Coping with Power
by demented20
Lisa Sanchez discovers her power, but wishes she hadn't


Lisa Sanchez was successful in her chosen field. Always driven and determined,
Lisa managed to get to the upper levels of management in a large advertising
firm at the age of 28. She could literally make or break careers. Being fair
and honest was one of her claims to fame. Most people looked at Lisa and
guessed that she had used her looks to get to the top or perhaps even slept
her way to the top. Never mind her degree from NYU or her MBA from Cornell.
Lisa was a sight to see. She wasn't as tall as some of the models who came
through her office, but at 5'9 she was tall enough. The daughter of a Puerto
Rican father and a Black mother, Lisa had naturally copper toned skin and long
luscious dark hair. Her eyes were light brown and her face was beautiful
boarding on breathtaking with perfect cheekbones and lips. Her legs were what
usually got most of the attention. Long and perfectly shaped they seemed to
draw the eyes then hold them there. She knew she was attractive, but she never
wanted that to get in the way of her career. She had earned the respect of her
coworkers and she wasn't going to let her perfect legs, perfect waist, or her
nice rack get in the way.

Lisa, for all her good looks, never worked out anymore. She had gone to PE
class in high school and college like everyone else, but that had never been
her focus. She ran track in college her junior and senior years, but she loved
literature, art, and music. She had hoped one day to be a serious writer, but
her talents were in advertising and running an orderly office. Lisa had seen
the inside of a gym only through windows in the last ten years or so, but that
would change this evening. Her friend Ian had given her his pass to an
exclusive gym near a trendy section of downtown. She normally would have
turned it down, but Ian's friend Dr. Richard Burros was going to be there. She
had wanted to meet him for months. As much as she didn't want to go the gym,
for Dr. Richard she would bear it.

The gym was located in the basement of a high-rise. The door leading to the
gym was in the alley, and terribly hard to find. All the big shots came to
this particular gym. The CEO of her own firm walked in behind her. She didn't
know what to expect. Once inside she saw that it wasn't ornate, fancy, or even
moderately appealing. It was a large open space with aerobic areas, machines,
and free weights. There were hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, and baths in the
back, but they were not in use at the moment. This place wasn't for
socializing. It was for working out. These people talked business only after
they were finished with their routines. Not during and not before. Lisa had
come there with the plan to sit on a stairmaster and watch for an opportunity
to talk to Dr. Richard, but she saw that wasn't going to be possible. She
could probably do it, but she would stick out like a sore thumb. Instead she
decided to join the aerobics group.

The group was mostly women, but there were a good helping of men thrown in
also. These men weren't there to look at the women, they were as serious as
the women. Lisa swallowed hard and waited for the music to begin. She looked
around while the last few people came over. She noticed that she was dressed
ok for the group. She wore a black liatard with white leggings. She was also
relieved to notice that her figure was just as good as any of the other women
in the room. There were a few full fledged bodybuilders in the room, but most
would qualify as more fitness type. Lisa looked at her arms and legs, while
shapely with a hint of musculature, she wasn't defined like some of these
women. She hoped they wouldn't exercise her into the ground. Then the music
began.

The aerobics class, which was intermediate, lasted for nearly an hour. Lisa
caught on after the first ten minutes and held her own. She got tired, but not
as bad as she thought she would. After the aerobics, she did go over the
stairmaster. She actually felt great. She hadn't had that much energy in
months. She set the machine for a thirty minute cycle, after taking five
minutes to figure out how it worked. The whole time on the machine she
expected to cramp or to just totally pass out, but it never happened. Her legs
just kept pumping up and down as her brain commanded. She looked down
periodically and noticed that her legs were showing a little definition. She
could see her calf muscles bulge as she took each step. It was really
impressive to her. She never knew she had that muscle in there. It must have
been hiding all these years. She moved on to the lat pull down machine. She
didn't know what muscle each machine worked, but she was curious. She put it
on a low weight and kept pumping out rep after rep until getting board with
the exercise. She looked at several others, but settled on the curl machine.
Now this was a machine she liked. She pumped it out like a pro. Rep after rep
she watched as arms got more and more pumped. This was cool. It was the first
time she had ever felt anything like it.

After a couple hours most of the people had left the gym and only the diehards
were left. She looked around the gym for Dr. Richard, but he was nowhere in
sight. She had gotten so wrapped up in actually working out that she had
missed her opportunity. So what, she was going to join this gym. It didn't
matter what it cost. This was great.

