What drove everyone of you at the gym for the first time?

[njlw226]

graduating from high school at 5-10 and weight 135 when all my best friends were the football players. there is nothing more i wish i could go back and change now then to play football back in high school. im the same height about about 185 at 10% bf and stronger than the majority of them now.

 

[falcon9901]

My mom actually got me into it when I was like 15, and I grew from there.

 

[big4life]

I started lifting because of football, and I've been in and around lifting for the last 25 years.

 

[miacova]

My friends told me when i was 16 that i was too small and girls don't like runts. So now I am musclebound and my friends are fat and lazy... i guess i should thank them or something...

 

[mad_monkey59]

I was tired with being skinny, so I did my homework and now destroy everyone I know, the 'big hard guys' that everyone was afraid of now ask me for advice, constantly ask me if im on roids... and say one day I'll be as big as you, comments like that makes all that work worth it. Its kinda funny that I used to curse the fact that I couldn't hold an ounce of fat, now I train, I wouldn't have it any other way. Genetics you gotta love them.

 

[blut wump]

My dad made some dumbells out of tin cans and some melted lead with a bit of brass tubing to connect them. I started playing with them and a week or so later I was walking past a gym and popped in.

 

[JohnnyCoho]

My Dad had a home gym set up in our basement as long as I can remember and was always in shape. He coulda played pro football after college but was also in ROTC at the time and went directly to Nam after college. My Dad was 6'6" and weighed in at over 250. My little-big-brother is 6'10" and is also genetically gifted. Me, I'm the runt in my family and really had to work hard to stay in shape.

Lifted in our home gym since I was a kid with my Dad for both football and wrestling.

 

[Bearcub]

I started lifting in HS to be a better athlete - football and golf. This continued in college for the same reason, athletics - track and field (javelin) and full contact karate three rounders (boxing rules with kicks). Now I lift for health/fitness and an occasional powerlifting meet.

 

[dfi]

A 1977 Chevy Nova! Seriously...I was skinny, and hated the way I looked 5-10 135 senior year. Started with the plastic cement filled weights in my garage and some rusty dumbbells, and not even 1 month later people started to notice the change, so I stuck with it...24 years later, still pumping...LOL

 

[Melancholy Gypsy]

Hello everyone
I thought it woud be interesting to post this question. To amauteurs and pros that might be reading this. How did you start bodybuilding? What was that thing that drove you to the gym and made you start lifting?
Well me (now aged 21) started at 16. My main reason was simple... I looked pathetic! Being 6 feet and weighing a merely 163 pounds i was completely thrashed by others in basketball which was then my game. Well one day i realised that enough is enough. I went down to my closest gym, a basement very rocky style gym and started lifting my first weights with one aim to become stronger and improve my physique. The results were unbelievable. I started packing mass so easily that everyone was surprised. In a year or so i joined the army and had a tryout for the special forces division which i easily passed. Being released from the army after two years os service i am now 6.4 feet tall and weigh in at 213 pounds (having reached a peak while in the amry of 235!!). What i want to get at is that lifting weights changed my whole life. It has changed me from a skinny 16 year old to a person that immediately gets noticed when he enters a room. It has done wonders for my self esteem and changed the way everyone looks at me, comanding their respect. I enjoy weight training and have no intent of ever stopping. The constant challenge of it, the determination it requires has made me look at this sport with great passion. Being in shape is something everybody should go for, and with determination nothing is impossible.

Like the ancient greeks used to say "Strong mind, healthy body", a phrase that i believe sums it all up.
I start this threat because i'm very interested to see how othe ppl like my self and pros think about this sport and what drove them to it. So i ask you ppl y did u lift you first dumbell???

What drove me? depression and insecurity. But now, I can't stop going. go figure