Joel & Me

[Penguin]

Here is an old story I found on my hard drive. I don't know who translated it.

Joel And Me
By Bicepman (translated and edited from German)

Joel and me. That's a story in itself. As it happens, he was my main rival in contests involving strength. He thought of himself as the strongest boy in our 10th grade class and saw me as his only competition. So one day he challenged me to arm wrestle. He propped up his arm in front of me during a break at school and said, "Hey Justin, we've never arm wrestled against each other."

I had put off his challenges before, because I was afraid of his strength. I was worried he might really be stronger than me and so I avoided him. But this time was different.

"I think you might be too strong for me, Joel," I answered, "but let's put it to the test!" I set up my arm and he eagerly grasped my hand.

"Finally it comes down to the ultimate duel!" grinned Joel.

We couldn't see our biceps because we wore sweaters. But it didn't matter. I knew Joel had unbelievable biceps. He told us before of his training and repeatedly proved his enormous strength against other boys in the boxing ring. We started pressing slowly and I noticed that I forced Joel's arm a bit to the left. So I gave it everything I had. I actually succeeded in forcing his hand another inch or two down on its side. There we hit a deadlock and remained frozen as our hands strained with exertion.

"Boy, you're pretty strong all right, Justin! But now I'll show you who has the strongest arm in the class!" he hissed, and then gave everything he had. He raised my hand back up and then with enormous force started pressing it down on my side. I was completely overwhelmed by his tremendous strength. Finally I was able to force another deadlock with my hand almost half-way down.

"You really are stronger than I thought!" grunted Joel. "But you don't stand a chance against me... give up!"

I ignored him and gave it my all again but couldn't manage to move his arm up more than an inch. He had my hand in his fist like a vice and his arm was like a marble statue. Rock-hard and immovable. Finally the strength slowly went out of my arm and he forced my arm down to the desk.

"Yeah! I won!! I finally proved that I'm stronger than you. I had suspected it the whole time... but now I finally beat you!"

He boasted about it and repeatedly challenged anyone in our class. Not even the strongest could resist his powerful biceps. He beat all of them -- Ray, Will, Mark, simply everyone. None of them could force his hand even a fraction of an inch down on his side, as I could. With winter not over I hadn't yet seen him pose bare-armed with his biceps flexed. But one day he invited me to come to his house and led me into his room. I hadn't been there for a long time and he showed me his two 25-pound dumbbells.

"Wow, no wonder you are so strong. This weight is really heavy!" I said as I raised it for a few bicep curls.

"Yeah, no pain, no gain!" he said, grinning. Then he took his sweatshirt off and was barechested in front of me. "Put your hand on my upper arm!" he said as he held his right arm out horizontally. I did as he asked and put my right hand on his upper arm. You could feel the nice mass Joel had in his biceps. His upper arm was really well-developed. "Now, squeeze!" he said as he bent his forearm up slowly. A thick ball of muscle bulged up under my hand into an enormous bicep. After he had bent his arm up to 90 degrees he said mockingly, "Well? That's some bicep, huh? Yours can't measure up to that! But wait -- that's not all!"

"Not all?" I thought. I was already surprised at the way his enormous stone-hard bicep filled up my hand. He bent his arm a bit more and my hand almost got trapped as his bicep bulged up even thicker and higher.

"That's the absolute maximum flex! Is that unreal or what? Nobody in our class can match that!" he said proudly.

"You're right. Your bicep is the thickest in our class... I can't beat that!"

"Put the measuring tape around my bicep," he said, and I obeyed gladly. It measured almost 15 inches and once more I was stunned. "Now you," he said and lowered his arm. I pulled off my sweater and pushed the right sleeve of my tee-shirt up high. Then I hit my best bicep pose. My bicep wasn't bad either, but it definitely couldn't match his. His was still bigger than mine. And I thought mine was already getting quite massive and thick. He grabbed my arm and wrapped the tape measure around it, grinning smugly.

"Fourteen and a half inches! You could probably use some more training, huh?” he chuckled. Come on, this time we'll arm wrestle bare-armed!" he challenged.

I objected by saying that he had already beat me. But he wouldn't take no for an answer, and finally we both lay down on the floor facing each other. We gripped hands and we both eyed our thick, bulging biceps. "Wow, I've never arm wrestled like this!" I said.

"I have, against Ralph and Steve who were here this week," Joel said. Interesting, I thought.

We began to press slowly and finally Joel said, "Now, give it everything you've got!" I leaned fully against his arm and he moved a small distance back onto his side. He wasn't quick enough to resist my power move and was obviously angry at himself. He forced my hand back up to the starting position and said, "You've got some real strength in your biceps... I couldn't hold you at first, but now you won't move my arm even a fraction of an inch! Try it!!" he hissed.

