A Program of Self-Improvement

For several days following my visit to Liu, all the musculature in my groin complained about the treatment which it had received. When my wife commented on my awkward gait, I made up a lame story about accidentally slipping while getting out of my shower. My resentment was appeased by the evidence that Liu too was suffering from the aftereffects of my visit. She performed all her movements, and especially those requiring her stomach muscles, gingerly. We observed each but hardly communicated until, on the following Friday, she came to my office to find out whether I had had enough or wanted to resume my training. After asking her the same question and receiving an affirmative, albeit hesitant, answer, I told her to expect me at her apartment the following morning.

It is one thing to submit oneself to an ordeal for the first time and quite another thing to do so again. The first time one's courage is bolstered by the excitement of the unknown, but thereafter the novelty has warn off and one already knows what fate awaits you. Thus it is not surprising that Liu and I had reservations about putting ourselves again at the others' mercy. After I had undressed and joined Liu on the mat, I attempted to raise her enthusiasm by first examining her belly to check for signs of progress toward the goal which I had set for her. For the purposes of her examination, I had her display her tummy for me by sitting on her haunches and leaning back so that her tummy was arched into a bridge anchored to the mat by her shoulders and buttock. In this position, Liu's belly was ideally presented for inspection, and I spent several minutes tracing my fingers along the contours of its surface and palpating the tightly drawn muscles beneath. I did not expect dramatic changes to its shape, and I did not find any. On the other hand, I did sense that there was a subtle increase in the curvature of her belly and was pleased to note that, even in this position, it no longer receded as deeply into her pelvic girdle. After completing my inspection, I congratulated Liu on her progress.

As distinguished from her, I had not introduced any equipment into Liu's first training routine. Thinking that this omission had been a mistake, this time I had brought along a medicine ball of the sort often recommended for abdominal exercises. Telling her to remain as she was, I rose to fetch the ball. When I returned, standing with my feet in the V between her bent legs, I explained the initial role that the medicine ball would play.

"The purpose of this exercise is to make you keep your abdominal muscles hard even though you are not calling on them to perform any particular task. The role of the ball is to provide motivation. Namely, the ball weighs about fifteen pounds, and I will hold it suspended over your tummy. Every once in a while, I will drop the ball so that falls in the depression created by your navel. You are to cup your hands on either side of your stomach so that you can catch the ball when it strikes your tummy. Catching it will be made more difficult by the fact that, in order to prevent you from knowing when or from what height the ball is headed toward its target, you are required to shut your eyes. I think that you will find this exercise less arduous than doing sit-ups, but I am confident that it will help you learn to keep your stomach presented to its best advantage."

Dutifully, Liu closed her eyes, placed her hands on either side of her bellybutton so that they formed a little barrier, and clenched her stomach muscles. In part because it was clear that Liu was making a concerted effort and in part because I was loath to disrupt the aesthetic consequences of her effort, I held my fire for a couple of minutes. However, when at last I perceived a slight diminution in the rigidity of her muscles, I did drop the ball. It landed on its target with a loud splat and elicited an equally loud gasp from Liu's lips. I let it rest there for a couple of seconds before retrieving it. When I resumed my watch, I was pleased to note that its impact had encouraged Liu to renew her efforts and was amused by the pinkish flush circling her navel.

I continued this relatively benign persecution of Liu's tummy for about ten minutes. Having absorbed the impact of the ball a total of five times, the region around her bellybutton was no longer pink: it had become a livid red. My original intention had been to have her immediately do a set of sit-ups, but, for the sake of variety, I chose to continue with the medicine ball for a while. Thus, once she had recovered her breath and was sitting on the mat, I told Liu to balance herself on her buttock with her feet and chest lifted off the floor. I then handed her the ball and told her to pass it from side to side without allowing any part of her body, other than her buttock, touch the floor. After she had successfully figured out how to follow these instructions, I moved behind her, undid the strap of her halter, and cupped my hands around her now exposed breasts. Working in unison with the shifting ball, I gently squeezed and teased the nipple of whichever breast the twisting of her body was making more available. Although Liu's tummy was suffering, she persevered until, after she had been at it for three minutes, I allowed her stop. Exhausted, she dropped the ball, lowered her legs, and slumped back, but I refused her the relief which her abdominal muscles craved. Instead, I had her immediately bend her legs and perform sit-ups of the arduous sort which I had taught her about last time, this time I making her do fifteen.

