What made you think about lifting weights?

Fifty+ · 07-02-2008, 08:15 PM

I was just wondering why many of us starting lifting weights later on in life. For myself, it was propelled by the California sun, beach and beautiful bodies I saw at Muscle Beach in 1960. My parents took me to the Santa Monica pier when I was 5 for an outing. Not far away were a large group of people standing around watching these muscular men exercising with weights to everyones delight. Those physiques never left my mind. (Neither did all those women watching..). So at 39 I decided to change my life and start lifting weights and get in shape. Still, I didn't even consider calling myself a bodybuilder...bodybuilding? That's for Mr. Muscle! So, after 5 years of learning as much as I could about lifting and nutrition, I went from 175 lbs. @ approx 16-18% B/F @ 5' 8" to 145 lbs. @ approx. 6%. I was very healthy and fit....and my wife said I look like ****! To skinny. Not good. So now I'm determined to add muscle mass. And, now since I'm ready to attack the situation with heavy duty bodybuilding I accepted the mental fact that I am a bodybuilder...and proud of it! I have used a combinaton of Abbreviated Lifting methods by S. McRoberts and Heavy Duty by Mentzer to get where I am today. Lifting has become such a passion I will be under a barbell until the day I die. What's you story?

oldfart

JC480 · 07-02-2008, 08:20 PM

I started lifting weights at 40 because I was a pathetic fat ass couch potatoe and realized that...unless I built muscle I would never be able to lose fat permanently...not to mention muscle contributes greatly to a faster metabolism.

Now my body is my hobby. I <3 lifting weights.

harleygirl · 07-02-2008, 08:25 PM

Now my body is my hobby. I <3 lifting weights.[/QUOTE]

This is what motivates me too.

Karl_Hungus · 07-02-2008, 08:32 PM

I originally began lifting college -- All my friends went to the weight room, and were getting stronger. I was jealous, so I started going with them, and discovered that I gained strength pretty easily....and within a few months, I was stronger than all of them. A few years later, I quit lifting when I entered grad school. After 10 years of lifting nothing heavier than a beer, I felt pretty down about having let myself go so badly. I knew I had decent potential for gaining size and strength, and I felt like crap for wasting it. So, I started back up again at the age of 32, and haven't looked back since!

harleygirl · 07-02-2008, 08:35 PM

I also just wanted to give my kids a heads up on living clean. I grew up in a small midwest town where we worked hard but the diet was horrible and exercise was a thing you got in p.e. class in school. I wanted them to know that video games were great but you needed to work on yourself too.

OutOfStep · 07-02-2008, 08:41 PM

I started in my teens. I'm just as excited today about training as I was when I first began. I'm not sure what got me into it. I guess I was always fascinated with the idea of developing my body. My body responded well to lifting and I was hooked right off the bat. Within three months I was bigger and stronger than my friend who had been lifting for a couple of years. It was a way to be different from everyone else, not average. I like that. I don't ever want to be an "average Joe". BORING!

Omaha101 · 07-02-2008, 08:46 PM

I'm about a month into this hobby/lifestyle/whatever-you-call-it. As a newbie, I guess I'll put it like this: A few months ago, my wife and I decided to book a Cancun vacation for early next year. I knew I needed to lose lots of weight so I didn't frighten the locals on the beach.

I looked around for this and that, and somehow stumbled onto the idea that bodybuilding was what I wanted to do. I don't know how long it will take, and I don't know what I can realistically expect as my "dream physique", but I firmly believe that if I continue to dedicate myself to this, eat right, and train hard, I will get to where I feel better about myself than I EVER have...and all this starting at 44!

And I'm really starting to get into it. I am consciously forcing myself not to over-do it, but its tough. I find myself really looking forward more and more to going to the gym. Today I did upper body and really hit it hard. Its the first time for me where as I was leaving, it occurred to me that I didn't leave anything "in the tank": I was totally spent. Feels good!

