[AlexG]

Well, even if you're already muscular, not only do you want to stay that way (maintenance) but usually its also a case of continual self improvement / self betterment, mental toughness as well as in gaining a stronger / larger physique.

Not to mention the fact, for most, if not all, its also physically enjoyable.

I've used this "evolutionary" aspect in some of my stories, with the characters gradually excelling beyond what they originally were invested with in overall size and strength.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[stmercy2020]

Some great answers in here so far.  Obviously, I've used some of what's been mentioned in Sylph's ongoing little story (I was going to say saga, but that too pretentious even for me…)

Now here's a follow-up…

Your character, having decided to go to the gym, and not being interested in just outright wrecking stuff, discovers that standard gyms simply don't have the equipment needed to push the upper limit of their strength under normal circumstances.  How should that character train?

As I understand it, there comes a point where doing more reps simply ceases to give returns on the energy invested, so, for example, doing a thousand barbell curls might sound impressive, but it's really no more than heavy cardio…  I'm thinking specifically of Dicey when I ask this question, but it's a question that could apply to pretty much anybody in the superstrong FM genre, so help me out again, please.

You guys are the greatest- makes writing here fun!

[David C. Matthews]

Great topic.  I'll be paying attention to this thread myself, because I'll be reaching the point in the Tetsuko series (one of these years  ;D ) where she'll have to visit a gym for the first time in her superstrong form, and find out that none of the weights will give her muscles a challenge.  It's a situation my other characters don't worry about because, for example, Satin Steele is a normal bodybuilder of impressive-but not supernormal-strength, while Dyna's strength is magical/pseudoscientific in origin, and so has no need for gym maintenance.

('Course what'll probably happen is that Sonya will cobble together one of these special machines that increases local gravity so that she can lift a dumbbell that's the same size as "normal" bells but "weighs" several tons – not an original idea.)

[John]

I usually have a really strong female or male in my stories have a workout partner of greater or equal strength.  That way the two can do special counter-resistance exercises like bench-press-like pushes and whatnot.  This way, as one gets stronger, the workout buddy gets stronger as well. 

Of course they need some sort of stabilizing element, so I usually implement a strong strap that wraps around both, or have them in a sturdy building or rock cavity to stabilize it. 

I never really get my fantasy characters uncontrollably strong (for example, a 1500 lb bench is about the highest I go normally), so I don't have many problems 'containing' the strength.  OK, I do sometimes have girls lifting elephants off the the ground by one side (jungle girl 'taming' nature), so I do get a little carried away. 

I guess if I can't fathom something happening realistically, I usually don't do it.  Then again, realistic for me isn't very limited, so I put all types of weirdo scenarios in my view of 'reality'.  Besides, if I need something really requiring a lot of power, I just make the character smart enough to invent their own solution, if not in a technologically advanced setting.

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