It took Liu some time to recover from the workout through which I had put her. However, as soon as she had, she was intent on taking her revenge. She began, as she had the last time, by stretching my legs by placing her feet against my ankles and pulling forward as she leaned back. She then attached the strap to my legs and levered my legs apart, this time making sure that my feet were half a foot closer to the floor than they had been when she stretched them before. Ignoring my moans of protest, she rose and stood so that she was framed by the V of my splayed legs, She then divested herself of what remained of her scant clothing to reveal her body whose skin glistened with sweat from her recent workout. Fixing her eyes on mine, Liu brought her arms forward and placed her palms together as if she were praying. With her wrists just below her breasts and her fingers partially hidden in the cleavage between her breasts, she made a alluring image of femininity, one which was simultaneously beguilingly sensual and yet dauntingly composed. From that position, she flowed through a sequence of yoga poses.

In spite of the pain in my groin and the fact that she was responsible for causing it, I was mesmerized by Liu's performance. There was something deeply erotic about the contrast between the serenity of the expression on her face and the blatant sexuality of her movements, and her role in my pain only enhanced my susceptibility to her charms. At one point she lowered herself to the mat, lay on her back, and spread her legs in the way she had in my office. Lifting her head high enough for me to see her face through my and her own spread legs, she informed me that there were twenty minutes left in the half hour that I would remain stretched. By then my ligaments and tendons had loosened, and my pain had receded to a tolerable level. Nonetheless, I was taken aback by the news that I would have to tolerate it for twice as long as I already had. Perhaps in response to my look of distress, Liu rose from her supine position and knelt just behind my raised legs. Placing a hand on either side, she began palpating the sinews along my inner thighs and pelvis. At first I thought that she intended to provide me some comfort, but I soon realized that her real purpose was to assess the progress which I had made. Of particular interest to her was the extent to which the sockets in my hips had opened, and for this purpose she probed the tendons and ligaments which attach my legs to my pelvis. With clinical detachment, she conducted her examination with skill and caused me less discomfort than I would have guessed such an intrusive procedure would entail. After completing her investigation, she leaned back and reported her findings.

"I am pleased by your progress. The ligaments which hold the ball joints at the top of your femurs in the sockets of your pelvis have stretched enough to afford your legs greater mobility. Women's hips are made so that their sockets are further on the sides and quite easily opened. Men's hips are narrower and their sockets are less accessible, but, as your body is now demonstrating, they can nonetheless be prised open. Having gone to the trouble of getting yours open, I would be remiss to not take advantage of their newly found flexibility. and so I, before I release you I will try to think of an appropriate way to use it."

Having given me her diagnosis, she stood up again and resumed her yoga exercises. This time she balanced on one leg and raised the other to the back until she could clasp it by the ankle. She then drew the raised leg up while bending her torso back so that her entire upper body was arched into a circle mounted on a single pedestal. As I had been when she first performed for me, I was struck by her resemblance to a Henry Moore statue and could not but admire the discipline required to assume and maintain this resemblance. She held this pose for nearly a full minute, giving me ample time to appreciate the resemblance of her sensuous body to a piece of sculpture, before repeating it with the other leg. Being totally naked, her body stimulated more than my aesthetic interests. Indeed, by the time that she had returned her second leg to the floor, my penis had made an appearance and was adamantly asserting its presence my slayed legs.

Always alert to manifestations of sexual excitement and never shy about her part in causing them, Liu smiled at my erection and came forward to straddle my recumbent body.

"I see that your libido has triumphed once again and that I can take some of the credit for its victory. I now want to see whether we can use your excitement to make the remaining ten minutes of your training routine a memorable experience for both of us. I have occasionally wondered whether it is possible to make love in a swing, and I am glad for the opportunity to find out with you playing a dual role: both as the swing and as my partner. If nothing else, this experiment will test both the flexibility of your groin and the ability of your sexual apparatus to perform in the face of adversity."

Without further delay, Liu took aim and squatted down toward her target. Because my legs formed a V rather than a U, her hips encountered my inner thighs so that she was suspended with her vulva at least half a foot above the tip of my penis. Undeterred, she slowly transferred more and more of her weight off her feet and onto her perch. As she did so, my thighs were forced further apart so that what had been a V was becoming a U that could accommodate the further descent of her buttock. After a minute or so, the tip of my penis was able to separate the lips of her vulva, but could go no further. Sensing that my tendons would need time to stretch before deeper penetration would be possible, Liu bided her time by flexing her pelvis back and forth so that the tip of my penis would rub against her clitoris. Needless to say, this form of mutual masterbation was excruciatingly frustrating for both of us. On the other hand, it was having the desired effect. Namely, my instinctive response was to thrust my pelvis toward hers, and with each trust I got closer to my goal.

When I was at last able to enter Liu fully, there were only a few minutes left of the time Liu had prescribed for my stretching. However, by then neither of us was watching the clock.