Lisa looked around the gym again and saw only three other people left. Three
hardcore power lifter types. Only one of them was actually lifting, and the
other two spotting. Lisa kept working on the leg extension machine, but she
was looking at the power lifters. She hadn't touched a free weight since
walking into the gym. It didn't matter though, the guy looked like he had all
the weights in the gym on the bar he was lifting. The guy was kind of cute.
Tall, blond with the sort of muscles she only saw on magazine covers. The
first thing she noticed were his arms. They were thicker than her waist and so
packed with muscle she doubted he had full range of movement, but it didn't
matter. He was a powerful man, and he was pumped full of adrenaline for this
next lift. When he stepped to the bar and bend down, she could have sworn that
he was standing on two oak stumps. His thighs were so thick with muscle Lisa
guessed there was nothing he couldn't lift. The man bend down to the bar and
took it in both hands. One of his partners wrapped something around it then
stepped back.

The lifter growled then started upward. He howled as his powerful leg muscles
flexed to the max to try to lift the massive weight. He finally straightened
with one final burst of power then let the weight drop to the floor. The whole
room shook. The three huge guys high fived then headed out the door towards
the showers. The exit to the parking lot was past the showers so it was not
necessary to come back through the actual gym itself to leave.

Lisa was about to head to the showers herself when she turned back towards the
free weights. She walked over to the still loaded bar and counted up the
weight. 745 pounds!!!!! Lisa laughed. It was unreal. There was another bar
already stripped lying on the floor. Lisa went bend down and picked it up. It
was the first time she had ever held a weight bar. 45 pounds wasn't so bad.
She added a couple fifteen pound weights and mimicked the power lifter. She
didn't know that the lift was called a dead lift, but that's what she was
doing. Her form was very good for a first timer, but then again Lisa was a
smart woman. 75 pounds wasn't much of a challenge. She took off the 15 pound
weights and put on 35 pound weights. This time it was harder, but she still
lifted the bar.

She was starting to get excited. She ran over the wall and pulled down the
smallest lifting belt they had. She wrapped it around her waist and hurried
back to her bar. She looked around and saw no one else in the room. She didn't
want to be embarrassed. She added ten more pounds then lifted the bar twice.
This was fun. She added more weight. Each time she added weight it took more
and more effort to lift, but she never got to her limit. Just when she thought
her legs would fail the kept moving upward. Just when she thought her grip
would fail, her hands would tighten. After twenty minutes Lisa stepped back to
take a break and get some water. She came back and noticed that her last lift
had been 185 pounds. She had never lifted anything as heavy in her entire
life. It didn't matter. She could do more. She knew it. She hadn't reached her
max. It was out there somewhere, but she hadn't found it yet. She looked down
at her legs. They were getting pumped. She could see the tear drop above her
knees. Her quads were starting to define themselves. Lisa went back to the bar
and added more weight. She went to the mirror and flexed her legs. Muscles
jumped up from the skin. She had legs most fitness competitors would love to
have. She went back to the bar and readied herself. Sweat dripped from her
chin to the bar, but she didn't notice. Her eyes were closed in concentration.
She dropped her butt to the floor then lifted it up again. She was ready. She
took a deep breath then started to stand up. The muscles in her thighs
reacted. They grew even more, and defined themselves. Just as she got half way
the first vein appeared on the surface. More started to appear as Lisa's legs
powered upwards. Lisa's face showed the strain. Her eyes still closed her face
was set in a grimace of pain and concentration. Her face was red with the
strain and getting more red the more she pulled. She was almost there. Her
hamstrings started to define themselves more now. Lisa straightened in one
smooth motion and held the weight there for a few seconds. She opened her eyes
then dropped the weight. As soon as she let it go she jumped up and yelled.
She had never lifted anything so heavy. Adrenaline pumped through her body as
joy filled her mind. This was incredible.

