Because a built physique inspires both self and others.
Anyone ever been inspired to better themselves by skinny-fat or obese people? Didn’t think so.
[quote]StylinNProfilin wrote:
Because a built physique inspires both self and others.
Anyone ever been inspired to better themselves by skinny-fat or obese people? Didn’t think so.
[/quote]
Yeah. A great physique is, by far, the most important quality a person can have. Absolutely agree 100%.
Who gives a shit what a person has accomplished if they’re … skinny-fat!
I was mugged one night, and while I know that weight lifting isn’t going to stop some gang member from pulling a gun on me it does give me a lot more confidence in everything I do. My dad has type II diabetes, my mom has arthritis, my sister is obese with high cholesterol and blood pressure. I hate those qualities about them and have always been the healthy one but now I’m not only healthy but I’m actually fit. Now when I give my sister or mom advice there’s a chance they’ll listen. Then I lift because since starting I love watching myself grow and become better. I can’t wait to reach a point that I can post in the Rate My Physique forum, I’m hoping by the end of this year I might be ready. But I’m realistic and know that it might not be until next year and thats fine too. I’m not in any rush.
Z-day
i started to lift weights to lose fat, now i do it because i just love it.
You know, my semiserious but in a funny tone response aside, I started out lifting because of girls and fights at school. I did it as rehab for a terrible car accident I was in. I used it as catharsis and a way to better myself after being fucked over by a girl I really liked. And then another haha. I did it to compete with my friends on the weightlifting team for bragging rights.
Not going to say those reasons arent still there, but now I mostly just lift for me. People jokingly tell me things when they see me lifting regularly like “girls just like money man” “cmon when was the last time you really thought you were going to have to throw down” (im 28) and it doesnt even make sense at first. Then I remember when I started and realize they are talking about why they think I lift, maybe thinking back to when they did (99% have quit).
Most of my friends dont lift. I only really talk weightlifting with one of them, and he lives 4 hours away. I dont even know what he lifts poundage wise. My leg has been rehabbed as much as it ever will be, and I definitely have better soft tissue and glute activation than before. I know women are into confidence more than anything and stopped letting them get the better of me. I havent been in a fight in years and really dont feel the need to run my mouth unless jager has been involved and the guy is way out of line. All the original reasons have faded into the background yet I keep at it and cant imagine stopping.
So I guess its health, moving couches, and because 200 lbs is always 200 lbs.
[quote]Karler wrote:
So I can defeat Zodd![/quote]
GRIFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH!
[quote]milktruck wrote:
because 200 lbs is always 200 lbs.[/quote]
This is why, not health, body, not for social reasons. Weightlifting and power lifting are pretty black and white and that’s what I like. No grey zones. I don’t have to be part of a team (although I chose to be) I don’t have to worry about letting anyone down but myself most of the time and as a bonus feature, people ask me all kinds of crazy questions about WHY the hell I want to move so much weight. Being a girl and all. Today a guy asked me if was training to be a fire fighter, he’s a regular and has seen me training for 2 years in that gym. I told him no, I’m training to be a ninja, but it didn’t sound as funny in French. I think he believed me.
[quote]Jason Lee wrote:
One of the reasons I lift is because I want to look on the outside, how I feel on the inside. I feel a certain way but I don’t look like how I feel. [/quote]
The same here.
Lifting weight is also some kind of a strategy game to me…
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
I used to be extremely unathletic. It’s thrilling to begin to think of my body as an asset instead of an inconvenience, and to compare myself to the best instead of the worst.
[/quote]
This! And I’m loving the little surprises that come with doing ordinary daily activities, like squatting down to get something off a low shelf and coming back up, and realizing the down-and-up are springier and smoother because of the zillion squats I’ve done.
Also: I’m still a kind-of noob to weight training, starting my second year after a lifetime of off-and-on cardio bunnyhood. Hard to put into words, but I love how every day, my training is becoming more and more an integral part of who I am. Unlike before, when it wasn’t training, but “exercising”, that I did a couple of times a week, like doing the laundry, done and forgotten about.
More and more, what I do outside the gym needs to support the training. Not just diet and rest, but stuff like scheduling everything I must do in a day so there’s always time for the training. And pacing from window to window like a caged tiger when I’m SNOWED IN and can’t get to the gym. Arrgh!
[quote]Gail wrote:
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
I used to be extremely unathletic. It’s thrilling to begin to think of my body as an asset instead of an inconvenience, and to compare myself to the best instead of the worst.
[/quote]
This! And I’m loving the little surprises that come with doing ordinary daily activities, like squatting down to get something off a low shelf and coming back up, and realizing the down-and-up are springier and smoother because of the zillion squats I’ve done.
Also: I’m still a kind-of noob to weight training, starting my second year after a lifetime of off-and-on cardio bunnyhood. Hard to put into words, but I love how every day, my training is becoming more and more an integral part of who I am. Unlike before, when it wasn’t training, but “exercising”, that I did a couple of times a week, like doing the laundry, done and forgotten about.
More and more, what I do outside the gym needs to support the training. Not just diet and rest, but stuff like scheduling everything I must do in a day so there’s always time for the training. And pacing from window to window like a caged tiger when I’m SNOWED IN and can’t get to the gym. Arrgh![/quote]
x2 Other than biking and swimming, I spent most of my childhood and youth being extremely un-athletic and fairly out-of-shape. Especially if you’re book smart, you then get pigeonholed as a nerd. Training is my way of righting that imbalance.
Plus, it’s a thrill to train for strength and performance and find you’re actually getting BETTER as time passes… Especially when you’ve passed ages 35-40, that puts you into a pretty rare category, which carries its own minor satisfaction. I don’t mean it gives me a false sense of superiority, I just mean I feel like I’m living the principle that Charles Staley outlined when he advised people to look at what the herd is doing and DO THE OPPOSITE.
Second all the other replies here but I’d also like to add:
To be strong & capable when the moment(s) outside the gym calls for it (emergency or otherwise, protecting & helping my family)
To be an example of discipline & will to my son (currently 6 months old) so I’ve got a lot of lifting left to do
To live the old saying “Adversity introduces a man to himself” (even if that adversity is just a loaded bar on the floor/bench)
To harness my pain, hardships & sacrifice & make those experiences work in my favor.