StressMonkey · 07-02-2008, 09:00 PM

As a kid I was always underweight and was terrible at sports. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I started to suspect that I would like lifting. At the end of my college days a friend and I tried it out, but we didn't have a freaking clue what we were doing. I made so many mistakes now that I think about it. I didn't get someone knowledgeable to teach me, didn't stick with the gym after college, etc.

It wasn't until my mid thirties that I said "screw it" and dove in head first (with someone knowledgeable to teach me).

Now my friends my age are feeling "old" and I feel like I'm 23.

lilmsfit42 · 07-02-2008, 09:27 PM

i started basically to lose weight little did i know the trainer i was working with was a Figure Competitor Coach!! He talked me into training for a show and the more i thought about the more i said why not.

I did not like the bulking phase i always felt fat and didn't think i would ever achieve the body the other women had. Then one day I just started noticing like wow there it was like a butterfly coming out of a coccoon!

So i continue today because at 43 its the best thing i can do for my body and the people in my life, being healthy and fit has so many perks that its would just be absolutely humilating to gain it back and then some.

So i excercise now basicall to eat good. I am building right now so I don't want to do too much cardio but within another month or so I will be increasing my cardio to 90 min a day, then up to 90 min a day 2x a day.

Its a beautiful process! The definition in your body just gives so much motivation!

KimberleyRN · 07-02-2008, 09:33 PM

I started because, I do not want to look like the flabby older women that I would see all the time.

I wanted to defy the aging process, to battle the flab with iron!

I am not as well muscled as most of the beautiful ladies here that inspire me, but I am making progress toward looking more like them each week.

I figure as long as I am developing muscle, I am still winning!

Sluggeaux · 07-02-2008, 09:41 PM

I saw a nakked picture of me, and it disgusted me. I keep it on the mirror in my locker on the rig, and a copy of it on the mirror above my sink at home so i have to look at it every day, so i can remind myself on how I never want to look again.

Khodiak · 07-02-2008, 09:53 PM

I started lifting when I was 13 years old. I was an aggressive little **** and the weights kept me out of trouble (kinda). I had a speed bag and a heavy bag as well. I remember seeing Conan and that was such a motivator for me, I bought Arnold's bodybuilding book that had all the basic exercises which helped. I also had a bad ass gym teacher named Lou that was an ex green beret and he was and still is in excellent shape. He has to be at least late 60s now. I see him now and then and he could compete easily in masters. I was pretty muscular kid even when I was 12-13 and Lou would let me lift weights on the old universal gym almost every day at gym class. All the other kids were running or climbing ropes and I would have that old klunker universal gym to myself.

I have thanked him more than once when I run into him around town.

Viperpwr · 07-02-2008, 11:54 PM

Started in college then got out of it till I was in my late 30's. Had a bad breakup with my gf and really needed something to help me feel good about myself again. Now 7 years later I am a different person with 35 lbs of muscle on my frame. I love it, its part of who I am. I look forward to working out everyday. Its the best hour of the day IMO.

JonnyStead · 07-03-2008, 02:48 AM

I lifted for a year when I was 18 (not long I know - but I had a great teacher an ex-pro BB) but I gave it up when I moved house.

When I was 30 I gave up the smokes and put on some weight. I decided to 'tone up' a bit - and it all kinda got out of control - before I knew it I had a full gym in my house and I was lifting heavy 3 times a week - I LOVE IT

gbg · 07-03-2008, 04:39 AM

I started in my 20's after taking off to St. John with no intent on coming back was going to live the island life, after looking in a full length mirror for the first time in 6 months realized I gained mucho weight!
So joined a gym and it was Love at first lift!!!!!

moisy · 07-03-2008, 04:44 AM

I started when I was about 17 and wanted to do something to help with my competitive swimming. I used to run quite a bit in highschool and university too, but then injured my achilles tendon ... and well the rest is history! lol

I really turned more to weight lifting for my endorphin rush and have not looked back ... just part of my daily routine now in the morning before I head off to work ... wake up, coffee, hit weights, do cardio, home, shower ... off to work. I love the results and makes me feel young and gives me tons of energy ... plus I love to eat!! lol

wulf88 · 07-03-2008, 05:15 AM

Started lifitng in my early teens and never have stopped. Been in competitive sports since I was 6 years old (mainly soccer, swimming, waterpolo and baseball). Joined the military at the ripe young age of 17 and went to SEAL training, where even though I did not make it through I learned the greatest lesson...take care of your gear (ie:my body, weapon...) and it will take care of you (if you do not take care of it, it will fail you). Also, I look at it as part of my job (still active duty) where I must be in better shape than those we have been fighting with since 2001.

