what started you all lifting?

[PCxPete]

for me it was walking into the gym joined on to where i played squash and realising i was 173cms and 89kgs and only 15 or 16. for the next year or so i hit machine weights 5 days a week pretty much and started eating better, then about, 6 months ago i moved onto free weights really seriously and havnt looked back since.

ive got to hand it to my bro but, hes a year younger but built like a right big prick and ive always just done my best to keep up, which means pushing myself everytime i hit the gym.

how bout you all?

 

[spatts]

Attention, then later, performance.

I have had a 6 pack since I can remember....since childhood. I remember my mom, sisters, and others asking me to show it to people like I was a freak show. What did I care? When you're 5 years old, attention's attention.

Then later it was, "OMG, look at your quads!" Especially during track season (around ages 9-12). I was so self-conscious about them, as they were very disproportionate to everything else. I sprinted for various teams year round, and looked alot different, in terms of muscle mass, than other girls around me. I started dreading wearing shorts, and would only take my sweats off RIGHT before a race, and then put them back on really fast.

Then when I was about 13 a track coach put me on a regimen to take time off my 200m, and one of those key things was building up my shoulders to increase my speed. Not only did it work VERY well, but it balanced my physique out too, and I was suddenly alot less conscious of my quads.

Between fast results in the gym, and increased performance, I was hooked.

 

[louden_swain]

I wanted to get bigger and stronger for wrestling. . .

I was 119lbs.

I also used weight training to develop strength for summer basketball and track and field.

I notice changes almost instantly so I became addicted.

 

[EliteBB]

Great story Spatts! I started when i was 15 and have been going strong since! 8 great years of bodybuilding!

 

[CobraUTAH]

Graduating from high school at 6'1" and 135 pounds. I knew that I wasn't going to fill out much naturally so it was time to hit the weights. Plus my dad had always lifted so I started with him and then moved off on my own routine and times. It's been the single greatest hobby of my life and I don't regret a single minute or dollar spent trying to better my understanding and performance. I reached 232 pounds about two weeks ago before I began cutting. I would have never thought back then I could get that damn big. I'm a skinny kid by nature and to make that big of a change in size was pretty incredible especially on a 6'3" frame.

 

[ffknight84]

I attempted lifting a few times around 12 years old, not much, I started regularly right after i turned 14 with Freshman football, And started hardcore first year in college due to spare time. My dad is a long time lifter started when he was 18, now 43, so it gives me some extra motivation to catch up and surpass him.

 

[hellboy]

Divorce.

About a year before the divorce I knew it was coming. I would look in the mirror and see this short fat guy (24% bodyfat) and think... No way am I EVER gonna get laid again looking like this. I looked like shit and I did NOT want to spend the rest of my life being a fatboy.

So I started dieting and running. Eating salads and running 3 miles 3x a week. I absolutely HATED running but I couldnt argue with the results. Eventually I cut the fat down enough that I wasn't too embarrased to go to the gym. And once I got into the gym and started lifting it was LOVE. SO much more fun than running. So much easier to measure my improvements. There was just something satisfying about it.

And once the muscles started to actually show up in the mirror there was no turning back.

 

[spatts]

Divorce.

About a year before the divorce I knew it was coming. I would look in the mirror and see this short fat guy (24% bodyfat) and think... No way am I EVER gonna get laid again looking like this. I looked like shit and I did NOT want to spend the rest of my life being a fatboy.

So I started dieting and running. Eating salads and running 3 miles 3x a week. I absolutely HATED running but I couldnt argue with the results. Eventually I cut the fat down enough that I wasn't too embarrased to go to the gym. And once I got into the gym and started lifting it was LOVE. SO much more fun than running. So much easier to measure my improvements. There was just something satisfying about it.

And once the muscles started to actually show up in the mirror there was no turning back.

Good story, man...good story.

