Why do you lift?

[YoSiBuff]

Seriously, what got you started and what originally motivated you to start left weights? Do you ever look around the gym at the other brahs lifting and wonder if anyone has a similar story?

When I was a freshman in high school I was tall and skinny as hell. I took the weight training elective, and on the first day I walked in and saw our weight training teacher (the football coach) benching 445 by himself, no spotter. He had two 100lb plates on each side. The barbell was literally bending in the middle from the weight. That coach, and the others in my class, got me started into lifting. After that year I have been motivated my entire life to always be as strong as possible.

What about you?

[Mmjk1500]

I started to beat health issues. I beat the health issues. Now I lift to look good and be functional and strong. Life is better when youre proud of how you look.



"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable."

Fukking A. The more aesthetic, I get the more goals I accomplish the easier the other bullsh!t in life gets. Every brah should lift. For himself and the people around him.

[ReapingTheField]

Started lifting after a breakup to feel and look better (Revenge body is what they call it I think)

What kept me lifting was that feeling of achieving something you’d never done before. Be that the first pull-up or the 10th on your 10th set

[mgftp]

Originally started for sports and bar fights

Now I just love feeling and being healthy and looking better than 99% of the men around me.

[the207life]

Military.

[backinthegymbro]

i want to be reborn. a new person.

[jk202]

Started because I was fat. Now I legit just enjoy training hard

[Natty1980]

Manletism was my driving force.

[ChangeOfStyle]

Was an addictive gamer, skinny as hell and had no passion.

Morphing the mental and physical state to suit the career choice of a military lifestyle

Lifting really is just a betterment of improving an individuals mental and physical state. Gives them the first step of being committed and driven to achieve something in their lives with a consistent attitude

[bayrider]

I was fat, family was scared I would die of heart failure, needed blood pressure meds and I nearly died on an operating table. I got healthy and just kept getting stronger.

[jademonkey]

I never cared for looks and never even considered that someone would lift weights to build a muscular body until like last year. I always hated "fitness" - this thing where people try and force themselves to go through contrived motions because they should. Some generic "fitness" or feeling like you should do something is a crappy motivator and a crappy reason to do anything. I've never been into fitness, but always been fit due to being ridiculously competitive my whole life.

As a kid it was tag, capture the flag, board games like chess, arm wrestling, racing, in line skating (skate park), street hockey, baseball, soccer, random skills, juggling, unicycling, push ups, pull ups, human flag, etc. I just wanted to be better than everyone at everything. As I got older I focused on gymnastics for a several years, one semester lifting in the crappy community college gym, parkour for a bit, a bit of acro, bike racing for a few years after grad school, Spartan race a couple times. I even tried swimming for like a year but I sink like a rock (full lungs of air, straight to the bottom).

I initially joined the gym last October to build strength back as a foundation for bike racing, because I had steadily gotten slower over the years while simultaneously getting better at racing. I thought getting that strength back might improve my aerobic threshold power to where it was when I switched from gymnastics to racing. Turned out I liked getting muscular again, liked adding weight to my lifts, and like that it's easier than intervals on a bike and takes less time. And I was burned out on racing. I've done well over 200 races in the past 5 years.

Chances are I'll be all in at the gym for a few years and then move on to something else.

[lockdown45]

I started lifting due to a mix of pride at the age of 14, being able to do captains chair leg lifts in front of the gym class well past 50 reps. Some time at the age of 16 I started hanging out with a wrestler in high school. One day at his house I had a buddy over who was 6'1 150 lbs and he mounted me and kept laughing as I squirmed to try and lift him with my legs my core everything I had and realized if I ever got into a fight and it went to the ground I'd be completely screwed. Went ahead and picked up a pair of 5 lb dumbbells and when I saw my tiny biceps starting to turn into rock solid apples I knew that I'd carry weight lifting with me to the grave.

What keeps me going is definitely just actually lifting weights, once I finish that first set I can't stop and would literally lift weights all day every day if lactic acid and real life responsibilities weren't an issue.

[RainingMud]

I wanna be the sexiest man for my woman.

And cause I wanna live to 100.

[armies]

I made the decision at the age of 3 to become like the incredible hulk (Lou Ferrigno) as I got older I saw so many cartoons like he-man, thundercats, etc, they were all muscular, then at around 8 I discovered Arnold in the movie commando, there was no turning back, becoming a huge and ripped bodybuilder was my destiny, srs

[armies]

[armies]

[armies]

[armies]

[armies]

[simmonan1]

Cobra Kai!

[simmonan1]

I miss that show haha

[yuliangolodnykh]

Similar situation, started lifting as a freshman in high school. I was tall and skinny and wanted to put on weight. It took a couple years to find my groove. Nowadays I lift to maintain my physique.

[ILuvPepsi]

I wanted to defy expectations. Growing up, doctors would tell me I'd have problems with my frame and growth plates, and that my growing pains would be a lot more intense than for most people. Even more, I was never into anything sports-related; I simply found them to be a waste of time (my old mindset: "Why chase around a ball all day?") Because of this I was never that strong and couldn't even do a pushup right. Entering 8th grade, my mom began taking me to the local Y once in a blue moon, where I would just go from machine to machine and feel like I was productive.

The next summer, I saw Rocky 4 for the first time, and each time I saw it, I wanted to go to the gym more and more. That summer I did those lame workouts again, just with a little bit more frequency. Feeling like a pro, I signed up for my high school's weightlifting elective in my 9th grade year and quickly got humbled; I LeArNeD tHaT yOu CoUlD sQuAt WiTh WeIgHt On YoUr BaCk! Even then, I never got better than quarter-squatting 135 for 6 reps, and I could hardly smith bench 70 pounds total.

I was beginning to make a bit more progress, but I learned that despite being a nerd, I knew nothing about gaining muscle. My only goal was strength and in one semester I went from curling 5 pounds to curling 15, not that great. Over winter break, I began to actually research what works and what doesn't, and soon found myself looking at Starting Strength and Stronglifts guides.

And I had more time to think about everything after getting all my wisdom teeth out that January. I'll never forget the day I began Stronglifts 5x5, February 7th of last year. As I was increasing in weights lifted, my form got better and I felt more confident. As I got stronger, I felt these pains I mentioned go away for good; I never realized they were there until they were gone.

Fast forward to today, I'm about to Smolov in hopes of increasing my squat by another 30-60 pounds. Lifting helps me relieve stress from my busy life and it feels great to be the only one in my friend group to deadlift yet to not have back pain LOL. I've also learned a lot in having a good mentality and in learning things for myself: my mom was worried for a while because she thought squatting would stunt my growth, but when I made it to squatting 2 plates, she was surprised to see I had grown an inch and how I had become stronger despite only doing 3-4 exercises per workout.

tl;dr Working out is productive and helps every aspect of your life.

[kusok]

I wanted to get pussy.

[Merc009]

Was overweight my entire childhood, the only time i was ever below 200lbs was when i grew past 200lbs at age 9.


When in high school, no one ever really made fun of me for my weight, but one time i saw myself in the mirror and i looked like i was pregnant...

This was my wake up call, I never really had a problem lifting weights as I enjoy it, what makes it hard for me is that there are now more responsibilities I have to attend to and lifting kind of gets in the way.

[jacobskiy]

I just like to try my strength and I enjoy my time in the gym.

[stilliRise1]

I have a job that hurts my neck,shoulders and back from working too long. So better body health first then second place to look better.

[stilliRise1]

I just like to try my strength and I enjoy my time in the gym.

The enjoying part is so underrated.

[BarackObonga]

Its fun