TheLBM · 07-03-2008, 05:19 AM

I started because my wife was cheating on me. And i swore i was going to be bigger than him. And i accomplished my goal, i got bigger and more defined. And after that, it was to late. I was addicted. So i have continued for myself. And have let all past animosity go.

thomasale · 07-03-2008, 05:20 AM

Mid life getting it together. Diabetic since 1989 and starting to feel some of the complications (peripheral neuropathy). In Mar 2007 around st. Patricks day I signed up at Golds and got online here. It has been an eye opening experience and has added quality time to my life when I can enjoy it the most!

blkbelt42 · 07-03-2008, 05:20 AM

after 25 years of teaching and training kungfu,
it was time to GET BIG!!

freebirdmac · 07-03-2008, 06:24 AM

I had played the single mom role for over 15 years, neglecting and not really have time for myself. I'd also developed food intolerances/allergy that made my weight plummet, worsening how I looked. I was skinny, but at the same time fat. What else does one do but start over and build muscle. I backed out of the kid activity related stuff and made time for me. Building muscle wasn't scary as I had grown up swimming and cheering so I had had muscle in the past. It's slower bringing my body back into condition now, but better late than never

snoack · 07-03-2008, 06:48 AM

After I graduated from high school, I got fat because I was partying too much. I moved from Maine to Maryland to ,live with my aunt and uncle at 19. I was working in a restaurant waiting tables (really cool place that became a club at night, I was making stupid money), and one day I got sick...I mean REAL sick. I was laying in bed, feeling like I was dying, and I looked down at my gut...it was disgusting. I went and got on the scale...230lbs! I'd never weighed more then 175 at my current height, and I was shocked. As soon as I got better, I started running. It was slow, and painful, but I didn't quit. I kept going. Spring came and I quit working at the restaurant (actually, I got fired...not going to explain the reason...too long for this already long post) and went to work for my uncle's landscaping company, and kept running. By now I was running 6-8 miles a day 5-6 days per week. My routine was to get up every morning, do 100 pushups and 100 situps, ride my bike 19 miles to my uncle's shop, work my ass off all day, come home, do another 100 pushups and 100 situps, and then run. My weight dropped all the way to 148lbs, and I was nothing but wiry muscle. Winter came, I got a job at a deli which was in a strip mall next to a Holiday Spa (the first incarnation of Bally's). We gave their employees a 25% discount, and in return we got to work out there for free. No free weights, all Nautilus and circuit equipment, but a real good Nautilus set up. So, I started lifting. Did it for 3 years, put on 35lbs of muscle. Then I stopped. I was doing a lot of bodyweight work, so I still looked good.

Lifted on and off through my 20's, never really got into a rythym.

Fast forward to 2004-

Just started TKD class with my son, bought a Total Gym and an Ab lounge, working out on those regularly.

Fast forward to March, 2007- Total Gym has taken me as far as I can go, I'm ready to start lifting again. But I'm not going to join a gym, I want to work out at home. Start buying equipment.

Fast forward to April, 2008- joing BB.com, start learning tremendous amounts, dump Ab Lounge and start doing some real ab work.

I'm on a temporary hiatus from lifting because the training I need to put myself through for my black belt exam is different, but I have August 10th circled on my calendar as the day I get to start again. Going to start up again with my mass cycle, can't wait!

blkbelt42 · 07-03-2008, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snoack

I'm on a temporary hiatus from lifting because the training I need to put myself through for my black belt exam is different, but I have August 10th circled on my calendar as the day I get to start again. Going to start up again with my mass cycle, can't wait!

