I like this thread a lot. I am 24 now, I've been lifting since I was 14, non-stop. I was internally motivated to become as big and strong as I could because my father died when I was 7, and I felt pretty helpless and vulnerable. I never wanted to feel like that again. Whenever I feel like slacking off, I remember what it felt like to ne weak and helpless and vulnerable, and I say to myself 'No FUCKING way, NEVER again!!". It pushes me over the edge and I have an awesome workout, when just before thinking through that I wanted to sit home and play XBox and skip the gym.
In November of 1993 ,when I was 14, two of my buddies, they were brothers, had a TDS Mega Bench and a bunch of d-bells in their basement. I wanted to be big and strong, so I came over one day after school to give it a shot, and I was hooked. I weighed about 150lbs at 5'11". I benched 95lbs for a tough set of 8, and I remember it like it was yesterday. That was in 9th grade. My mom bought me the same set-up for my basement that year for Christmas and by the time I finished high school I weighed 230. I joined a gym my Sr. year in high school, and lifted all throughout college and at one point got up to 286lbs at 5'11" at the age of 21.
At 24, I am still internally motivated for the same reason I was since I was 7 years old. I have trained various styles over the years, nowadays I consider myself a strength athlete. I weigh about 250lbs, but I wouldn't mind 300 some day.
Brute, your arm wrestling atory took me down memory lane. I used to always arm wrestle a friend of mine in high school, he never really had a lot of weight room strength, but he had long arms and tendons like steel cables. He could throw a baseball 97mph. He used to beat my ass when we were kids growing up, but as I started to train the gap got closer and by the time we were JRs in high school, I was beating him pretty damn easily. We lost touch after high school, he never went to college, and last I heard he got hooked up with some shit he shouldn't have and he was a Heroin addict. I guess I'd probably tear his shoulder out of the socket now if we arm wrestled.
Anyway, I've been in this game a while, and have read this board lot in the past, and have researched it a lot over the years. This was a great thread, and really got me a little worked up and made me decide to be a part of this board and contribute what I can as well as learn by reading the posts.
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