin me at will. I have continued to go to the gym too , but on a very irregular and infrequent basis. For sometime now Paula has been easily handling twice as much weight as I use on many of the machines. I love being married to such a lady as Paula, who teases me sometimes but never acts dominating and is very happy to be the one who opens all the pickle jars. The woman who invited us to the cook out is Karen. Paula told me that small as she is at 5'2" and 130 pounds, Karen is one of the strongest people in the gym. Paula said that Karen was stronger than her, which was something I couldn't bring myself to believe. She said that Karen could bench press 300 pounds in very steady fashion while Paula, herself has never pressed more than 270. Karen is a divorcee. She has just started dating Jack, a lean guy at about 5'7" and maybe 150 pounds. Jack is a macho kind of guy who is either a "used to be" or maybe a "never was". He's not exactly an insufferable bore but in my book, He's close. The other couple in attendance was Helen and George Springer. Helen is a big woman at 5'9" and probably 190 pounds. She has been working out for nearly two years. George is big. He stands 6'2" and weighs at least 250 pounds. Helen seemed nice but a little nervous and George is a pompous ass. Now you know the size and shape of the players. We were all in shorts and tee shirts/tank tops or muscle shirts. All of us wore sneakers. We sat around in Karen's very comfortable back patio. The bar was fully loaded so you could make anything your heart desired or Karen would make it for you and there was a profusion of unhealthy munches all over the place. As you might expect, with three women who all train in the same gym, the talk drifted into a working out, general fitness and lifting discussion. George made it clear early on that as far as he was concerned, women, as a group, were just playing around in the gym and would never actually build any real muscle unless they swallowed huge quantities of the male sex hormone, testosterone, in some synthetic form. He used his wife Helen as his proof, saying that she had been going to the gym for two years and was still weak as a kitten as far as he was concerned. When Karen pointed to the obviously muscular form of both herself and my wife, George scoffed and said that they were both examples of female muscle which is weak in comparison to male muscle. The size of female muscle according to George should not be confused with real strength. Helen sat quietly and made no comment. Both my wife and Karen tried with great patience to change George's mind. Steve sided with George at least to some extent although he seemed clearly proud of Karen's athletic body. I didn't say much because I feared that we were close to a full scale argument. No point in fanning the flames. I did see, as I'm sure the women did, that neither of the men with all this supposed knowledge of relative strength of the sexes, had spent any significant time in a gym recently. I doubt that George had ever been in one. Finally, Karen challenged all of us to participate in an arm wrestling match. Much discussion followed. George and Steve became a little less vocal as it became clear from the organizational skills of Karen and Paula that we were really going to have an arm wrestling tournament. Karen brushed off the excuses that began to appear: sore back (Steve); problems with the rules and no sturdy table that would meet arm wrestling standards (George); plus a host of other red herrings. Karen just went about her business of arranging and setting up for the matches. She and Paula cleared a very sturdy picnic table and Karen laid out several layers of bath towels to cushion the combatants elbows. Paula put everyone's name on slips of paper so that the starting paring could not be argued. The first two names were drawn naming Jack to face George. I thought it was poetic justice. The two men sat and faced each other nervously. They locked hands and then George was uncomfortable and took his hand back and stood up and shook his shoulders and sat again. They locked hands and began to apply pressure. Nothing happened. I think we all had expected George to win fairly quickly but it didn't happen. They strained and both became red in the face and then to the surprise of all, George's arm began to go down. Slowly at first and then it crashed to the table. Jack jumped up , elated with his victory and George lowered his head and rubbed his hand. Next up turned out to be Karen and me. Having been told by Paula how strong Karen was I had no elusions about winning but I intended to give it my best shot. I figured that at least I would be able to hang in for ten seconds or so. I was wrong. Karen's 15" arm slammed me down in about two seconds. She totally overwhelmed me. She was not surprised and neither was my wife. George took the opportunity to say that at least he had tried and had not given up before the match even started. I looked at Paula and she rolled her eyes . I ignored George and hugged Karen and patted her back in congratulation. Next was Paula and Helen. Paula won quickly and easily as expected. Paula's arms are very impressive at nearly 16". Helen, on the other hand is a big woman who is still soft compared to my wife and Karen. Next up was Karen and George. Karen won very