Guys,I’ve been lurking this board. I just wanted your input on the main reason you guys workout. For me, besides the good health, confidence, etc., Bottom line has been to find the t-vixen of my dreams. Am I fucked up or is it pretty much the same for the rest?
Thanks and please go easy on the flaming!
Well, I gotta admit–I’ve always wanted to have the kind of body girls like. But not get a girl–I’m happily married–but to feel more confident. I’ve always been an artist, writer, and counselor, but I’ve been particuarly notable for how I look (other than that I dress rather counterculture).
Also, I work as a counselor with gang-active youth, dealing with assault, rape, and violence every day (that’s my job; I work at a domestic violence and rape crisis shelter, and I educate groups of youth and young adults). The groups I work with are violent, and they only respect men for power, not for ability or talent. So to stay protected, and to carry any authority at all, I have to be able to demonstrate my physical skills as well as my counseling skills. More than once I’ve had to challenge a gang member to an arm-wrestle with the wager being group therapy cooperation if I win, or consenting to him leaving the group without penalty if he wins. I have not lost a single time yet.
A more compelling reason, though, is that I started exercising when my wife was pregnant. We have a 7-month-old now, and I'm working out to maintain my energy, patience, mood, and longevity for that reason.
I personnally workout to achieve the best body my genetics will allow to give me. It’s also a matter of perfection; I try to eat super clean all the time and have a healthy lifestyle. The great thing about this is that everytime you look at yourself in the mirror, you see improvement, a new you, a better you, and in top of that you feel stronger and better everyday. I also love that post-workout state where you come back home, have a delicious GROW! shake, chill out on that computer then have a nice warm shower. I’d finally like to inspire my close friends to follow my example. As for the chicks, I wouldn’t enjoy dating a girl who’s going out with me just because of my body… It’s just an advantage.
There’s a great article in an issue of T-Mag intitled “What separates us from them”; This is a real source of inspiration and I recommend you read it.
Peace
I started working out in high school for the expressed purpose of becoming better at the sports I participated in, and well, got to like being stronger than all the hippies out there, who go around breathing my air. Plus I still play rugby and with every passing year I become a more formidable opponent and there are few things better than seeing the intimidation in the eyes of you opponents as they pretend to try and tackle you, because they are fearful for their lives. The physical attractiveness is definitely a bonus though, because, with the exception of girls who wear spiked leather jumpsuits, most girls don’t care for guys they can take in a fight.
Neil,
I did a search for that article your talking about but I couldnt find it. Could you help me narrow down the search by telling me what year and category its under?
Thanks
My mom has a video of me when i was 2 and i was flexing in my underwear. Its something ive always wanted to do. I cant explain it. Its like instincts or something. I just love going to the gym and getting pumped and lifting more and more weight. Id lie if i said i didnt do it for the chicks too, but id probably do it anyway. I just love it.
Nice topic! This might be long but here goes. I started lifting in high school because I had nothing better to do during lunch. BUTT, I’ve always been like Arnold in my mentality in that I always admired powerful, famous or infamous people and wanted to be one. I was always a big kid but as my big biceps actually began to have some shape, walking with a sleeveless shirt made me feel good knowing that some guys and gals looked at me thinking even if for a second “damn!”. Once I got to University and got my training on the right track (more like a kick in the nuts from my coaches, football friends and the Poliquin Principles…suffice to say I did bench every day…). Embarassing most (rookie and senior) football players at a major University in strength in all lifts and all of them in some lifts was like a blowjob. It’s a lifestyle, plain and simple. This ain’t a hobby guys! There’s nothing else man made I can think of that affects you 24 hrs/day (even marriage goes away when you fall asleep). I love the “what the fuck” look on people’s faces when I get up from 160 lb one arm rows with my face red, snot bubbles and drool on my chin after screaming like I was being raped by an elephant. (this is when I get my daily question about what the Testosterone shirt is all about…and they made me pay for it!!!) I see women of all ages look at my arms when I pump up my biceps from 19.8 to 20.5. That and the pump itself, then coming home and having the post workout euphoria is like cuming. I don’t want to find a girl that wants me for how I look or will look but when I do find someone who’s mouth has more uses than a catching glove, I want her to have the best man possible.
Oh, I also love breaking musclehead stereotypes. I love the look on people’s faces when in the gym, they ask me what I do and I say I’m a computer science student.
I’d have to agree with you that the main reason (by a fair margin) I lift is to attract chicks. Let’s face it, when you meet or spot someone, it’s obviously their physical appearance that you assess first. So for a chick that spots or meets me, they’ll be more impressed/attracted if I’m muscular and lean rather than over/under wieght. I’d say you’re completely sane bud.
