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2005/11/18, 10:08 AM
There are many reasons why a person lifts. Some are personal, such as health reasons. Some are totally selfish like to look good for the opposite sex. My reasons are different, as they should be; for each of us is different.
I was not what you would call an athletic child. I was slow, clumsy, and to tell the truth not at all interested in sports. I loved to play outside, but that was as far as it got. Gym class, well that is a hell I hope to never repeat. I still have a place in my dark spot in my soul for certain people from that time. It was not fun, and was made less fun by the fact I was fat. I was obese then as well as now. Difference is now I could snap those that made my life hell in half!
So I spent my time reading books and staying to myself. It was not until my first real year of college at Alfred State that I broke the shell for good. I started to lift in 1994, after getting on a scale and jumping off as it reached 320. I have no idea how heavy I was I guess it was about 330 or higher. I bought a pair of 30lb dumbbells at my grandmothers in VA. I started to lift them 3 times a week along with pushups and crunches. In a year I was down to 240 and wearing jeans again instead of jogging pants. At that point I met a guy in the dorm cafeteria that I worked at. Ken Kempsey. He was totally my direct opposite. He was loud, brash, a smoker, but a good guy. He taught me the basics of lifting. He remains one of my best friends to this day. And, as they say the rest is history!
I then spent the next 5-8 years chasing a dream of bodybuilding. I never reached it mainly because I just hate dieting. Also in 1997 I the woman I would marry. Soon I was at 300 again and there I have stayed for the past 3-4 years. About 3 years or so I started to convert over to a more Power lifting style and dropped the bodybuilding demon. Now I am not saying it is wrong to be a bodybuilder, far from it I know how hard it is to do it. But this style is what I love to do and it works for me. Now we are getting to why I lift and what it means to me. I lift for a number of reasons. One is because I love it. Another is because I am dead set to compete soon in power lifting. Still another is for health reasons, and because I love being strong. I know I will reach my goals at some point it is not a question of that just a question of when. Lifting is a way for me to become stress free, to achieve things 10 years ago I thought I could never do. Lifting frees that part of me that has always wanted to hold a sword and attack the bad guys while my friends escaped. Lifting is that part of me back in school that could not come out, but now is free to roam at will. Lifting frees me to become something more than a father, husband, brother, son, or friend. It is what makes me a whole person. I love my wife, kids, my family and friends, they are a huge part of me, lifting fills in the voids that I have in my soul. It is therapy. I love it!
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Less Talk, More Chalk!
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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2005/11/18, 11:04 AM
Inspiring piece, and keep that motivation going and you'll go far!!:dumbbell:
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2005/11/19, 04:39 AM
Very good post Mutt...
For me lifting is a form of meditation...an amazing stress relief similar to letting loose on a punching bag....the bar bending, the floor shaking after the weight hits the floor...no other feeling like it...
...a way to break down fears-an obstacle overcome in the gym often becomes an obstacle overcome outside of it.
....a way to push myself harder than i ever thought I could do....I think Mutt used a great word to describe the experience-'theraputic'....because that's what it is for me...no matter what's going wrong in my life lifting makes it easier and helps me become more object to deal with the things in my life........most of all I love the self torture....the morning after when I can't move.....every move feels like I am becoming a masochist...I revel in the pain....I feel two joys after lifting...the sometimes agonizing pain for days after and the high after setting some PR....a never ending cycle....lifting is for life....and most people never appreciate this.....
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2005/11/19, 06:55 PM
:( i think a part of me is crying...
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2005/11/19, 08:09 PM
Lifting for me is something that defines me. Yes I'm a wife and mother number one but when I get to the gym....
I just started working out at the beginning of July, the results are astounding. I've totally reshaped my body. In five months I've only lost 18 lbs but I've gone down 4 jean sizes and I take a small in a lot of my cloths instead of the large that I was before. Lifting is a way to seperate myself from the girly girls. I lift hard and heavy. I've packed on so much muscle. Everyone knows me because of it. Lifting defines me....
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2005/11/19, 08:32 PM
I cannot imagine a life without lifting. This is why I try to train so smart, and thus keep my injuries nill.
I have been lifting for almost the last 30 yrs., and started due to be a skinny 130 lbs. soaking wet. Since then, it has evolved to much more than that for me, a healthy lifestlye.
I plan to be doing this till I go out!
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If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
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2005/11/19, 08:41 PM
Great thread... thanks for starting it Mutt...
I've been lifting for about 2 and a half years. Love it. So much in fact I've taken some courses towards training people.
For me, getting to the gym, or working out at home is the 'me' time. Not too much of that for a lot of people anymore.
I've bounced around weight-wise for these couple years, dropped 25 pounds and have since bounced back up 15... mostly muscle.
It's great, love and like bb1, couldn't imagine life without it now.
t
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I am training for birthdays.
Be here. Live. Love. Hope. Now. Faith. Believe. You. - Keith Urban
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2005/12/05, 01:20 PM
Why I train?
I was never obese but I was overweight, I'm tried of feeling embarrassed when I take off my shirt, I'm tried of being out of shape.
I'm not going to be bar hopping and trying to get laid, I'm almost married and I want my GF to be proud to show me off, I want for once in my life for a good looking girl to wink at me not because I would act on it but because it would compliment me.
I have been lifting for only 8 week and doing cardio for only 1 week and will I stick with it? Hell yeah as long as I can afford the gym (that might not be that long :( ).
As mutt here said, we all have our reasons, for me its a hobby for someone else its a way of life.
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2005/12/05, 08:12 PM
hobbies have a way of growing on you...to become a way of life....
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2005/12/06, 12:50 PM
Why I train?
it's my time to get away from the stress of family, work, etc. As I get older I tend to gravitate towards hobbies that don't follow the age old premise that the more money you have the better results you have. And of course I'm selfish and love how I'm treated differently.
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2005/12/06, 12:53 PM
I also would like to add two things: I lift to be able to move things for friends. Also as self defense ( if you could meet my brothers you would see why). LOL
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Less Talk, More Chalk!
The Men and Boys are Separated by one thing: The Squat Cage!
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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