Why you started lifting weights?

[Who Dares Win]

Just saw some page about the most common reason for which a guy starts lifting weights, it goes from the getting in shape for skinny/fat dudes, from those dumped from their girlfriends or looking for more girls to the guy which builds himself into a muscle mass to face bullies and so on.

Just curious about your reasons.

Personally the get girls reason was no more than 10%, I believe I just needed something to confirm myself that I was a man in terms of action and results, something more about my self image.

I remember even when I was a kid that watching at those advertisments on tv I was telling myself that I would have been a muscular guy like them instead of a normal man like my family members or average guys.

The fact that more muscles somehow also means more ability to hurt people also played a role, but much more in marzial arts than lifting weights.

 

[AttackFormation]

In high school, I arm wrestled a guy who lifted. I couldn't even move his arm, and he just sat there smiling before instantly taking me down. Then, I couldn't even defeat an asperger guy who I thought would be easy for me. I didn't start then but this made me feel so humbled and shamed that it was something I couldn't forget.

Months or a year later - I don't remember - I was out with my friends who had been lifting for some time which I wasn't really aware of and hadn't paid attention to. The subject came up and they said I should join them. Before that, the school's counselor had kept nagging me about starting to gym but I hadn't done it first because I was completely broke and then because I procrastinated.

From the culmination of earlier incidents, nagging and thinking I decided "f*ck it, now is the time", went with them the next day they did and bought a year's subscription on the spot. I got even more humiliated in the gym. I could barely bench the barbell for reps and failed quickly, I could barely deadlift more than the bar with exhaustion setting in after trying and so on. I felt even more of an urgency when I realised I was weak to the point that I wasn't even lifting more weight than girls and I was pathetically weak, after growing up thinking I was strong. My ego's delusions were smashed to pieces. I kept at it because I had seen for myself what could be achieved and the humiliation I felt was overriding - I had to do it. I worked out for a bit more than three months I think before losing motivation and stopping, not doing anything else with my time. I discovered I had good bodybuilding genetics during this time. It was something I would only research, understand and remember in the future, but later on it helped me get my motivation back to recall the great progress I had made so quickly.

I then took a job as a salesman. I wanted to return to working out but I was so drained from work that I couldn't do it consistently and only went rarely. After I finally got myself together to quit that job, time went by without me working out or at the most only very rarely, as far as I can remember. The next summer I got another job as a salesman after telling myself I would never again work as one, I quit after a few weeks and renewed my vow to never be a salesman again this time with 100% conviction. I also vowed to start working out for real from the day I quit, like I had done for those few months one and a half years ago. I said that no matter what, this was going to be my priority one of what I did and I would never quit or hesitate again.

That was in August, 18 and a half months ago. I didn't start because of women but because of my self-esteem. Once I discovered that I actually had good genetics for bodybuilding, I added that to my motivation.

 

[SeymourCake]

I want to look like a Greek God.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

I am no where near a natural athlete. Quite the polar opposite in fact. I noticed how weak I was, especially when the people all around me in my class were stronger than me. I went to a private school and left after 8th grade. I noticed that they were stronger than me partially because most of them had started puberty in 4th or 5th grade AND I was a year ahead of the grade I should have been in. I also found out a few people just did push ups on their own. It crushed me at the time at how weak I was compared to others so much. I believe it was at age 11 when I started doing my own pushups. I could barely do 5 good form push ups. When I turned 13, I was rocking out 135 push ups nose touching the ground and back up. I had started to do situps too when I was 12 and that was when I first got a 6 pack. They were easy for me so I had decided to make them harder by sticking my feet underneath something and doing a situp where my back would get close to the floor, but wouldn't touch it. That is what gave me a 6 pack. Then when I was 13, I made varsity swimming team and from 6:30 to 8:00 we would lift. I didn't really know what I was doing too much though. I started to work out with my friend after school though when swim season was over. I never done deadlifts because I was scared my back would mess up, but I was able to get 7 reps (no straps) of 285 the very first time. And that was when I was 13 and had never had any prior deadlift experience. I was average height too.

Basically, I had this overwhelming urge that I was weak and need to be stronger. I still kinda do now. But I still am competitive so when I lift, I am super focused and always work at my hardest.

It did pay off though. Now i got the body of a Greek god at the age of 16. Sh!t I've had a body of one since I was just barely 15. I'm the most ripped teen I've ever met lol

 

[Mr Wright]

Because I play rugby and to keep up you have to bulk up. But also because my body has always been kinda good but kinda good sucks. I want it to be amazing and I'm probably about 9 months away from looking what I want to look like.

 

[MOTU]

For the same reasons everyone else has listed, and, I wanted to feel better and be more able to enjoy doing the things I like, such as yard work, home improvement and working on my motorcycles.