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Why did you start lifting?

18-19 for me was about getting big and looking good, however PTs put me on crap programs and didnt start getting results untill I want to another gym. Car accident and back problems put me out of sports and weights for a few years. I started fight training again at 22 and now enter bare knuckle karate tournaments. I used to want to stay a middleweight, but I want to go up into the heavyweights and be competitive in that division. Im not happy with being 83kg (under 80 for weight restrictions come fight time) at 6'4'' which makes my arms and legs look skinnier than what they actually are. So I have 2 main reasons. I workout at home due to the good gyms near me being full of f-wits and time restrictions. So no social importance in regards to weight training for me :p
 
Tall_Tim said:
18-19 for me was about getting big and looking good, however PTs put me on crap programs and didnt start getting results untill I want to another gym. Car accident and back problems put me out of sports and weights for a few years. I started fight training again at 22 and now enter bare knuckle karate tournaments. I used to want to stay a middleweight, but I want to go up into the heavyweights and be competitive in that division. Im not happy with being 83kg (under 80 for weight restrictions come fight time) at 6'4'' which makes my arms and legs look skinnier than what they actually are. So I have 2 main reasons. I workout at home due to the good gyms near me being full of f-wits and time restrictions. So no social importance in regards to weight training for me :p
Click to expand...

i'm the same height as you and was 85 kgs when i stopped doing split routines and started compounds late last year. I put on 5 kgs in 8 weeks. Still got heaps of room to 'grow into my height'. When I went out to PTC and he was commenting on my BP grip being maybe a bit wide telling me "You've got those gangly arms."

I know I'm getting bigger and stronger now but damn do you know how many kickbacks i did to make those gangly f u c k e r s not grow! :D
 
im the opposite to you guys. 6"6 and 115kgs. Never been thin in my life. Big arms compared to someone 6 inches shorter but to me they just look normal.

Wouldnt mind cutting 10kgs off from my mid section, could easily disappear and not affect my strength I think.
 
sounds like my brother - he is a tank and a completely different body shape. We definitely took after different sides of the family gene pool. He walks past a food shop and grows. If he trained he would be ridiculously strong.
 
Ah fine I wanna tell my story. Sorry if it ends up a crash and burn wankfest.

I was never a thin kid, but I made myself that way. Years of running and 'eating healthy', aka nothing, left me looking spiderish compared to my friends.

At the beginning of last year a good friend of mine came out of a long term relationship and we started seeing each other. It was a big thing for me, I'd spent ridiculous amounts of time with her over the years and we were both loners in high school. Another friend who always thought I was too skinny mentioned bulking up as a means to impress her, and having been kicked out of my band I took up the suggestion.

After about a month things got sour though. My ex had severe bipolar and her moods were sporadic - one day she could be driving a new friend to Sydney and the next she could lock herself in her room and refuse to come out. Eventually after she dogged out of a family dinner I drove over to her house and caught her with another guy. I said at the door he had 30 minutes to leave before I came back. After 15 I got a few messages from him threatening me. I accepted them and began walking back to the house to kick his ass before my ex rang me and begged me not to come back. I didn't.

And thats where it started. I felt disgusted by the fact that someone had threatened me, and I wanted to make sure it never happened again. If they did, I'd make sure they were sorry.

I ditched the arm work and focused on strength - I wanted to hit back hard. I was broke and couldn't afford the food let alone proper equipment but I kept going. When 3L of milk wasnt packing on weight fast enough I started going to mcdonalds around x4-5 a week, thats when it started getting out of hand.

Of late things have changed. Uni brought a lot of new friends, 3 jobs, a girlfriend and the realization that my ex didn't deserve to be a big part of my life. I listened to my girlfriend and family who told me I was getting too bulky and I've started cutting back, eating a more normal, protein rich diet.

These days weightlifting gives me something to do which is physical (a break from law, the other big part of my life). I'm influenced by guys like wendler and kroc, generally strong dudes who manage long hours and a family on top of lifting, but I know that staying away from drugs will stop me getting as unhealthy as they are.

I'd like to lean up some more before getting to a slow 100kg lean (10-12% bodyfat) by the end of uni, and with a total around 250/180/300. After that I'll go beyond, and also build a home gym exactly like Rips (god living with my parents sucks :()
 
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Thanks for the story, Oli, it's always interesting to hear how shtty and good experiences both shape a person.
 
My name is Luke, I'm 26, married, with a 7 month old.

I started lifting to get back to my pre-cancer, pre-heart attack self.

I was in reasonable shape up until Mar 07 being in the Army for around 5 years at that stage. Not very strong, but I could do a lot of pull ups and push ups... I was around 83 kg when diagnosed (183 cm).

5 months of chemotherapy, a heart attack and sundry other life threatening conditions I was down to 69 kg (what I was at 18 when I joined the Army). It took me about 18 months to get my fitness mojo back, which was 2 months into my rotation through Afghanistan (Sep 09). I decided I needed to get stronger and bigger again.

I reached my pre-cancer weight Nov 09 just before coming home. I like being big and strong now, so I keep doing it.

And all the extra sex is fantastic...
 
Started around 1 and a half years ago, I was always fat and unfit even though i played sports all year round and got reminded of it quite often by family, friends and sports colleague. I was too mentally week and got emotional and got really motivated to lose weight and look "normal". Started running everyday and just eating 3 meals a day.

Got to the point where i lost 12kg and was at a "normal" weight of 70kg at which time my father decided to make a step towards getting to a healthy weight also. He joined the gym then started urging me to go along, from there i got the idea of getting "ripped", became obsessed with food and got a bit of an eating disorder. Started lifting, but with a crappy routine and not making much progress due to undereating, I fell into the mental game again from all the pressure to gain weight at 62kg i lost it and went from undereating to overeating by ALOT.

While overeating I finally started training properly and started gaining some progress in strength but was gaining alot of fat each week aswell. Now i'm at 94kg at 5'10" (gained 32kg 9 months) and finally back to eating "normal" and am just interested in being at a healthy body fat and getting strong, couldn't care less about abs showing or anything like that but i know i have to lose at least 14kg of fat to be at a healthy body fat. So in the space of 1.5-2 years i dropped 20kg (not the right way in terms of diet) and gained back 32kg (mostly fat) and at this point in time, this is the most healthy (in terms of diet) i have ever felt.

I'm about to start my final 3 terms of high school and goals for the end of high school are to drop at least 10kg of body fat, increase (all x5) squat from 110kg to 150kg, bench from 60 to 80, pullups from kipping to 8 solid pullups, 6 dips to 6 dips + 15kg and deadlift from 90kg to 150kg (something is up with my deadlifts, usually people have stronger deadlift than squat or at least the same yet mine is still 20kg less). All of this is going to require a great amount of focus and hard work, but thats what i love about lifting weights, the huge challenge and feeling of achievement you get when you put up a new PR or hit your goals.
 
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Personal improvement, proving to yourself that you can do it I think? As in I want to be able to say to myself that I got the most out of my body.
 
Whoo, first post :)

A few years ago I looked in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. I started lifting for a few years but I was inconsistent and didn't really go anywhere physically but I did get stronger. I injured my shoulder about 2 years ago and stopped training until a few weeks ago when I decided that 95kg was enough slacking and it was time to get back on the wagon for good.

Now I train for long term strength and wellbeing. The better looking body will come with time but first I need to put in the yards lifting and chaning my eating habbits.

I really wish I started this when I was 13 because I wanted to but there was no time or money to do these things back then.
 
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