She felt like superwoman. She felt like she could lift anything. She flexed
some more in the mirror. She pulled her legings up to her hips so she could
see her quads clearly. She no longer thought of them as just her legs. She had
muscles now. Her quads shot out and hardened into ridges of compact muscle.
Not huge just hard. She reached down and squeezed. They were as hard as the
stone on wall. She flexed both her legs then slapped them. She heard the
distinct sound of hitting solid muscle. Lisa couldn't believe it was her. She
turned around and looked at her bar. 250 pounds. She yelled again. She would
have added more weight, but that's all that was left in the area. The 745 lbs.
bar held the rest. Lisa was about to strip her bar and go home. She looked
over at the powerlifter's bar then looked around the room. It was still empty.
What the hell. She just wanted to see if she could move it. She felt so strong
with all the hormones in her blood at the moment. She needed a dose of reality
before heading home.

She looked at the bar then kicked it. Her new found muscles flexed as she did
so. Lisa turned and looked in the mirror again. This time going on her toes.
Her calve muscles bunched up and defined themselves into two heads. There was
even the hint of a vein running across one of the heads. That same feeling
came over her. She hurried over to the bar and got into position to lift. She
was smiling when she was preparing herself to lift. She didn't want to try too
hard and separate a shoulder or anything, but hey. Lisa closed her eyes again.
She loved the way her legs looked, but there wasn't enough weight to add more
to her bar. She figured she could give everything she had to this bar. At
least she could feel what giving 100% felt like. She dropped her butt to the
floor in her regular routine then took a deep breath. She held it for a second
then burst up with all her strength. As she figured, the bar didn't even
wiggle, but she kept applying pressure. She wanted her thighs to hit the wall.

Lisa's eyes were closed so she couldn't see what was happening. She didn't
notice her forearms or her legs. Her forearms bulged outward and cords of
muscle defined themselves. The longer she held her hands on the bar the
tighter they squeezed. Tighter and tighter. Her legs were undergoing even more
transformation. Where at first there were a few veins showing on the surface
of her skin more appeared; feeding the muscle below that was trying its best
to do the impossible. Her legs vibrated with strain. Her face looked like she
was trying to lift a house. Sweat poured down her usually beautiful face, but
it was contorted with effort. The corners of her mouth were wet with drool and
some of it had leaked onto her chin, but she didn't notice. She gave it
everything she had. She had never tried to do any one thing as hard as she was
trying to pull against that bar. Her entire body vibrated with the effort.
Still harder and harder she tried. She didn't know how she was finding it, but
her will to succeed had always been strong. This was no different.

Her thighs were now ripped. Veins snaked across her thighs. Her perfect copper
skin was covered in a tight sheen of sweat that only enhanced the definition
in her legs. Her quads, already rock hard, flexed tighter and harder. They
were not getting any bigger, just more and more defined. Impossibly defined.
Striations appeared on her thighs. Then the impossible happened. The bar
started moving. Lisa took some labored breaths and redoubled her efforts. Her
legs were moving now. Nothing was going to stop them. With each inch her
thighs got harder and harder. They bulged with power. As she stood each muscle
flexed even more. Her forearms now were just masses of cords and muscle. Veins
shot up her arms into her shoulders. Her back widened and defined itself the
harder she pulled.

The bar was bending in her hands, but the weight kept moving. Finally she
stood straight. Her entire body shook. The weights were clanging off each
other as they hung suspended by the power of this young woman. Lisa opened her
eyes. She did not smile. She just stared. She stared at her body and her legs
which were chiseled beyond belief. Her muscles were packed tightly against
each other with striations and veins making a web that looked like the
pictures on an anatomy chart. Then she looked at the weight and got angry.
This weight had made her pull so hard. She bounced the weight then threw it to
the ground. She didn't flinch as it bounced in front of her. She just stared
at the mirror then flexed as hard as she could. Her head swam with

what she saw. She couldn't believe it.

She went over to the first bar of 250 pounds. It looked puny in comparison to
the weight she just lifted. She bent over, wrapped her hands around the bar
and lifted to test the weight. She stood up smoothly with the weight. It was
strange as she stood there holding 250 lbs. in her hands. She could tell it
was heavy, but only a third as heavy as the 750. She shifted with the weight
as she held it at waist level. She looked down at her legs which were still
pumped. She watched her muscles dance as she shifted her leg back and forth.
She then looked at her arms. Other than her shredded forearms, her upper arms
looked almost the same. It would be cool to get them to look like her legs.
With that, Lisa tried to curl the bar in her hands. She seemed to be able to
lift whatever she wanted with her legs. She had to see if her arms could do it
too.

