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

[Zorba the Greek]

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???

 

[FigureSkater]

This thread is probably in the wrong forum, but here goes...

I was first introduced to the weight room by my 7th grade cross country coach. I was 12...yes, that was too young, but what did I know? I think it was our coach's way of killing off the last half hour of practice a few days a week. I had always been muscular, since I had been competitive in figure skating (so strong legs/glutes) and swimming since a very young age, as well as took dance classes. However, I was a dork, and some of the girls and especially the boys on the team always made fun of me...(I honestly think they just had horrible self-esteems...you know how kids at the middle school age can be.) But when we got into the weight room and they saw that I could lift more than them, that pretty much stopped, and the boys were pretty embarassed. And at age 12, weighing 105 lbs, I found out that I could leg press almost twice my weight, which made me feel very cool...I was hooked. Most of the weight training I've done since has been sports related.

 

[Devastation]

Hello everyone
What was that thing that drove you to the gym?

i'm pretty sure i had an '87 ford ranger ext cab. sweet ride for me back in the day

 

[CNovaJason]

Mine was back in the 11th grade when I was constantly picked on for being thin and wanting to play football with the jocks. I got teased by two guys relentlessly and it haunts me to this day. I workout and bust my ass in there always thinking about that but now it's for me. Back then I was about 5'10" if not 6'0", and around 170lbs VERY THIN. Now I am 6'2", 205+lbs and getting bigger constantly. I maxed out 95 lbs back then and a month or two ago I got 275 assisted BARELY.

 

[PitBullFootBall]

7th grade I tried out for the junior high football team. Never played before and 10 days later the freshman team coach at the high school came by and brought me up to the freshman team. That day after we practice lifted, I was 11yrs old (young for my grade) and we went into the weightroom and I couldn't even bench 95lbs. I went home that night and made a bench out of an old piano bench, a steel bar, and some ankle weights and every night before bed I benched it 30X, and squatted it 50X. Next season I captained the freshmen team and I've been liftin' since.

 

[DanielMacKeigan0101]

I started to lift weghts because people used to make fun of me for being so weak. I have always been a hard gainer. No matter how hard I trained they were always a step up. However I continued to exercise, everyday doing something different. At first I really didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't see any results. My determination to prove myself just waxed as time went on.
I have came very far since then. Now my friends look up to me for what i've done, and I train them so that they can see the same results that i did. It is rather ironic, however, that they have seen greater gains in a few months than I did throughout my life, but such is life. For all it's worth I am glad that I have continued to train, it's more than just a hobby now, it's a way of life. Just keep at it if you're thinking about giving up. You'll thank yourself for it in the end. I know I did.

 

[bkc]

I wanted man breast! I had breast but they were jiggly...lol They were fun in the shower though... Seriously I was just overweight and wanted to fell better about myself. My pops really helped me out getting started.

 

[cockdesiel]

Being that I'm a bouncer I need to stay strong and fit.

 

[yomama]

I was facinated with muscles since I was a kid. The reason I started lifting...cuz of my friend. He used to compete and he inspired me to do it. So that's where I am now.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I think I first got interested in getting bigger and stronger when I saw Arnold in Conan and Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon. Also Van Damme in Bloodsport. I wanted to be built and powerful.