nam004@hotmail.com

By Nam

I must admit that the final test was quite unique, but I thought a bit
unfair to Steve. Seeing that the other guy (Brad) had over 30 pounds on him
and all. I always thought that it should have been a test of relative
strength rather than actual strength. But, if you can get a sense of Steve
from my previous stories, you already know that to his.. Strength is
strength. Now let me set the stage. It is now 2 weeks after the 'forest
adventure' and Steve has been pushing himself to add every ounce of strength
he can add. He is like a mad man in the gym. It seems that he has added
significant density to his already totally ripped body, but in the process
has become even more defined than before. Now, just standing there, veins
are visible that were only visible before when he exerted himself and when
he tenses, his body looks positively grotesque. His skin now seems to be
totally transparent and it's like looking at an anatomy chart, without the
skin on.


The test is really quite simple and ingenious. There is this 'see saw' type
contraception, made of thick wood and reinforced with steel rods, which is
in the back yard of Brad. It is balanced perfectly and instead of a seat,
there is a iron bar on each end. The 'combatants' lay on their backs on a
bench on either side of the 'see saw' and grab the bar. When in the balanced
equal position the bar on each is at a half a bench press distance from each
chest. The objective is to push up on your side, forcing the opposite end
down and into the chest of the other person. I one were to totally press the
bar up, the other end would be painfully embedded into the others chest. The
first one to lock their arms in a full bench press wins. Pretty gruesome,
huh? It is pretty obvious now that Brad is really into this strength thing
and that Steve wasn't his first victim.


Both guys positioned themselves under the bars and readied themselves for
this unique tug of war. As they lay there, Steve began to pump himself up
and I could see the muscles beginning to swell in anticipation to the
contest. His face was already a death mask and I began to think that Steve
might get to experience that illusive 100% effort. I had tried to talk him
out of it, but he was obsessed. On the count of three the battle began.
I have never seen muscles leap into such definition before in my life. Each
tried to get the jump on the other and neither side budged an inch. I could
tell that neither was going for the strategy of conserving energy. The
muscles in Steve's pecs and arms were of inhuman definition. One quickly
forgot that he was not a hulk of mass; just the shear cuts were enough to
make up for it. Quickly, both were bright red and pouring it on. Fingers of
muscle spread out from Steve's chest almost to his lats, which were now
wider than the bench. You could have set a can of coke in each lat under his
arms and it would have stayed there. His chest was swelled into what
appeared to be solid mounds of rock and turning a deeper red each second
that passed. The device began to creak and groan with the stress placed on
it, but both seemed to be quite equally matched. It was going to be as much
a battle of mind as it was body. The next thing that I noticed was that
Steve's six-pack was now an eight pack and seemed to be flattened to less
than 4 inches thick. This is in contrast to his chest, which was swelled to
the point that it was indeed touching the bar, even though the bar had not
lowered an inch. I think layer of sweat was now spreading across Steve's
entire body and I began to see an increase in the muscular tremor as the
battle began to take its toll. But I knew Steve, and I knew that things had
only started to get under way.


The battle had now been under way over four minutes and neither side had to
seemed to break. Steve's muscles were positively scarlet in color and his
veins stuck out of his chest and arms like nothing I had ever seen before.


Steve was now breathing in and out in deeper and deeper gulps of air and his
face became more and more like a stone mask. I saw him crunch up in muscle
crowded muscle and even the deep blood vessels began to show. He was pouring
on a burst of incredible energy now by force of will alone and the bar began
to rise slowly. I heard a groan and saw Brad putting force a Herculean
effort. Even though he was not as defined as Steve, his much larger muscles
were quite impressive and powering up for a save. Steve turned totally
scarlet and began shaking all over his body with what looked like total
rage. The bar inched up again, but then stuck. Now it was Brad's turn and he
reached inside and returned the favor. Slowly the bar returned to its equal
state and I hear Steve begin to make what seemed like crying sounds. I
looked and his face was totally contorted, his body was straining to the
point that muscles were trying to tear right off the bones, and for just a
second I thought that Steve was about to give in, when he shook it off and
redoubled his effort. Right before my eyes I saw his body swell and swell
again. I could have put a pencil at least three inches deep between his pecs
and then, they would not only have held it there, I honestly would not have
been surprised if they crushed it. His biceps looked like two petrified
oranges under the skin of each arm and the blood vessels on each arm were
like ropes under the skin, branching off like the trees of a great oak tree.


The veins left his arms in a contest to see which could be the most dominant
and spread across his chest, neck and traps like a intricate root system.
And still he pushed harder and harder. His eyes were now closed and he began
to arch his back for more leverage. Both legs were rapped round the bottom
of the bench and his entire torso was shaking in what can only be described
as a focused convulsion. There were even dozens of large and small veins
over his abs. I think it I were to hit him with a baseball bat now, he would
even feel it and the bat would shatter off of his iron flexed body. Again
the bar began to move up a little and Steve's opponent was putting forth
what seemed to be an unbelievable effort. Each inch Steve pushed was hard
won, and there were entire seconds when there was no further movement. Then
I heard Steve begin to scream deep from within himself. The bar began to
move up now even faster and Brad was clearly struggling to try and stop it.


Steve's arms were shaking so badly now, I don't know how he managed any more
effort from them. Standing close to him I heard his self-argument against
the pain. Some how he had convinced himself that losing would be a matter of
life and death for himself and everyone that he loved. Then with one last
titanic effort he pushed his arms all the way up, forcing the bar deep into
the chest of Brad. I heard Brad scream in pain as the bar pressed into him.
And still, Steve kept pushing and pushing. I had to shake him several time
to get him to quit, at which point he began vomiting rolled over and passed
out. I was deeply concerned that he had burst a blood vessel in the brain,
but he was only out for a second or two and then sat up and began deep
breathing. Still, I think that Steve had given the maximum effort.
Later in a conversation Steve revealed to me that he was not going to give
up and if he lost, he would have done so because he had died trying. He also
said that this state that came over him scared the rational part of him to
no end. I was soon after this event that Steve and I parted company. While I
have other stories to tell, they would only pale in comparison to the three
tests I have related to you here. So, I am hanging up my pen for now. Later
I may write some Steve stories from the imagination, putting him in
different situations and projecting how he might respond based on my
knowledge of his attitude. If you want me to try this, just write me and let
me know.