I think it allows us guys to have a chance of getting to know many more girls than would otherwise be possible. I know my ‘score’ rate has risen dramatically since I started lifting 3 years ago.
And another point, now that I’m in quite good shape, I expect that of a partner. And so that’s what I expect the chicks to want too. If they’re lush beyond belief, they 'aint gunna get it on with a chunky guy. So I ‘put’ myself in their category (although I’m not claiming here that I’m gods gift to women) so I can have a chance with them. Once the ice is broken though, I can usually talk enough shit to take it to the next level…
Ron,
I think Neil was referring to Merry Christmas, Bob by Chris. It’s at:
Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
It is a great piece of motivational writing for us but I hear a lot of people print it out and give it to their co workers and such…I’m not sure that’s such a hot idea. He uses the word “separates” but the article implies that we’re “better than” they are. In our opinion this is the case and even if we’re right, no one likes to hear that they are inferior. They’ll just get pissed off. I don’t know anyone that can objectively take bragging criticizm, even if constructive. If you hand that article to your co-workers, you’re basically saying “I’ve always known that you suck and I rule but now I have it in writing”. Well, sorry, the only way the above will not be true is if they don’t know you are implying that you are the bodybuilder and they’re Bob. But what self indulgent man (ie T-man) doesn’t make it known that he is a weightlifter? (whether that be “forgetting” to take the belt or gloves off, wearing a do-rag and a shirt torn at the ribs or a "T"shirt)
Roy I am in the same boat as you. Yes the fact that you feel confident about yourself when you lift is great and being healthy is always a bonus, the reason most all of us lift is to impress the women we feel are mind blowingly hot. So don’t feel bad for a second we do it all for the nookie.
Don’t know if things are different in the States, but here in the UK women are not remotly interested in men with muscles - okay that’s overstating it- maybe a small percentage are, but probably a similar percentage like men with beards or bald men. I suppose I started training in the naive belief that it would attract women, but now I train just for the sheer physical thrill of training!
Like Mitchell, I originally started lifting to develop my physical skills for the athletic field. This quickly turned into an obsession, and has never died down. It’s hard to explain why I do it, I don’t play sports anymore, nor am I very concerned about how I look naked. I think it just comes down to challenging myself, and seeing improvement. What I do know for sure is that lifting is the glue that holds my life together, I know that when my life gets shitty, which it pretty often, there is that one constant that will keep me motivated and off the bottle. “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.”
Come on guys admit it, no matter what, deep inside, you know it is for the babes we do this!! You know that feeling when you talk to a woman and she comes close and touches your biceps in a “friendly manner” guys instinctively contract, so she get’s a little feel of the tri’s too. Or how about that “Sudden Scratch” you get on your Triceps whenever a babe is around! LOL! Hey I admit it, I do it all the time. Peace.
Samir B
Ok here I go. The reason I do it is because I am not very tall,5"4". It is not easy being a short male with the sorry ass Hollywood stereo type of the short,guly,fat, pussy. Watch just about any flick made and you will see what I mean. Leathal Weapon is a perfect example with Joe P playing the short out of shape idiot. Well that kind of image has got to stop and I am on top of it. I have had tall fat guys try to treat me less a male untill I back up my desire not to get push around in elevators and lines. Once they size up the challenge they back down. All it take is the broad shoulders and small waist line. I have even had guys come up to me in bars and tell me they would not want to get into a fight with me because of the shape I am in.
I am also a jet pilot and staying in shape gives me the edge because every 6 months I have to take a 1st class medical. If you blow it you loss a great career. The medical is one place that fittness shows up, B.P. and hart rates are measured (E.K.G’s are done every 5 years). Ok,ok, so I’ll have to also admit that on my lay overs in Rio, wearing spedos allows me to have a date with almost any women I want that evening after hanging out at Copacaban all day!!! Buy the way are there short and built clothing stores for men. All I ever see is big and tall.
I used to do it for the chicks, and for the fact that I was sick of weighing in a 125 lbs. Overtime I just started to enjoy the act of lifting and the effect it had on my body. I had to since it did not help me get any chicks. I didn’t realize chicks were into things like personality and crap like that, what a crock of shit. I really just enjoy exerting myself, I don’t really care about diet and all that crap, since it’s to much trouble and I have yet a lot of beer to drink. I do keep the dieting stuff in my head and I allow it to influence my non- partying behaviour, but when the lights go down, the top, pops off. Of course if I see myself becoming fat, I’ll knock off any activity that participates in that effect.
Samir B - LMAO!!! Yeah, I often get an itch on my arm…! It usually spreads to the back of my shoulder though, so I have to drag my sleeve all the way up (scratching over the shirt just doesn’t cut it), and I find that flexing helps get rid of the itch too…