Reason's for lifting

I was a skinny runt of a girl who one day saw the 1983 Pro Womens Bodybuilding World Championship on NBC and knew right away I wanted to lift.

I wanted to get big and strong. THAT hasn’t changed; although what keeps me going is that I truly love this stuff.

Well, I was always the fat kid that no one liked in highschool… SO, first day of college, I started lifting. I wanted to show up all those people that thought I’d always be a fat slob… I’m now currently 5’7, 170lb and 12%bf :slight_smile: as opposed to the 5’7, 200lb kid that couldn’t do a pushup… I liked how much I improved, and my motivation is coming home from school after a couple months, seeing old highschool people and just showing off my physique. O:)

Never an athlete, I was into my 30s and realized I wasn’t getting any healthier or better looking. Joined a gym because I wanted to look better and be healthier.

Now, at 44 and the best shape of my life, the feedback from friends and family who have NOT taken care of themselves is a great payoff. I don’t want to stop, because it is one of the few things in life over which I have control.

I like to be large and in charge. Also my wrestling coach in college told me ill never be 260 by the time i graduate. i have gained 30 pounds since he said that and i have 3 more years to go. I’m going to walk into his office, lay down a scale, laugh at him, punch him in the face, laugh again and leave when i prove him wrong.

i have mentioned this a few times and im not sure if anyone really believes me but ill say it again.

i train because lifting heavy weights gives me a boner.

I like lifting heavy stuff, because even if I get good at it for awhile there’s always more heavy stuff.

As ol’ Hank Rollins said, because “the iron never lies. It is your best friend”

moving meditation under several hundred pounds clears the mind and refreshes the soul.

oh, and to NOT look like a redneck slob.

Jim, that’s a great story. I hope you stick with it this time and in years to come you can look back and be proud.

bobo, by the time you get big enough to punch your old coach out, you won’t even think about doing it.

I started at 28 and puttered around for two years before I found this site and gave up lifting in my livingroom/basement. I used to spend hours a day trying to figure out new exercises with nothing more than a set of free weight and a bench and fondly remembering seeing my grandfather at 5 in the morning lifting weights in his basement at the age of 70. That man is what inspires me every single day. To give up would be to give up on his dream as well. Why did I start? Because I was tired of being useless.

ohhhh, lets all have a group hug…

Because of Anna Kournikova.

Iron doesn’t lie. It’s a test you set for yourself, a feeling of accomplishment that’s based on objective standards. I started because my freshman year in high school I couldn’t even do 1 pullup for the Presidential Fitness Test. So I decided to do something about it. My first day, I couldn’t even bench the bar. I would wait for everyone to leave, go to the bench machine, and put the weight at 20lbs. 6 months later, I banged out 11 pullups for the second round at the test. And to look good nekkid. And to look good in my clothes so that girls will want to see me nekkid. Shallow bastard, aren’t I?

Girls, stress, pride, challenge, and it just feels awesome to wake up one morning and feel a new muscle you didn’t know was there.

I was 53 years old and out of shape.I wanted to change that.Now 2 years later
It’s a way of life.Proper diet and a “go Heavy or Go Home” approach keeps me coming back to the gym 5 days a week.
It’s good to be a T-Man

I first got in the gym to look good in my wedding dress, and to be able to hike for miles on my honeymoon (yeah, i’m wierd! but i spent three weeks in new zealand and loved every minute of it). but that got me nowhere, i lost more weight during the honeymoon than 6 months in the gym. it took me two years to figure it out, but it finally hit me. now i’m lifting real weights, but mostly to keep up with the guys. I’m a firefighter. that got me in the gym again, but what keeps me in the gym is the great feeling i get. much more empowering as a woman to be able to pull more than my body weight! i love that! :slight_smile:

To eventually beat my wife at arm wrestling.

Started lifting at 15 in my basement with an old plastic and cement set with a cheap weider bench, because I wanted to be able to protect myself. We moved a lot and I went to a new school every year, sometimes more than one in a year. Being new as well as being a fat kid was not condusive to fitting in quickly, so I usually spent my first couple of weeks fighting my way through all the kids who picked on me until I fit in. I started lifting more seriously at 18 to get stronger for football and hockey and like many people fell in love with lifting more than the sports I did it for. Now it’s just something I do, it’s simply a part of my identity.