quickly. Predictably, George complained that he wasn't ready. Calmly, Karen gave him another chance. This time she made no initial attempt, but held her arm firm and unmoving. George was wrenching and pushing and turning a shade between red and purple. Karen smiled and asked if George was ready now. George was grunting and sweating but didn't answer. Karen said that she would take that as a yes and slammed George's hand down fast and hard. Not only that. She held it there for a long moment and looked silently at George. For George , t was a humiliating moment. When she released him he got up grumbling under his breath that the table was uneven. No one said anything. I patted Karen on the shoulder. Next was Paula and Jack. A quick win for Paula and to Jack's credit he took it well. I was emerging that My wife and Karen were the class of the group. Next was Helen and me. The match began and I gave it everything I had. She did too and our arms remained straight up. Her arm was probably at least 17" but on the soft side. Still it was noticeably larger than mine. After nearly a minute, I began to get the upper hand. But Helen fought back and our arms became centered again and then she started to force my arm down. Karen and Paula and Jack were yelling and screaming encouragement. George remained silent. Somehow, I halted the movement but could not get back to center. The sweat was poring off me and there were beads of perspiration on Helen. On we went. Neither winning - neither losing. It was an incredible battle. I knew I couldn't hold out much longer so I tried to summon whatever I had left for a last drive. Somehow, I forced our arms back to center and somehow I managed to keep it going. First I gained a tiny advantage and then a little more and then I had her about a third of the way down. She resisted at that point for another full minute and then she gave way and down she went. We both nearly collapsed amid the hugs and back slaps. We stood up and looked at each other and then embraced in a long hug of mutual admiration. Everyone else but George was rattling on about the great fight we had just put on. Helen and I said nothing as we stood there in each others arms. At that moment I think we both knew that a bond had been formed between us. We were somehow joined, not through a sex or love thing, but through this battle that only we had experienced. It mattered little who the victor was. Next Paula soundly defeated George and then Jack felt the sting of being quickly beaten by he girlfriend, Karen. Next, I was supposed to go against George and Helen was to take on Karen. We decided to take a short break. During the break, Karen the instigator with a twinkle in her eyes said that the women were not only strong but that she could lift anyone there even though she was the lightest person in the yard. With that, she lifted my wife in her arms and strolled about the patio. It was obvious that her intent was to irritate George enough so that he would bet her that she couldn't lift him. He didn't go for it. We decided to stop for some real food and the cooking started. Karen asked me to go in and get some more beer from the refrigerator. In the kitchen, I ran into Helen who was just returning from the john. "We really put on a show, didn't we", she asked? "We sure did", I agreed with enthusiasm. "You were great!" "But you won." "We're very even. A little more time in the gym and I won't stand a chance against you." "Do you really think so", she brightened? "No doubt about it", I said. Then she asked if I would do a favor for her. Being a little wary of such things, I asked what she had in mind. She asked if I would let her pick me up. I laughed and asked why she wanted to do that but readily agreed to let her try. Without answering she came close and with a little grunt, lifted me in her arms. She hefted me in a sort of half curl, testing the feel of my weight and remarked that I didn't seem all that heavy. Suddenly I understood. She was trying to test whether or not she was strong enough to lift George. I asked if that was what she was trying to test and she smiled slightly and said that it was. I told her to put me down and I went into Karen's den where I had seen some dumbbells by the sofa. I came back with two twenty-five pound dumbbells and told Helen to try lifting me again. The first time I had placed my arm around Helen's shoulder as a natural action. Doing that is helpful to the lifter to at least some degree. Now I was holding a twenty-five pound dumbbell in each hand so I had to hold them in front of me. Helen lifted me again and went through the same hefting action. "You're quite a load now", she said with a little chuckle. "But you are doing it and doing it pretty well, I'd say." And she was. She walked about the kitchen with a steady step and then put me down and gave me a little hug and a peck on the cheek. Then she asked if I thought she should let George win their up-coming match. I told her absolutely not. If you can take him - do it! She winked and said "Gottcha", as we walked out to the patio. After some great steaks and lobster we all relaxed over some after dinner drinks. Karen made sure that we all knew what everybody's won - lost record was. George, at 0-3 was not a happy camper. Helen had become more talkative ever since our marathon match. It had seemed to