I gave it everything I had, leaning with my whole weight on his hand, but he didn't move a bit, as he had promised. He stared at me, grinning widely, and tightening his strong grip from time to time showing me how easily he could resist my best effort. He controlled the match as he wanted. Finally he wanted to finish it and leaned with all his strength on my hand.

"Aah!" I groaned and slowly gave way. Still, he couldn't get the super fast win he wanted. It took him quite a while and all his strength to force my arm lower, but of course he could already sense victory. He looked from our hands down to his bicep over and over, seeing how much more pumped it could get. He caught me looking at his bicep and said, "Envious? You'd like to have a bicep as big as mine, wouldn't you?" I felt a shiver go up my spine.

Finally, my hand touched the floor and I was pinned. I was a broken man. I had given everything I had and he had finished me off calmly and coolly. His bicep was pure power! I was no match for him. We stood up and he again showed me his victorious bicep. I put my hand on it and he said, "Now squeeze it as hard as you can. That's solid muscle!" I did as he said and tried to crush his bicep with my right hand. He bit his lip and stared at his bicep as he flexed it as tightly as possible.

"Well, is that all you've got? I can't feel a thing!" he hissed. His bicep was as hard as concrete. He laughed and I gave up. It was unbelievable!

"Come over here!" he said. He took one of his 25-pound dumbbells and gave me the other one. "You lift yours up once and then me, and then you again and then me, etc. -- until one of us gives up!" I raised my dumbbell, then he raised his as he stared at his bicep. I managed to do 18 reps but I was slowing down so much that I didn't think I could go any further. He still easily raised his weight.

"Come on, don't quit or else you'll never get as big a bicep as me!"

I managed to do 19 and 20 and then I had to give up. "I can do lots more!" he said, and kept going. I counted to over 30 before he finally slowed down. He put the weight down and his bicep looked even more huge!

"You want to feel it again? It doesn't get any harder!" he said, and stared at his bicep with a sneer as he flexed it as hard as possible. I gripped his huge bicep and tried again with all my strength to crush it down smaller, but I didn't have a chance. "Try again, with both hands!" he said, and I did. He grinned as he looked at my hands, which now encircled his bicep completely, but couldn't squeeze it down even the slightest bit.

"There's still one more test," he said, and got a ring toss game out of his closet. "These rings are pretty big, huh?" he said. They looked big enough. The plastic rings were about the size of a CD, almost 5 inches across. Joel grinned at me again with his smug grin and put his hand through one of the rings, moving it to his upper arm. He held the arm out horizontally from his body. The ring hung quite loosely around his upper arm and I didn't realize yet what he wanted to do. Then, however, he started bending his forearm up slowly and his huge bicep slowly filled out the ring. When I realized what he was trying to do, I thought to myself, it can't be done! Joel had bent his forearm up to 90 degrees and his bicep had filled out the entire diameter of the ring now.

"Well, what do you think?" Joel asked, grinning.

"You're going to try and break the ring with your bicep? You can't do that! The ring is way too thick!" I said.

"Then, check it out!" he said, and he made a tight fist and continued to bend his forearm slowly into a full flex. The ring made a little squeaking sound, but it didn't break. Joel stared at his bicep with an angry grimace and turned his wrist all the way to the rear. His bicep bulged up still more and I saw a crack start to form on top of the ring, where his bicep was trying to break through with all its strength. Joel let his bicep relax a bit and then suddenly flexed it again as hard as possible. CRACK! The ring split open and it burst from his arm!

"Strong, huh?" he said. He gave me a ring and told me to try it. I slipped it on and flexed my bicep as hard as possible. But I couldn't fill it out as tightly as Joel. Also, my bicep was not as peaked as his. I gave up and gave him back the ring.

"That was pretty weak! Even Ralph could do it. Have you seen his biceps before? I tell ya, it's unbelievable! Not as big as ours, but the peak is incredible. It can crack the ring, too! Have you ever arm wrestled him?" I answered no. "Hey then, I think it's time!"

I frowned at this because I didn't think Ralph was in the same class as Joel and me, at least when comparing strength against strength.

Joel decided to call Ralph and he was there in ten minutes, removing his jacket to reveal a tank top that showed off his lean-muscled arms. They looked a lot better than I remembered and I figured he must have been working out over the winter.

"Is he showing off his biceps again?" Ralph winked. "I've already been through that. And were you just as helpless against him as I was?"

"I lost every time!" I said.

"He failed the ring test!" Joel said.

"What?" said Ralph. "Even I could do that. Show me your bicep, Justin!"

I showed him my flexed arm. You can't think you have a better arm than this, I thought. Ralph felt my bicep and said, "Wow, almost as thick as Joel's, huh? Nice and massive. But now let's compare!"

He positioned himself in front with his back to me and raised his arm in front of mine. Then he slowly bent his forearm and said, "Wanna bet I can completely cover your bicep with mine?" Joel positioned himself six feet in front of us with his eyes level with Ralph's upper arm, where a ball of muscle raised up the likes of which I had never seen. Not as massive, but tremendously defined and high peaked. Ralph held his arm flexed at 90 degrees and Joel said, "Already I can't see Justin's bicep anymore."

