brenthebdog
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I'll be turning 30 in few months, and that will mean I've been lifting for more than half of my life. I've hit my genetic limit on what dedicated and consistent training can do for my body. My stats are 5'9'' 175 with about 12-15% bodyfat, all of this starting out at about 130lbs. Whenever I think back to what I was as a high school freshman and especially when I see old pictures I can't help but laugh a little bit; a skinny teenager with a potbelly and a buzzcut. Although I wasn't physically impressive I could run fast and play baseball like a champ and had watched the Semifinals and Finals of the 2002 Men's NCAA Lacrosse Tournament and knew I had to play the game. My first introduction to Lacrosse was a rude one much like my introduction to football in 8'th grade being the smallest and most in-experienced guy on the team - only worse! All of the guys were brutal and hateful and hit each-other like their dad's were there watching them sternfully in disappointment. What that first practice taught me was that I needed much more muscle and much more strength or these animals were going to kill me. And that brings me to my first gym.
That hilariously small gym is located in the old Evergreen Rec Center and is at the top of a long flight of stairs. The very first lift I did was bench press, then squats, and of course - bicep curls. My Rocky-esque training montage would have been pretty ****ing boring because it would have been pretty much those 3 exercises and a whole lot of trail running. After about 2 years this small weight room was cramping my style and I moved up to 24hr Fitness once I got my first car. Now, for those who condemn this corporate Globo gym it holds a special place in my heart because of all the late nights I spent here making real progress, this is the place where I started deadlifting.
Due to deadlifting, when I was in my high school weightlifting class I was able to actually clean and jerk and bench press weight that wouldn't get me laughed at. Considering that I was doing Cross Country and Lacrosse and was naturally skinny I didn't have a hell of alot of mass - to this day I still don't have much mass. Now, I'm going on 16 years in the iron game and have seen friends get into well after me. Two of these guys are genetically gifted and have surpassed me by a longshot, but, they've got different goals. These days weightlifting has turned into fuctional and rehabilitation exercise so that I can continue trail running, or climbing, or snowboarding, or so that I can get back into BJJ once my neck is healed and strengthened sufficiently. The truth is, the dedication and passion that made me get ready and drive to the gym at 10pm during a snowstorm so that I had the squat rack all to myself for as long as I wanted it is no longer there. What has replaced it is the desire to play the sports that I could as a kid, the sports that put me in the weight room in the first place. At the end of the day I fancy myself an athlete; I'm not a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, never have been never will be. I can't do what those guys do, but, I love weight lifting. It has made me a better man. It has nursed me through severe panic attacks, breakups, financial destitution, existential crises. I have gotten laid because of it...and in spite of it! I have spent all of my money on magical pills and powders, all thoroughly backed by "science" in order to get a little bigger and stronger. Weight lifting has been the reason why I haven't gotten my ass kicked as badly as I should have, and the reason why I would get in the fight in the first place.
I know it's a corny post, but a sore shoulder and neck have been making me think of reason why to push through the pain. Those reasons brought me back to why I started lifting in the first place.
Why did you start lifting, what keeps you lifting?
P.S. For all you nostalgics, the O.G. Pre-Workout ad. (I remember it fondly, and you bet your ass I bought a tub!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXOpuNMPGg
That hilariously small gym is located in the old Evergreen Rec Center and is at the top of a long flight of stairs. The very first lift I did was bench press, then squats, and of course - bicep curls. My Rocky-esque training montage would have been pretty ****ing boring because it would have been pretty much those 3 exercises and a whole lot of trail running. After about 2 years this small weight room was cramping my style and I moved up to 24hr Fitness once I got my first car. Now, for those who condemn this corporate Globo gym it holds a special place in my heart because of all the late nights I spent here making real progress, this is the place where I started deadlifting.
Due to deadlifting, when I was in my high school weightlifting class I was able to actually clean and jerk and bench press weight that wouldn't get me laughed at. Considering that I was doing Cross Country and Lacrosse and was naturally skinny I didn't have a hell of alot of mass - to this day I still don't have much mass. Now, I'm going on 16 years in the iron game and have seen friends get into well after me. Two of these guys are genetically gifted and have surpassed me by a longshot, but, they've got different goals. These days weightlifting has turned into fuctional and rehabilitation exercise so that I can continue trail running, or climbing, or snowboarding, or so that I can get back into BJJ once my neck is healed and strengthened sufficiently. The truth is, the dedication and passion that made me get ready and drive to the gym at 10pm during a snowstorm so that I had the squat rack all to myself for as long as I wanted it is no longer there. What has replaced it is the desire to play the sports that I could as a kid, the sports that put me in the weight room in the first place. At the end of the day I fancy myself an athlete; I'm not a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, never have been never will be. I can't do what those guys do, but, I love weight lifting. It has made me a better man. It has nursed me through severe panic attacks, breakups, financial destitution, existential crises. I have gotten laid because of it...and in spite of it! I have spent all of my money on magical pills and powders, all thoroughly backed by "science" in order to get a little bigger and stronger. Weight lifting has been the reason why I haven't gotten my ass kicked as badly as I should have, and the reason why I would get in the fight in the first place.
I know it's a corny post, but a sore shoulder and neck have been making me think of reason why to push through the pain. Those reasons brought me back to why I started lifting in the first place.
Why did you start lifting, what keeps you lifting?
P.S. For all you nostalgics, the O.G. Pre-Workout ad. (I remember it fondly, and you bet your ass I bought a tub!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXOpuNMPGg
