The Secret to Bodybuilding: Locktober Edition (Patreon)

James tossed the medal onto the bed and sighed.

Another show, another last place finish. At least this time he got a medal to show for it. It was embarrassing to spend all of this time in the gym and really not have much to show for it when it came to competitions. James knew that the whole thing was subjective, that the judges have a subjective say in what happens each time he rolled up to the stage. It means that one day, he could look his best, but if Judge number three was having a bad day, then he wasn’t ever going to place.

Lately it seemed like no judge was ever having a good day. They were always having bad days.

The game is totally rigged.

James spent weeks after a show obsessing with the results. The judges feedback was clear: You just need to be bigger, whatever that meant. James was already five foot nine and a lean 150 pounds, most of it was pure muscle. The young bodybuilder spent his days eating grilled chicken and broccoli. He spent his Sunday’s meal prepping. James even skipped the office pizza party in favor for an extra hour on the stairmaster. He was the perfect version of himself.

And he always had last place to show for it.

After his second show in 14 weeks, James finally decided he needed to figure out what he could be doing differently, so he went up to one of the older bodybuilders who consistently ranked in the top 3 and nudged him for some advice.

“What do you mean?” Bryan was pulling on a dark colored hoodie while a woman next to him clutched a trophy that he was taking home with him. The trophy was an extreemly muscled man, flexing and grinning.

“You always win… how?” James said.

Bryan shrugged. “I just train a whole lot man.” And then, he walked away.

Disappointed at Bryan’s dismissive personality, James grabbed his hoodie and made his way to the stage door. Only, before he got too far, a woman tapped him on the shoulder.

“Yes?” James asked, clearly not in the mood to speak with anyone at the moment.

“Sorry,” the woman said, pushing up her glasses. “I couldn’t help but notice that you were wondering why Bryan keeps winning and you do not.”

James scowled. “I’m fine,” he kept walking to the door.

“Hold on,” the woman said grabbing his arm, “Aren’t you tired of coming in last place?”

James slowed down for a moment.

“I make winners you know.”

James stopped.

“They don’t lose, it takes sacrifice, but my program is drug free and you’ll win. I promise you that.”

“I’m not buying snake oil from you lady.” James said a bit more aggressively than he intended.

“And no one’s selling you snake oil either. Two weeks in my program and you’ll lift heavier than ever, you’ll run faster, but most of all, you’ll have the energy needed to cut your calories, mind your carbs, lift heavy and win.”

James was skeptical. There was no such thing as more energy and fewer calories. Those two things didn’t mesh well together.

“Two weeks?”

“It’s free. It’s just really hard. Most guys can’t do it.”

“I’m better than most guys.” James puffed his chest.

“Oh I doubt that.” The woman pushed her glasses back up against her nose again. For some reason, they kept sliding all over the place during this conversation. “It requires a short outpatient procedure. And most guys want out after the first few hours.”

James laughed. “Oh… so you’re going to inject me with steroids and tubes and wires like Bane.”

The woman laughed an angelic laugh that caught James off guard. “The things we’ll do so we can win huh? But no. No tubes and wires. Just one small device that ensures you have no distractions as you train to become your best and most powerful self. It’s pretty unconventional, but I can send you the evidence that it works.”

James paused for a moment. “Send me the link and I’ll think about it.”

The woman smiled and the two of them exchanged numbers. “If you take too long someone else will take your spot. I don’t train people who only go halfway. I only train those who go all in. I only train winners.”

***

That night, James read through the five case studies that Theresa sent over. He noticed her name when she signed the email she had sent over. The case studies were impressive, showing a few different guys who were flexing for the camera, in a nice before and after sort of way. In each of the testimonials, each of the men had one thing in common. They has started out as last place people, taking the L and then they had evolved into a first place winner, seemingly overnight.

But nowhere in the literature could James figure out what exactly was done to get them there. The pamphlet promised that the tactic was drug free and that both bodybuilding federations had given their express permission for this device to be used. James glanced at the email again where it said that Theresa only took on one client at a time and that she had a few more people who had expressed interest. He looked at the rest of the email and saw he needed to make a commitment to stick with the program for at least a month, otherwise she’d just go to the next person on the list.

James smiled to himself, he could do thirty days. He told the woman he was in.

***

“So are you ready?” Theresa asked as the two of them sat outside the doctors office.

“I still don’t know why I’m here,” James said reluctantly. “Can you tell me what’s about to happen?”

“We’re just going to install the device and then we’ll be on our way. You are going to see results in 24 hours. Tomorrow I will train you in the gym. You’ll see how incredible this is.”

“But what is the device?” James asked, slightly frustrated.

“Don’t worry, it’s a simple process. You’ll be fine. Besides, you’ve already signed the waivers.”

James scowled again. He’s been doing that a lot recently. Some of it was nerves. Some of it was yesterday’s show.

Soon his name was called and the two of them walked back into a very comfortable looking doctor's suite. After introducing herself, the doctor asked James if he had any allergies to any plastics, metals or anything. He shook his head looking around the room for any hint of what was going to happen next.

But the room gave no details. Instead the doctor smiled at James, her red lipstick shining bright against her olive skin.

“So to do this, you’ll need to disrobe and get up on the table for me. Don’t worry, it won’t be long, we’ll need to make sure the area is clean.”

“Is this like an IUD or something?” James asked nervously. For some reason, he had the irrational feeling that the doctor was about to stick her hand up his butt and move things around.

“Don’t be silly, those are for girls.” The doctor pointed to the table again. “Get up there.”

James nodded and pulled his clothes off. He had not been shy about disrobing since he started competing in bodybuilding. Luckily he was able to put on a pair of paper boxers to cover his modesty.

Theresa to her credit remarked that he looked really good. “I can’t wait to see what you look like after a month of this…”

James climbed onto the table and the doctor proceeded to pull straps from the side of the table.

“When we scan you,” the doctor said, “It’s absolutely critical that you stay still. This will ensure you do so okay?”

James eyed the cuffs and slowly nodded.

“You must be really serious about bodybuilding,” the doctor said, strapping him down to the table and tying the ankle restraints to his ankles. “Not many men would be willing to do this.”

As she tightened the last strap James asked, “What exactly are we about to do?” He found it strange that everyone was congratulating him for starting a new body building program but was not willing to tell him what the program is. James’ mind drifted to this irrational idea that he was about to get the same serum that Captain America received.

“Oh,” the doctor smiled as she pressed a button causing the table to recline slightly. “I’ll walk you through the process while it’s happening. It’ll take maybe ten minutes.”

James nodded and allowed himself to relax into the table.

The doctor pulled a flat screen from the edge of the bed, pushed a button and a whirring was heard as it scanned James’ body. Instantly in the corner of the room, the box started humming.

A few moments later, a ding was heard and the doctor smiled.

Then addressing James formally, she began to speak. “Now, as a reminder, you need to wear this for ninety days to get full results but you should start to see results in the first week. I know you said you committed to 30 days, but honestly, I’m thinking that you’ll be on the winners podium in ninety.” The doctor pulled something from the box and approached James.

“Now, we are going to first take these off really quickly,” the doctor said, tugging at the paper boxers and ripping them off James.

James squirmed at the sudden reveal of his private parts and instinctively tried to cover himself up. But the straps held him to the table. His muscles strained. But if the doctor noticed James’ distress, she ignored it and instead opened the box.

In her hand was a curved cylinder, freshly printed. The cylinder looked about three inches in length and had a pretty narrow diameter. What was unusual is that it seemed to curve down, as if a finger was curled in on itself.

“This is the device,” the doctor said grinning to the room. James looked at Theresa.

“Wait, that’s not going up my ass is it?”

The room laughed.

James even found himself chuckling at the absurdity of it all.

But he had no idea what was happening so he was grasping at straws.

“No silly,” the doctor said. “You signed all the paperwork, this is going over your penis.”

James gasped. “Wait a second… there’s no way… hold on…”

But the doctor had been moving as she spoke.

Taking his balls in one hand and the cage in the other, she proceeded to attach it to his body. The ring went behind his balls, almost as if it were anchoring the entire device to his body. At first James thought the device wasn’t going to fit over his flaccid anatomy, but in an instant, the lubed pleasurable hands of the doctor slid the device in place and there was an audible electronic click.

“There we go.” The doctor said, standing back and admiring her handiwork.

James looked down and too his horror saw what exactly had happened to him.

As the doctor helped him sit up and began to untie him from his bonds, James felt woozy. The device was transparent, clear even. He could see nestled inside, between the hard material, his penis just sat there, soft and unmoving. As the doctor finally finished untying him, Theresa spoke.

