I love lifting and always have. I can remember watching the 72 Olympics on tv and spending months lifting up the heavy footstool and coffee table in our living room (ok, I was only 8 years old)
I love the feel of chalk on my hands, the sound of plates being threaded onto the bar, the smell of sweat that has been shed in order to improve one’s strength.
I love the feel of a loaded barbell locked over my head, the hard calluses on my hand from hours of deadlifting.
I love waking up at 5am on the morning following a hard leg workout, only to have my legs buckle as they hit the ground.
I love the incredible soreness that cleans and high pulls bring to the upper back. Forget about biceps and six-packs and V-tapers, the upper back is what appeals to me.
I love writing in my training journal and looking back over the years at where I have been and where I am going. I knew at age 14 that it would be tough to find 17 other guys to play baseball when I was in my 30’s. but the weights would always be there.
I love reading training stories from one who has “been there and done that” as opposed to one who has “studied this and is selling that”
I love walking being out in public and passing by a fellow lifter-we nod respectfully at one another-though we are strangers, we have paid the same price and shared the same experiences and that makes us instant brothers or sisters.
I love old black and white photos of lifters, I love overhead squats, overhead presses, full squats and barbell rows-just the type of movements that make most fitness trainees cringe.
and I love this site and the men and women who post daily- most of these people will never be on Sportscenter but they struggle on a daily basis to improve themselves and for this, they have my adoration.
I hear ya bro! If there is one thing I love most is watching the look on people’s face when I clean and jerk what they can’t even squat!
Just a side note about shoulders workout (I did shoudlers today). I see guys doing front raises, lateral raises and only one exercise of overhead press for shoulders and these same guys are wondering why their deltoids do not get bigger. I just want to tell them if you want big shoulders you gotta lift heavy shit above your head!!! But I guess you really gotta LOVE lifting to dedicate an entire workout to shoulders.
People at T-Nation keep the hardcore mentality alive. Let’s keep it real and show those wussies in commercial gyms how it’s done, T-Style!
Man, that almost brought a tear to my eye (I really mean it), cause I feel like I have written that post, and you mentioned all the things I love about weightlifting.
Excellent, ditto bro. I love the feeling of sweating, bleeding, hurting so bad I want to quit but my mind tells me hell no one more and the satisfaction of knowing I just pushed by body,my mind,my will to the fucking outer limits of my being and the confidence this gives me. DAMN GREAT POST.
Great post Keith,
I think I’ll print this out and put it up in my gym to motivate me; after reading that I realise that maybe I should love lifting more than I do.
“I knew at age 14 that it would be tough to find 17 other guys to play baseball when I was in my 30’s. but the weights would always be there.”
This is so true. And it’s also somewhat true of what one would consider “grown up” sports such as golf. Ironically, when I was in my 20’s, I loved golf and figured I would play it the rest of my life. Now that I’m in my 30’s, I think golf is a bit boring and I would rather hit the weights. You don’t lose a $2 ball on a bad lift. You don’t need to pay $30-some to lift. You’re not out baking in the hot sun and getting sunburned - sure, I sweat plenty when I workout, but it won’t lead to skin cancer. But what about that wonderful, effortless feeling of hitting a ball right in the sweet spot and watching it sail 300 yards? I get that same feeling doing the Olympic lifts. I’m by no means a great O lifter, but I have fun with the lifts. Lots of fun. There’s nothing like snatching a weight overhead. Done right, it feels effortless, and the weight sails above your head. Just like hitting the sweet spot. And I tend to “hit the sweet spot” on the Olympic lifts more often than when I used to hit golf balls. And yeah, it’s cool that I can power clean (and sometime power snatch) more than some gym rats can squat.