As Eli got back home to retrieve his workout gear, unbeknownst to him the secret serum of the fountain of youth was already at work within his body, as diluted as it was by the process of being brought up and put into his water. While it would not regress him all at once as it would if he had directly bathed or drank from it, it would exact its toll upon his age regardless. Eli was already noting as he got changed that his bodily aches and pains were fading, and that it seemed his usual workout gear was not displaying his protruding gut quite so much. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
He didn't think to ask a single question about it, more taking it as a sign of good news ahead. Not that he had any reason to believe in such alleged fairy tales. His workout gear consisted of a white thin fabric tank top, long shorts, and workout gloves. Very budget gear, nowhere near the veritable arsenal of preworkouts, bands, belts and arm mounted phone cases that Terry, his usual partner in the gym, brought to the gym.
As Eli got out and back to the car, he noted he was feeling more energetic today, like he'd just had a shot of Red Bull. Well, he supposed that with the good news in mind he had reason to feel excited and in good shape. Even though he hadn't really changed very much if at all. The tonic was really just re-energizing him at present, acting as its base line as something that returned vitality to those who imbibed in it. And indeed it would not be long before Eli recognized some other returns of vitality.
As he drove, he found himself noticing once again that the town was full of some rather pretty young women. He knew he shouldn't, as he was a married man after all, but he couldn't help it.
And indeed as he drove he found himself getting angry again at the various less than well inclined drivers durdling along on the road. He honked the horn at one man eagerly tapping away on his phone, and then pondered when he went back to getting this riled by road folks. Eli had previously just decided life was what it was and there was no point honking at guys like that...
But it would not be long before something more pleasant began occurring to Eli, or rather, something pleasant began occurring under Eli's clothes. After his eyes wandered a little bit further, his brow furrowing and a slight bead of sweat moving down the slowly disappearing creases in his forehead, he realized it. He was getting an erection. And a particularly strong one.
Eli bit his lip and kept on driving - he was not some young idiot desperately needing to get off here and now. But it was definitely inconvenient. While he managed to live with it and eventually let that weird occurrence go back down, Eli did admit it was probably a nice problem to have. He and the wife had been having a few troubles in or above the bedsheets, and Eli had been trying everything to return the spark to the more physical ends of their relationship.
Maybe this was some sort of hint he would be having a change in his luck in that regard soon!
As he parked at the gym, he looked at it, a huge two story building that included a sauna, a swimming pool, a basketball court and other amenities indoors. For once in his time going there, Eli was distinctly hoping to get to use a few of them going forward. And as he arrived and started walking in, he found himself face to face with his workout partner. And once again Eli found himself feeling a stirring coming on in his shorts. How embarrassing, he thought to himself suppressing the want to slap his forehead, I'm feeling it coming on while I'm looking at fucking Terry. Hopefully he doesn't notice. He would never let me live a boner down.
Terry Brant was to be blunt a complete and total stud. Even at 42, Terry remained in some of the best shape that Eli had ever seen, almost on the level of some of those aesthetic bodybuilders he had always heard Mike talking about. His nearly 20 inch biceps pressed outward and his triceps looked almost like horseshoes on him, his shoulders filling out the sleeve holes on his cut off shirt. Eli swore those shoulders looked toned and strong on all three parts of the muscle group. Eli could see Terry's chest pressing out in his shirt, and his abs made an impression in the shirt as well. His shorts were very short indeed, and played a revealing part in showing off Terry's large, toned quads thighs and down to his diamond calves.
"Hey, Eli!" Terry waved at him and grinned, "You ready to hit the gym? I've got some new fitness routines for you to get you in shape. Updated all your recent numbers with what I saw of late." Terry had been Eli's unofficial fitness coach, and nobody there seemed to know better than Doctor Brant about how to get into shape.
Minored in health and nutrition, so he said.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Time to see if I'll have any progress going forward," Eli said as he desperately hoped that Terry wouldn't notice the continuing strong erection he was experiencing.
"Well, I already see you're looking hale and healthy today, so I think you're making progress..." Terry commented, and then looked down, "...Probably making the wife more happy lately as well. Damn man!"
Eli covered his face and blushed, swearing under his breath, of course Terry would notice. The damn womanizer. Eli doubted that Terry would ever fully commit to a monogamous relationship. It just didn't seem like it was a phrase in his vocabulary. Of course as the two of them headed inside, Eli saw Terry go right on over to the bench press to set up. Terry always did that before Eli went ahead and did his own bench sets.
Probably to show off. Terry of course put on about three plates on each side of the bar, doing some light stretches before going ahead and starting to power out reps. It was always rather astonishing to watch Terry go. The guy was always apparently in really good shape. He'd started really lifting for size and appearance all the way back in middle school, having seen Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his movies and decided he wanted to look like that. At least that was what Terry always said.
Eli walked over as he heard Terry whistle and rack the weights. "Whew, that was 12 reps at 315 lbs. Not my highest weight..."
"Of course its not," Eli responded, clapping Terry's boulder shoulder, "You're a fucking monster, man. Now let's get my weights on there."