“So I know this is probably a bit of a shock to you, but you need to trust me. This is part of the plan.” Theresa had a broad smile on her face as she continued.

But James had stopped listening a long time ago and instead was pulling at the device, trying to get it off of him. But the more he struggled, the more he realized, the design was genius.

For starters, the ring that went behind his balls seemed to be the mechanism that stopped him from doing any damage. The only way he would be able to get the device off is if he slipped it around his balls somehow. And the ring was so small, the only way that was happening was if he cut off his manhood, something he’d never do.

But the thing that scared him the most was the sheath that went over his penis. It was as hard as steel and despite looking like clear plastic was obviously something significantly stronger. While it wasn’t heavy, it felt completely and utterly unbreakable.

James gawked at the device for several more seconds until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

“I’d stop trying to touch yourself if I were you,” Theresa said, pulling out her cell phone.

“Get this off of me!” James growled in her direction, baring his teeth at her.

Theresa just smiled and pressed a button on her phone and a sharp shock nearly knocked James off his feet.

“What the fuck was that?’ James was gasping, worried something had gone wrong. What if the device had short circuited? What if it damaged him permanently and he needed to have surgery or see a doctor or something? The back of James’ mind reminded him that he was in a doctor's office.

A glance at Theresa told him that he needn’t be worried. Based on the intense smile on her face, she had clearly caused this “shock” to happen.

“Each time you touch your device, that’s what’s going to happen. I don’t want you hurting yourself while you’re in the program.”

“The program?” James asked, completely forgetting about the real reason they had come to the medical center in the first place.

“Yes James,” Theresa handed James his underwear and pants. “You told me you wanted to win. And I told you I’d get you there.”

“But what does this have to do with anything?” James had grabbed his underwear and was quickly pulling it up over his quads. His mind was already thinking about what kind of tool he could use to break this device in order to get it off of him.

“Oh trust me, read the program literature when you get home and then we’ll talk. We start in fourteen days.”

“Fourteen days?”

“Yes,” Theresa paced up her purse and started walking towards the door. “Spend your time getting used to the training device and then I’ll see you at the gym in two weeks. Come prepared to work otherwise you’re not winning.”

And with that, she left the room.

James shook his head to try and clear the haze that had entered his mind. There was no way this was happening. There was no fucking way this was happening to him. Just an hour ago, he was walking into the doctor's office ready to try some new drug or something and now he balls were locked in some weird device put on by these sadistic women. James wasn’t going to stand for this, not in the least bit. No. Instead he’d go straight to the font desk and complain.

The front desk was less than sympathetic. They explained to him that his doubts were normal, that he would have to come back next month for an evaluation with the doctor. When James tried to explain to her that he had not signed up for this and that he wanted the device off before he called his lawyer, the young woman simply reminded him that he had gladly signed the papers hardly an hour ago. She didn’t even look up when she said it. She just kept typing and didn’t miss a beat.

James, deciding he wasn’t about to make a fool of himself and appear on the Public Freakout Reddit thread, resolved to go home and try to use the tools he had at his disposal to solve this situation on his own. He was after all, a man and men decided things. Even if his dick was locked in this transparent cage.

Only this was a tougher problem than he considered.

Each time his hands touched the device, he received a shock on his lower regions that felt like he was being punched in the gut. After five times of enduring the pain of what had to have been a horse stepping on his abdomen, James decided he needed to actaully figure out the problem in steps. FIrst he had to get around the no touching rule and then he had to break this stupid cage to pieces, without damaging his pride and joy. Exhausted and feeling defeated, James grabbed a pair of shorts, slumped down on the couch and opened his laptop.

Maybe reading the details of the device would  give him some way to get out of this situation, but the more he read, the more hopeless things seemed.

For starters, it looked like instead of agreeing to a three month program, he had agreed to an “undefined amount of time.” The rationale was that it was going to be as long as it took for him to reach his goal. The documentation said that people entered this program voluntarily every single year for several reasons. Some people wanted to drop weight, others entered because they needed to pass their graduate level classes. James shuddered when he realized that there were others who did this before they got married, taking a vow of celibacy so their first night with their new partner would be significantly special.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Based on this pamphlet, people were “locking themselves up” on purpose. He could never. James openly scoffed. He noticed there was even a support group for those who were in the program and needed support.

