your reasons for lifting?

i’m just sorta curious as to why people here got into lifting and what reasons keep them in it. i got into it so i could gain some mass for track & field as well as impress the girls. now: i do it because i figure that if i do anything i might as well do it to my full potential (and if that means being a 300-pound mutant then so beit). also, i’m salivating about the day where i can walk into a room and have other people think “holy shit, i do NOT wanna mess with that guy”. yeah i know those reasons are shallow but i dont feel like explaining other more serious reasons right now. now you guys go.

chris … rofl

My reasons for lifting, now thats a good question.

I was always athletic. I loved sports.

I guess it all started when I was young. The doctors told me that I shouldn’t play strenous sports because I have a heart condition.

So I wanted to prove them wrong and everyonelse wrong. I played soccer from a young boy too being a competive swimmer on the local Y team, Played tennis on the varsity team for 3 years in high school, also wrestle for 2 years in my freshman and sophmore. So I was always competive. When I was young I would sneak in tho the weightroom at the local Y and started to work-out. Not knowing what I was doing, just got curious with the cling sound of the weights. I was immediatly hooked on to it.

It wasn’t until later on in life when I hit about 22 I dicided to train seriously. and start to do local bb shows.

Now at the age 30 the reason is not to prove anything anymore. But wait yes it is I want to do one more show the MuscleMania in Nov. Just to prove to the fact that even people w/ Cancer can still bodybuild… And that you can do anything you put your mind to it…

Thats why I lift. Not to attract women but I lift for myself.

thats cool.

i guess i started lifting because it gave me a release. thats the main reason i lift now. sure its cool to compare (i like to compare myself to my old-self) and its great the chicks dig abs and biceps and im glad i can do one legged body weight squats and 1 arm pushups;it gives me a great sense of well being. hell, ive gained 30lbs in 4 years, gone from being a little skinny guy to someone who people talk about because of my build. but all of that wouldnt keep me going. i like being stronger rather than “looking big” but even if i didnt get any stronger or any bigger i would still do it . theres something about that steel and being crushed and overcoming and the changing of your mind;like when i deaded 500 for the first time, not the weight as it was stated on the plates, but the way it made my body and mind feel… i couldnt of hypothesised or theorized about that;it just was. when the weight gets so heavy that its not even weight anymore, its just everything. what your doing for that moment is everything.

thats why i still do it.

I mostly want to be able to put something really heavy over my head.

Mostly.

I like the way lifting makes me look and everythng and I do enjoy walking into a room and being able to see peoples thoughts like, “look at that BMF” but like most of you I would lift even if I didnt get any bigger at all. I like the general principle of “Work hard get better” that you can apply to the rest of your life.

I do it for the mental health benefits. It feels good to PUSH against something heavy. The endorphins make life tolerable when everything else is bad. When you’ve spent the morning hoisting a few hundred pounds, the puny job interview you have that afternoon is a piece of cake in comparison.

I do it because it is the fastest and most direct way to get in good shape, and beyond good shape.

Because I want to be active but I can’t rely on good weather and other people for team sports. I like a solo activity.

Because I have been doing it for a long time, I know how to train, and it’s something I’m pretty good at. I don’t want to spend the next 3 years trying to figure out how to hit a golf ball. And there are very few golf courses in Brooklyn.

Because people generally leave you alone when you have some mass, and I want to be left alone.

I started to save my life from chronic depression. I regained my youthful athletisim and beat it. Now I do it to stay feeling good; prevent injury in sports; improve performance in sports, look good; attract healthy athletic women; and to live as long as possible. Oh one last thing- I do this as sort of a tribute to all humanity and God. We can all do this. We were all made to do this.

i want to be the strongest man that ever lived.

I began lifting in an attempt to flee from the childhood of fat-bastardness. Now I lift for the psychological empowerment inherent in the movement of big f*ckin weight. delving further, I believe that the “BMF” persona, irrespective of reality, creates a positive association, encompassing all realms of cognition. thus, that which is sought, which is potentially never actualized, is indeed actualized, through that activity, whose underlying assumption is most likely false, i.e belies reality.
plus, ah show do like them bitches.
porter

When I was little (8 thru 12) it was because I loved Hulk Hogan and wanted 24 inch pythons more than anything in the world. In high school and college it was to be stronger on the basketball court since I wasn’t the most talented I knew I needed to be stronger, in better condition, and play with more heart than others to compete at the college level. After college it changed to wanting to get huge, just to see freaky I could become without drugs. Now I do it to stay in shape to compete, but more because I love pushing myself to my limits everyday. And the hotties commenting how awesome my muscles are doesn’t ever hurt!

I first started lifting to lose some bodyfat and build muscle in high school. I made some descent gains. THen came college. One year of college turned me into a fat bastard. I ended up gaining about 60 pounds of fat. THen I got fed up and learned about eating right via Body for Life (yea, I know). I didn’t use their workouts just their diets. Well anyway I ended up losing 85 pounds of fat. Now I’m just hooked. I just love the feeling of being lean and in shape.

To quote Dave Tate: “Because it’s what i do.”

I lift because i enjoy it, and it is now a rather large part of who i am.

Like porter, i started traing because i was a fat, unathletic kid. Since then it has become a hobby, a sport, a way to vent, and a challenge. It’s become and obssession and gives me the chance to define who i am on a daily basis.

A remember an old thread on this a while back. Search for that, if you wish.

I do it cuase it’s hard to do. If it were easy everyone would walk around with a great body and where would the fun in that be?

Yes it’s the “Hard” that makes it so good.

Good question bro. I must say that i train for several reasons but the main one being that:

I’m a warrior at heart, but there’s no battles to fight or no enemies to f*ckin smash, so I fight my battles in the gym!!!

Started because my hockey career required it

after hockey i wanted to try the BIG AS POSSIABLE MONSTER look, but soon grew tired of the big pot-belly

now do it as a means to acheive my physical self actulization (aka when i look in the mirror i want to smile)

If I keep my hands on the iron they stay out of my nose and/or down my pants.

As a high school sophomore I was about 5 foot tall, 90 lbs. I was riding around at the lake with some older friends of mine and when the girls would walk by they’d say “Hide Kelly, we don’t want any girls to see your scrawny butt!” lol Being really small and thin (but definitely not weak!)and hearing comments like those contributed a lot to it. After lifting for a couple of years though I realized it’s not really being muscular thats so important to me but rather the mental boost and all the other non physical benefits I get from it that i like most.

MBE why the hell would you want to keep your hand out of your pants?? Guess where my hands are during rest periods?? Thats right, you guessed it…down my pants. My goal is to work up to one arm chins so that when I am chinning I can still keep a hand don my pnts. Hell, I have one of my hands down my pants right now. ON that note stick your hands down your pants whenever you can.
:slight_smile: groove