give her added confidence and I knew that she was looking forward to her match with her husband. But first she had to go against Jack. Them match between Helen and Jack was much quicker than I expected. Helen put his arm down in just a few seconds for her first win. She jumped up and squealed with delight, did some flexing and went around hugging everybody. I suddenly thought that this last match told a lot about things to come. It wasn't lost on Karen and Paula either. Karen put it in words. "If we all remember, Jack and George were pretty close. Unless things change in a hurry, Helen is going to whup your ass George, old buddy." George was becoming more and more confused and his confidence was in a shambles. And he was going to wrestle me next. He really tried to concentrate though and drooled a bit and we locked hands. He let out a gargantuan growl at the start and I slammed his arm down. I stood up and did a double bicep pose and was met by wife, Paula in a bear hug that lifted me in the air. She swung me around put me back down but hung on for a passionate embrace and kiss. Now that I had tested George myself, I realized that he wasn't strong at all and was riding only on the bulk of his shoulders. He had very little actual muscle. Next was Karen and Helen. Predictably, Karen won with ease. Next, I had to wrestle my wife. I joked that I had been hoping that our match would somehow be overlooked. My wife said that there was no way that that was going to happen. We went at it and she held her arm straight up for about ten seconds before she began to increase the pressure and forced me down gently. We hugged and kissed again at the end. Next was the match between Helen and George. Helen was really ready and handled George much like my wife had just handled me. She allowed him to squirm and grunt and twist. She just held fast with her arm straight up in the center. Then, ever so slowly she pressed his arm down in one continuous motion. There was no question who was the stronger. It was clear that George was learning just how strong Helen really was for the first time. There were two matches to go. You would think that all the attention would now be drawn toward the two strong women, Karen and my wife Paula. Not exactly. Jack and I still had to go at each other. I was certainly the favorite because I had beaten Helen in that spectacular blue ribbon match. And she had demonstrated a clear mastery over Jack. Jack was walking about doing some deep breathing exercises while swinging and flexing his arms. Paula was kneading my neck and shoulders and talking to me about concentration. Her own big match, for the "champeenship a-the whole shebang" was not yet the main focus of her attention. "Watch out for Jack's early start", she counseled sternly. I know he tried it on me and I think he's used it on everybody he's wrestled. I know you can take him hon, so take him good." I stood and we walked arm in arm for a bit and then she left me to walk alone. When I turned and started back, Helen met me halfway. She confirmed what my wife had just told me and gave me a good natured punch on the arm. Jack and I faced each other. True to the warnings, he started early. Just a little jump but it was nearly enough. He moved my arm about 20 degrees or so before I could stop him. The struggle lasted for a few seconds and I slammed his arm down. There were cheers and applause followed by a big hug from Paula. With a record of three wins and two losses I felt pretty good. I hadn't expected to beat either Karen or Paula anyway. They were just too damn strong. Now came the big show!!! Now please understand, Dear Reader, that Karen and my wife had both been very active at all times to make this whole thing a good natured contest intended for the fun and enjoyment of all. It wasn't easy and they were less than successful in getting George to lighten up. He was a little better when he realized that he was not going to be teased unmercifully for ending up last in the group. I didn't say he wasn't going to be teased, just not totally without mercy. Karen and Paula faced each other. The match didn't last as long as mine with Helen but I think it was just as memorable. Both women strained applying all the power they had. Their arms seemed to explode as the battle became joined. I had never seen my wife's muscles look larger or more powerful. For a giddy 20 or 30 seconds their arms remained centered, vibrating and shaking unpredictably as the incredible strength of each women powered against the unimaginable rock solid resistance of the other. Then, unbelievably at least to me, my wife's arm started down. At about 45 degrees, she stopped the movement for a few tenuous seconds and then down she went. At first there was silence. Then applause and cheers from everyone, including George. I couldn't believe that my wife had lost. I'm conditioned to believe that my wife is stronger than anybody. I've known that because I've seen her beat very big muscle men so seeing her lose to a little 5'2" girl was much more traumatic for me than it was for her. Karen and Paula hugged for a long time and then everybody was hugging everybody. Paula ended up consoling me saying that I shouldn't be sad because she had just lost to a very strong small ox masquerading as a cute young woman. We all drank up - what a party!!