James couldn’t help but think he was too smart for this.

Yet, here he was, locked up on his couch reading about this program that kept his dick in a box with no way out in sight.

The documentation explained to him that the theory of the program was simple. You were more likely to hit your goals when you were able to focus on your goals. And that meant eliminating distractions and in this case, his penis was the distraction.

James snorted at that assertion. It was absolutely absurd.

For decades men and women had been competing in bodybuilding shows and they were probally still fucking their wives, boyfriends nad everything in between. Though the irony wasn’t lost on him. Usually when you got close to competition it was hard to actually have sex.

Men talked about gas station pills and swapped little blue pills in the locker room.

Your body goes through a phase where it just gets tired and pretty much decides that sex isn’t in the cards. But that was usually the last two weeks of competition. He was over three months away from his next show. There was no fucking way that he’d go that long without fucking someone or something.

Did this mean he couldn't masturbate either?

James yelled in frustration to no one in particular. He noticed on the bottom of the page, there were a few program warnings and on the very back of the pamphlet, there was a line that discussed how the program ended.

Termination of the program is subject to agreement from the coach and client. Both have to agree the program has ended in order for the key to be delivered and the unlocking ceremony to be scheduled. Locked participant only has three times to ask for program termination before lock up becomes permanent.

James glared at this sentence. So both he and Theresa would have to agree in order for this prison sentence to end. And the worst part, he’d only have three times to ask before the lock up became completely permanent.

How could they do this to him?

James’ mind was reeling aggressively. He figured he could just explain to Theresa what happened. He didn’t realize this was what was going to happen. James didn’t know that the program was this intense, and required this kind of commitment. What if he told the evil woman that he had decided to give up bodybuilding all together? Surely she’d let him go and set her sights on someone else who might actually need this sort of thing to push them to the next level.

So James took a deep breath and picked up the phone. He called Theresa.

“James,” she answered with a smile radiating through the phone. “Is everything okay?”

James wasted no time. “Look, I feel like, this is a bit much for me.” He was nervous, but the more he spoke the more his confidence seemed to radiate in the right direction. “I want to win this bodybuilding show, but this locking thing isn't for me. Let’s just meet at the clinic tomorrow, remove this and forget this ever happened. How does that sound?”

James asked the question at the end in an attempt to sound completely reasonable.

Theresa answered. “So are you saying you’re not man enough for this program?” Her voice sounded sweet, innocent even.

James took a moment and decided to play along. “Yes, I am not man enough for this program.”

There was a small laugh on the other end of the phone. “Of course you’re not, you locked away your penis and gave me the key.”

James was silent, fighting the urge to yell.

Theresa broke the silence first.  “So are you asking to end your lock up James?”

The way she said “James” make him a little nervous.

“I’m not asking.” James said with the confidence of Ronnie Coleman lifting heavy, light weight. “I’m telling you.”

“Nope,” Theresa said. “Was there anything else that you needed?”

James scoffed. “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not going to end this? I told you, this is a mistake.”

“And I don’t agree with you.” Theresa insisted. “And based on the agreement we signed, both of us need to agree if I am going to hand over this key.”

James was silent.

“So are you ready to do your first task?”

“Excuse me?” James was confused. “Task?”

“Yes.”

“What do you mean?”

“As part of the program you agree to a task every week of my choosing. A way to keep you aligned with your goals.”

“Where does it say that?” James’ breathing quickened. What was she going to have him do? He searched his mind for any hint about what was to come. Was she going to make him do chores, maybe something like wash her bike or clean her house. James shuddered at the thought of cleaning a giant house someplace with just a toothbrush as he “learned disipline.”

But after reminding him that he has signed a contract without reading all the details, Theresa told him that all he needed to do was write an essay about what winning meant to him. Ten single spaced pages about why he wanted to win his body building show.

James blinked once.

“What happens if I don’t do the task?”

A sharp pain shot through his groin.

“That’s the setting on low. Your paper is due in two weeks when I see you next.”

James straightened back up clutching his abdomen.

“Oh and James,” Theresa’s voice was like soft jelly on his ears over the phone.

“Yes?”

“You get two more times to ask before the key is gone forever.”

James swallowed hard.

This was going to be a long two weeks.

***