As sad as it was to watch, Terry went ahead and removed all but the first plates from each side. 135 lbs total, that was the latest heaviest weight on here that Eli could manage. Embarrassing. He looked to the side and saw some young high school age boy powering out sets at 185, the brown haired boy chugging some water after his sets.
"Alright, let's not have any pre-set pity party. Show me your progress, Eli!" Terry stated, knowing Eli had a bad habit of watching the lifts other guys did in the gym. He swore that was something that got a lot of guys down when they were trying to get fit.
Eli shrugged and set himself up under the bench press, stretching and readying himself for the sheer ache that awaited him both now and when he got home. He grit his teeth tight as he started lifting the weight...and was rather surprised by the fact that it was not quite as heavy as he remembered. Eli began bringing it all the way down and then all the way up, breathing in and out with the same regularity he observed from when Terry worked out.
Muscles swelling under his notice, his chest beginning to respond to the stimuli and growing stronger in real time in an interaction with the fountain of youth. For now at least, the vitality restoring properties of the fountain would interact with Eli's exercise routine and give him a health enhancing experience as he slowly regressed. His shoulders tightened and started to tone up, his arms starting to pulse and quake, biceps formerly lacking size and shape beginning to pump up and stay visibly taut with strength. Triceps finally forming and beginning to match his biceps.
As Eli kept his abdomen tight and to the bench underneath him, his core tightened as well and the gut he still had began to diminish. Eli's forearms just as well as his biceps began to strengthen and show tight tone and light muscular enhancement.
Terry's eyes widened as he watched Eli blow past his former record of 8 reps total at 135 lbs, going for 12, 13, 14, 15! 16 reps! Terry almost wondered if Eli had finally taken his advice and started taking some creatine and preworkout supplements. Could explain the sudden gain in sheer muscular endurance and strength. Eli let out a shout of elation as he finished at 20 reps, "HAAAAAAAH! Whew..." His chest felt tight, his shirt feeling unexpectedly good on him, "Whew, what was that? I lost count!"
"That...that was 20 reps. 20 fucking reps!" Terry helped Eli get back up and then fistbumped him. He swore that the wrinkles on Eli's face looked thinner and slightly less noticeable than usual. Eh, maybe it was just the sweat and the light. Surely just that!
Terry commented, "That was really unexpected. But I am really proud of you, man. You're doing great! How're you feeling?"
"Like..." Eli contemplated for a moment. Even though he'd just done bench press he felt like he could do it again, and again even! He usually felt too exhausted to do the same workout again afterwards. But now he was feeling like this was just something else. He looked at his hands, feeling the new and unusual strength humming in his body. "Like I could go again."
Terry was rather surprised as Eli outright got up and moved over to the young guy's workout station as he was getting done.
The young guy asked, "Hey, you need me to take anything off my bench---?"
"Nah!" Eli responded, taking a seat and looking at the 185 lbs weight presented there in front of him. He was certainly going to stretch and make sure he was well rested before going in. And maybe he was feeling a little bit cocky from doing 135 so well before, but hot damn was he feeling good about himself right now. If he failed, he failed, but he wanted to try.
As Terry started to rack up his weights again, he watched Eli go ahead and set up for trying 185. 185 pounds, when most recently Eli could barely even do 135. Terry chuckled and swore maybe he needed to put in that kind of effort too. Because obviously, to him at least, Eli was putting in all the effort possible to get his moves right.
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As Eli and Terry rendezvoused in the locker room after the workout ended, Terry found himself staring now at the form of Eli. There were a few subtle differences that he could notice...
Eli walked in feeling great, his body had never felt so responsive to the things he wanted it to do. His chest was aching like a motherfucker, but that was probably because of the sheer workout he put it through. Sure he'd only gotten to 10 then 6 reps at 185, but the fact he was capable of that was very heartening indeed. And he noticed that it seemed his gut was just...not that noticeable. Maybe it was the workout, maybe it was the amount of sweat or something and how his shirt was.
But he felt amazing anyway, and as he started taking off his shirt to do a once over, he found himself staring a bit at his stomach. Almost no gut there at all. A tighter, stronger stomach, a more toned chest, and shoulders that were really actually looking a bit impressive. Eli flexed a bicep just to check and he could swear it looked a little more impressive than usual. Rather than be alarmed, Eli just laughed and examined every angle, including his wider, slightly more pronounced back.
"Wow, I guess you weren't lying, Terry, those workouts you've been putting me on have been doing the fucking work!" Eli said as he tried to imitate some of Terry's poses, though they were nowhere near as impressive with Eli doing them instead.
Terry for his part was actually feeling good about himself. Eli was looking and feeling great, though he swore there was slightly more gut earlier on. He figured it might've been an illusion of the shirt. Ah well, he figured, Eli probably didn't mind this at all, going by how much he was enjoying the mirror and seeing these results. Why bother him with fearmongering or concerns. And it wasn't like Eli was gonna be on steroids or anything.
As the two guys got ready for the shower after their workout, stripping down and bringing out their towels for that, Eli found himself evaluating how it seemed he was finally if not completely catching up at least looking better than usual. His wife was gonna love this. Even Eli's formerly sad little tush was looking a bit more toned than usual...