Good Luck on the Exam!

Marius_Ursus · 07-03-2008, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sluggeaux

I saw a nakked picture of me, and it disgusted me. I keep it on the mirror in my locker on the rig, and a copy of it on the mirror above my sink at home so i have to look at it every day, so i can remind myself on how I never want to look again.

+1

My pic wasn't naked, but I couldn't believe what a fat, disgusting slob I'd become. I went out the next day and bought my first weight bench from a used sporting goods store and then spent the first few weeks not doing anything productive with it. I was working out, sure, but I didn't know anything, so I was working out for an hour and a half lifting weight that was too light.

When I realized I wasn't getting ANY results, I started reading All Natural Muscular Development (now twice defunct) and MuscleMedia 2000. I finally got a handle on what I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to eat and started to see those changes I'd been trying to get.

I've gone from bodybuilding to strength training over the last eight years, and now I'm getting a new focus on my training for combatives. I still use Olympic weights and kettlebells. I'm just using them as conditioning instead of the endall of my training regimen.

TDetroit · 07-03-2008, 08:56 AM

i tired all the time and felt the need to move around. my excercises for teh c5-c6 issue were getting pointless because the weights were no longer heavy enough, and buying the next set of db's was getting expensive. so I signed up at the gym.

snoack · 07-03-2008, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marius_Ursus

+1

My pic wasn't naked, but I couldn't believe what a fat, disgusting slob I'd become.

I went through that too. Found a picture of myself recently that was taken right after my son was born. All I was thinking was "quick, somebody get that baby away from that fat slob before he eats him!"

Eileen · 07-03-2008, 09:26 AM

I lifted when I was younger, but kind of let it slide when I had kids. Then I had the cycle run from hell, with three children on the back of my bike, and hills and headwinds to fight every day. It was literally killing me, I had to get stronger to do my school run. So I joined a gym and started some serious squatting and deadlifting.

Bo_Flecks · 07-03-2008, 10:12 AM

I stopped lifting in 1995 due to SVT's (supra-ventricle tachycardia) brought on by physical stress. I had to take medicine which kept it under control during normal activity.

When my twins were a year old, I ended up in the ER because an uncontrollable SVT kicked in causing my heart to stay at 180 beats per minute. They had to stop my heart to get the normal rhythm back, but at the same time found that I had an extra electrical node that was causing the problem.

In 2006 I had a procedure called a cardiac ablation which burned out the extra node and cured the SVT's. I started lifting again three weeks later. That event motivated me to get myself back in shape and stay there as my kids grow up.

rbdwarf · 07-03-2008, 10:13 AM

I've known for years that I'm a disgusting tub 'o lard but could never quite get motivated to do anything about it. I was an overweight kid and, with the exception of a few years, an overweight adult. One day on a gig at a large hotel downtown I stood on the industrial scale on the loading dock. 398lbs! Wow! But that still didn't quite push me over the edge.

About two months later I was doing a gig out of town and we had rooms. For some perverse reason the hotel had mirrors opposite the shower. Uggh, I stepped out of the shower and really saw myself in all of my Lord Of Lardness glory. It was the combination of these two events that finally pushed me over the edge. I first concentrated on changing my eating habits and then in November I started to do some weights. I bought a used bench and some dumbbells. Recently I added a barbell and some plates.

I haven't been lifting to build size yet, I'm focussing on doing enough to boost my metabolism in order to burn off my excess fat. Lately I've been lifting a little heavier, I don't know why - it just feels good. I suspect that it's becoming a lifestyle choice.

--
Rob

Stevelegh · 07-03-2008, 10:24 AM

To lift a terrible bout of depression. Excercise creates endorphines which make you happy!

I chose weights as I am lazy.

It's great to be able to lift something 8-10 times, whilst concentrating on good form and tempo, then put it down, say 'whew, that was heavy', have a little rest and then do it again.

I can't see why people want to run around and or kick / throw things for a specified period of time, or run for so many miles.

Not a criticism, just not my bag.