 

[SofaGeorge]

I was one of those screaming 12 year olds who had to study martial arts after watching all the Bruce Lee movies. The early schools I went to were very tough... brutal by today's standards... full contact sparring was coming into vogue. (We didn't have safety equipment back then.) I wanted to be able to fight with the top guys... so I need weight and strength.

 

[SurfinDaily]

I was tired of being a 150 lbs senior in highschool, and i also joined the Marines which gave me an extra motivation, so i started "liftin for the ladies" and at first i didnt know what i was doin so i gave up, but now i mapped out a whole new program, i have gained around 17-20 lbs in the last 3 1/2 months, and my muscles are starting to show up alot better....

 

[Bullit]

Chicks.

And thats my honest answer.

 

[FatRat]

1) Competitive swimming
2) To put some mass on my lanky frame
3) Chicks

 

[circusgirl]

I got shin splints doing martial arts, and someone, can't remember who, suggested lifting weights would help deal with any recurrence of stress/overuse injuries.

I started using the machines, then, found Krista's women and weights site. Then I decided I really liked free weights. I loved getting stronger, and seeing muscles getting a teensy bit larger.

Then I read about PL on here and started doing PL style training and..... I'm hooked! Well and truly! This is even more fun than martial arts. When I was a geek back in HS no-one would ever think I'd turn into a fitness person lol. (that's fitness person to the lay man, not "fitness competitor" BTW). I was one of those lazy whiny girls who always forgot their sports kit. Unless it was cross country day, coz I was ok at that, for some reason....

 

[benchmonster]

My Dad was and is strong. I also saw Conan as a child. I am from the country, and physical strength is respected where I am from. And all I have ever remembered wanting was to be big, strong, feared and respected.

There is something seriously wrong with me, mentally. I had a very rough childhood and I guess, somewhat consciously, somewhat unconsciously, I wanted to build myself into something nobody could ever hurt.

I am one of those assholes who always has something to prove, always have been that way for as long as I can remember, and likely will be that way from now on. I am never satisfied with any accomplishment I have made, and strongly want to dominate in every aspect of my life.

One of the most moving things I have ever seen/heard/read, was in the movie I already mentioned above, Conan, in which the narrator is talking while an older Conan is sitting on a throne wearing a crown, and the narrator is talking about how he carved out a kindgom by his own hand. For some reason, I just became convinced that this was what I had to do.

It would be easier for me to give up eating or breathing than to give up the iron game. I love to compete, I love getting stronger, I love the respect that comes with being one of the strongest around, and I absolutely cannot stand the fact that there is anyone else out there who is stronger than me, and therefore I must work harder, smarter, longer is necessary, to become the best.

For this reason I am the absolute worst coach anyone has ever seen. I expect that everyone feels the same way as I do, and they don't. For most people I would be a terrible training partner for the same reason. . . but my training partner is a world class powerlifter, who has the same level of desire I do, and I chase him on squats, and he chases me on bench, and we are both better because of it.

B.

 

[ffknight84]

the reason i still lift today is

1. lax
2. health
3. power

uhh most of the ladies i know dont really like big huge strong guys, they always go for the more medium to smaller build guys, so thats why its not on my list...

 

[SAGAT]

i don't remember exactly, i just did a workout with my dad once and just...haven't stopped since.

 

[Devastation]

To prove my father was wrong about I will always be a skinny weakling. He quit saying that 8 years ago after I took him to lift with me once.

 

[louden_swain]

To prove my father was wrong about I will always be a skinny weakling. He quit saying that 8 years ago after I took him to lift with me once.

He actually told you that?? If so, he didn't seem that supportive.

 

[sk*]

I need perfection in everything. I always excel at whatever I choose to do.

-sk

 

[IronLion]

I started because of football, but I am one of those that loves the pain and I want to push my body to its absolute breaking point again and again. Also my dad was ex special forces and he never did anything in moderation, which I picked up on at an early age and became a very extreme person.