"Okay, then I'll give you the rest now," Ralph said, and stared at his bicep as he lowered his arm into the full-flexed pose.

"Oh man! It's like a total eclipse the way your bicep covers Justin's! Switch positions now."

I changed places with Ralph and like him began to flex my bicep slowly. Ralph looked at my big bicep bulging up slowly and tried to make his rise up even higher than mine. I was now flexed 90 degrees and Joel said, "I can still see Ralph's bicep clearly." I came to the final bicep pose and flexed it as hard as I could.

"Ralph's bicep is still bulging up higher than yours!" Joel said. "I can still see his big ball of muscle."

I was ready to give up when Ralph said, "Check this out!" He stared intensely at his bicep and flexed it even harder.

"Boy, that gives Ralph an even bigger advantage!" Joel said. Ralph turned his clenched fist as far as possible to the rear and his bicep contracted a bit more.

"That's the absolute maximum!" Ralph hissed.

"Wow, Ralph is clearly the winner! From here it looks like your bicep is nearly an inch higher than Justin's."

"Yeah!" Ralph shouted. "That's some bicep, huh? I'll show you what else I can do!" He slipped one of those plastic rings over his arm and bent his forearm up 90 degrees. "You know you're good when you can do this with your bicep!" he said and then bent his arm into a full flex. The muscle bulged up like an elevator rising and the ring cracked briefly and then burst from his upper arm.

"Wow!" I said, and Ralph grinned at me and made his bicep bounce up and down.

"How big are your biceps, Ralph?" I asked.

He grabbed the measuring tape and handed it to me. "Let's find out!" He raised his right arm and flexed his bicep. I put the tape around the thickest part of his huge bicep and measured exactly 14-1/8 inches. "Oh wait... that's not everything yet!" he grinned. Apparently he hadn't yet flexed his bicep as hard as he could. The tape moved out to 14-1/4 inches and stopped there. Then he turned his fist to the rear and the tape moved an 1/8 inch further to 14-3/8 inches!

"Well, how do we compare?" Ralph said.

"His was 14-1/2 inches, Ralph!" Joel said.

"Hey, not bad!" Ralph said, surprised.

"All right! It's muscle power time! Arm wrestle each other!" Joel ordered.

"Okay!" Ralph said and lay on the floor. He set up his bare arm and flexed his bicep on and off. I lay before him on the floor and gripped his hand.

"Now we'll find out which one of your biceps is stronger!" Joel said as he put his hands on ours. He waited a few seconds, then released them as he shouted, "GO!"

Once again I moved my opponent's arm down! I gave everything I had and forced Ralph several inches down on his side. But he came up again... almost up to the start position. I managed a deadlock there and we stayed in that position quite a while. Finally, Ralph took a deep breath and forced my hand all the way back up.

"Well? I'm stronger than you thought, huh?" Ralph hissed, and nodded down at his powerful bicep.

Joel put his hands on our fully flexed biceps and said, "Boy, that feels great! Ralph, you can do it! Come on! Justin's bicep is thicker than yours, but your bicep is more powerful... come on!"

Ralph grit his teeth and urged himself on. Our hands were trembling now, and I felt Ralph had the encouragement he wanted. Joel had released my bicep and now felt only Ralph's huge bulging bicep.

"I can feel the power in your bicep! Come on, already... finish him off, Ralph!"

Ralph's bicep now pumped even more strength into his arm and I started to give way, trembling. I could not hold him any longer. Slowly but surely my arm moved toward the floor. Finally I gave up and Ralph slammed my hand to the ground.

"YEAAH!!! I WON!! I'm stronger than you -- ha! Even though my bicep is not as thick as yours, you couldn’t beat my super-peak! You know from Joel what comes next -- try and squeeze it!" Ralph said. He jumped up and hit a victorious bicep pose right in front of me.

I gripped his pumped up bicep with my right hand and felt the huge bulge under my fingers. I squeezed as hard as I could while Ralph stared at his arm with a big grin, knowing the super solid bicep under my hand was actually forcing my fingers up higher as he concentrated on making it swell into a rock-hard peak. I gave up and Ralph let out a triumphant yell as he made his bicep bounce up and down.

Joel put his arm around Ralph’s shoulders and they both grinned at me. I felt pretty miserable knowing that I not only had lost to Joel, but even Ralph now had muscles that were more impressive than mine. "Geez, Justin, we both seem to be stronger than you and your biceps can't compare to ours! Who would have thought that?" said Joel about the day's events.

[Ryne]

Honestly, it's a good story. I'd like it continued though. It left me feeling a bit depressed i think. Needs more work, but it's still got a real good foundation to be a really great story! Thanks for the post.

[Adam]

I would like to see it continued as well. It seems to end just when it should be getting started!