Lisa took a deep breath and started trying in ernest. Her arms shook with the
effort, but the bar didn't rise an inch. Lisa looked down at her arms then at
the bar. She couldn't understand. She took another breath this time closing
her eyes. She pulled with everything she had. Her whole body shook as her
muscles flexed to the max. Her legs came alive again with striated muscles.
Her biceps started to react now. Her tan skin turned red as more and more
blood rushed to her biceps. The muscle was in shock trying to do something it
had never been asked to do before, but like her legs, her arms responded. Her
biceps became defined. Where there was first only the hint of definition, you
could now see the two heads of the muscle in detail. A vein appeared running
over the growing peaks of both arms. Then others appeared radiating from that
first one. The bar still had not moved however. Lisa took another breath and
redoubled her efforts. She was in pain now. Her arms were aching from the
strain and she was becoming lightheaded from lack of oxygen, but finally
something happened. The biceps started expanding. The muscle grew and grew.
More veins appeared on her arms snaking their way back and forth. Sweat poured
off her arms onto the bar and the floor. Her biceps become more defined,
impossibly defined as veins throbbed just under her skin. Finally the bar was
up. Lisa opened her eyes. Her breath came in gasps, but she had done it. She
lowered the bar to the her waist and started bring the bar up again. The
second time was easier as was the third and fourth. She was tired by the fifth
rep, but she wanted to do one more. After six reps, Lisa put the bar back on
the ground. She smiled in the mirror and did a double biceps pose.

Most bodybuilders, men or women, would have killed for arms that defined. Lisa
flexed her arm up and down a couple times and she could almost see individual
fibers contracting. It was a rush. She really did feel like superwoman as she
flexed her legs one more time. Just then she looked around the room. It was
still empty except for her. She then looked around at the weight around. Her
head started swimming again as the impact of what she had just done hit her.
She stripped the weight off both bars. She hung the belt back on the hook and
hurried to the shower. She was just happy no one had seen her. Fear was
starting to replace awe. What the hell had she just done?

She made the shower extra hot and hoped the steam would help clear her head.
It worked somewhat, but her mind was still in overdrive. Lisa tried to come up
with an explanation for what had happened, and she kept coming to the same
one. She had just lifted something that weighs 6 times more than her, and
curled more than twice here weight. She looked at herself in the mirror as she
dried her hair and dressed. Her body had almost gone back to normal. There was
still a little more definition in her legs and arms than usual, but not enough
to be noticed by anyone else. She hurried out the door leading to the parking
lot. She dropped her key chain pulling it out of her purse. She bent down
retrieved it and hurried to her car. She nearly jumped into the seat and she
started the car before the door was closed. The 5 litre V8 in the big Mercedes
CL started with the customary German growl then ran with customary German
smoothness. Lisa dropped the car into drive and sped all the way home.

Lisa woke up the next morning at 6 like she did every other morning, but she
wasn't groggy at all this morning. She felt great. Her muscles were still
sore, but that was to be expected. She rolled out of bed and did some
stretches. It helped the soreness some. She went to the kitchen barely
remembering what had happened the night before. She took a glass out of the
cabinet then opened the refrigerator. She had a glass of orange juice every
morning. Lisa reached up the top shelf and pulled down the gallon jug. It felt
as heavy this morning as it did every other morning. Everything felt the same,
even her clothes felt the same. In all those comic books everything became
light as a feather when a person got superpowers. If that's what she had she
reminded herself. Maybe it was a one time thing. Maybe there was something in
the gym that allowed her to lift all that weight. Last night she had been able
to lift 1000 lbs. in two lifts, but this morning an eight pound jug of oj was
heavy.

Lisa finished getting dressed, but the curiosity would not go away. She had to
know if she was really stronger than she was supposed to be, or was it some
fluke, or fantasy. She hurried to her dining room. Her maternal grandmother
had willed her an antique china press. It was heavy when empty. It had taken
seven men to get it into her apartment empty, and now it was full of fine
porcelain and silver. Lisa bent down, careful not to tear her skirt and worked
her hands under the huge mahogany press. Then she tried to lift it. It took a
bit of straining, but she lifted the side of the press about eight inches off
the ground before setting it down gently. That same sick feeling came over her
again. Part of her had wished it was all a dream, or a mistake. She put all
that aside and tried to focus on what she had to do at work that day. One
thing she did have to do was talk to her friend Ian. Ian was a doctor. He
might know something about her problem. She finished her muffin and hurried
out the door. She had to be at work at 7:30.

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