 

[louden_swain]

Ironlion,

Have you lived in Tulsa your whole life? If so, where did you attend high school and college?

I ask, because I live in OKC.

 

[IronLion]

from southern california, did hs and college there

 

[revexrevex]

Started lifting because i loved the look of lean body.. and also cause of the love of the pain

 

[muscledog95]

Went with my dad when i was 11. He used to circuit train and run on the tread mill. I would shoot hoops then started doing arms and bench with him.. Started running track in Middle school....so wanted to get after. Started off with step running, leg press, ext, and leg curls....Not until last yr did I start doing the king of leg workouts.....the squat

 

[PolishHammer1977]

I faced many obstacles through life. The iron was always there for me. Even though early on in my lifting career I didn't know what I was doing, the iron was always there. Kind of like a good friend.

I started going to the Rec Center in my town after school when I was 15. I used to jog a mile there from high school, lift, and jog 2 miles to get home. I learned a lot about myself and what I needed to do to make my dream of being a professional true. I knew that I needed to put my mind and body through some serious hell in order to get where I needed to be. I knew that negative people and negative things altogether were obstacles for me.

I got there and it was all well worth it! My work paid off and I deserved it dammit. Now after 10-11 years I can say that if I miss a day, I am dissapointed in myself. I know there is someone else somewhere who found a way to work that lifting session in. I failed myself! This is how I look at it

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

went to a Fitness America contest a few yrs back & met competitors Julie Shipley & Katie Uter & I just so wanted to look like that & compete in fitness... still working on it.. LOL!

 

[Mike_Rojas]

I started weight lifting because I was 6 feet tall and 125 pounds and I was sick of being a bone rack.

 

[needsleep]

There are several answers I give whenever I do answer this question which one I give depends on what I feel like at the time, the truth is that they are all correct for me it was a comming together of many factors that made me want to train.

1. I used to do Kickboxing and I did circuit training (a lot of body weight exercises mainly) I did these for 3 years and was in decent shape as a result. I left University and stopped all this activity, a few years later whenever I talked to someone about weights and fitness I found myself saying "I used to...." a hell of a lot. I got pissed off at myself for living in the past and viewing how good i was by how good i was back when I did sports, I didn't want to say what I used to do I wanted to be able to talk about what I did now.

2. I am the eldest of 3 brothers, being older than one by 4 years and the other by 9 years. As they got older they got stronger, now as I was a fair bit older I was way stronger but as years passed they were getting close to me. I could not accept either of them becomming stronger than me so I started to train.

3. I did my Masters Degree in Sports Science - Fitness and Health, I hated telling people this whilst looking like crap, if I ever wanted to work in this field then I figured I needed to look the part so people would take me seriously. It'd be like a mechanic driving around in a car that always broke down and he could never fix it right.

4. Respect, I wanted respect, I wanted respect from people even if they only just glanced at me whilst passing. Very paralell with this I wanted people to be jealous of me, I wanted people to wish they were me. This sounds very wierd, but it's true, guess it's some psychological thing.

5. After I started Training MANY other factors played BIG parts on keeping me going.

 

[Zander1983]

I was an overweight, unfit, self-conscious 15yr old and had just broken up with my girlfriend of 10-11 months. I wanted to prove a point to everybody, but mainly to myself. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Everything one could do wrong, I did. But it was the start of something that will never leave me.

Now I lift because I am addicted to absolutely everything about training

 

[gonelifting]

I used to "spot" my cousin when he lifted weights in our apartment building basement. I never was interested or wanted to workout.
One day as I`m giving him some help changing weights, He said "bro you`re gonna get big just spotting me. lol" THAT ONE SENTENCE CHANGED MY LIFE.

 

[endpoint]

I was fat and out of shape.
now i am fat and in shape.

saw the cover of a Powerlifting USA, with westside barbell on the front and it blew my mind.

then got into Oly lifting after seeing the comonwealth games on TV