When did you realize lifting was more than just a hobby for you?

ChocolateClen

ChocolateClen

Well-known member
I noticed it tonight when I realized I'm cooking another dinner at 11pm cause I don't want to be behind on my macros.
 
Honestly....not long after joining AM, it became serious. I realized what I thought was pretty good, wasnt shyt! The peeps on this forum have become friends, and teachers to me. Now I always feel as if I have people watching me, and I hate the thought of failure. Now, its my passion
 
ChocolateClen said:
I noticed it tonight when I realized I'm cooking another dinner at 11pm cause I don't want to be behind on my macros.
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FireTitan said:
Honestly....not long after joining AM, it became serious. I realized what I thought was pretty good, wasnt shyt! The peeps on this forum have become friends, and teachers to me. Now I always feel as if I have people watching me, and I hate the thought of failure. Now, its my passion
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Same here. It might've been when I was in Oxford and forgot I didn't drink a post shake so went to the gym at 2am and worked out some then made a 3 scoop shake. I might have a problem...
 
Brandinooooo said:
Same here. It might've been when I was in Oxford and forgot I didn't drink a post shake so went to the gym at 2am and worked out some then made a 3 scoop shake. I might have a problem...
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I've spent more time contemplating if I need 3 or 4 scoops after leg day than all the greatest philosophers have spent trying to find out the meaning of life
 
When I saw my body transform at a rapid rate the first year, i was hooked ever since. Stayed natty until I hit 30yrs of age which marked a decade of consistent lifting. It's my lifestyle and I love it.
 
When I decided to shift from ER nursing to pre hospital as a paramedic. Realized I needed to be much more ready for the physical demands. Plus knowing I can hold my own if crazy drugged out ****ers come at me
 
When I was sick and still went to gym. When I woke up at 4.30am to lift before a marathon job day. When despite I lifted at 4.30, when I got back home for just an hour before leaving again, I did a 30min superset. When I stayed up late at nights just to have the 3rd lunch after training. When I had the toughest day of my life and still wondering what time I will train. When I got a really badass cage and visualised that one day it wouldnt handle the weight I lift.
 
For me it was not long after I started. I began seeing good results and just couldn't picture myself not training and kept going from there.
 
When I came to the realization that my life didn't really amount to anything. I mean I've had other hobbies that consumed my time, but nothing has more than weight-lifting. It's come to the point where I spend my free time masturbating to new products coming out.
 
Yesterday when my dad said, "You're the strongest girl I know."

(We went to the farmer's market and picked over 300 lbs of veggies)

Sometimes you just go through the motions, and forget to pay attention to your progress until someone else points it out.
 
puccah8808 said:
Yesterday when my dad said, "You're the strongest girl I know."

(We went to the farmer's market and picked over 300 lbs of veggies)

Sometimes you just go through the motions, and forget to pay attention to your progress until someone else points it out.
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Holy sh!t.
 
Oh so many times over the last 25 years- oh wait, maybe that is how I know. :)

But really the first memorable time was when I risked driving through a blizzard that had roads shut down due to 3-4' of snow dumping to get to the gym and then being pissed because it was closed. So I went and shoveled a half dozen neighbors driveways to get in a workout.
 
I slept in my gym one time cause it was snowing when I went and I couldn't get home because you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you
 
ChocolateClen said:
I slept in my gym one time cause it was snowing when I went and I couldn't get home because you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you
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Oh man, that reminded me a guy at the gym I used to go, that was staying up past midnight all alone to train. One morning we found him lying dead in the bench with a 200kgs barbell on his neck. ****. Sorry for the offtopic
 
ChocolateClen said:
I noticed it tonight when I realized I'm cooking another dinner at 11pm cause I don't want to be behind on my macros.
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I re realize it every day.
 
When I began seeing the changes in my mind and body that I had always desired but never knew how to achieve... all of the things that come from structure and dedication in the gym applied to the rest of my life made it tha tmuch more important. now, its all about progress (in the gym and life)... also, i get frustrated easily, but don't like to show it and the gym lets me release every bit without looking the least bit odd haha
 
I go to bed thinking and planning my lift. Visualizing just like I used to as a kid for wrestling.
I'm infatuated with fixing form and finding better ways to improve.

It's not about lifting more but making it always fun and stimulating growth while minimizing mistakes.

It's a life long and worth while endeavor filled with driven generous and great people seeking a similar experience in their lives. I feel better; more motivated, and the wonderful byproduct is, I have more energy to enrich the lives of others.

I don't know another that comes close.
 
puccah8808 said:
Sometimes you just go through the motions, and forget to pay attention to your progress until someone else points it out.
Click to expand...

IMO, this is also part of it. After being after it for so long and being so ingrained in your daily life, you can't always be 100% and sometimes go through periods where you just go because it is part of you. That is the difference because so, so many people stop going and stop caring for the smallest reasons. We continue and even when it is time for a break, can't wait to get back. Even then when we are breaks, I bet most of us are still looking for a way to stay active or competitive.
 
When the day I did not make it to the gym and it felt weird. It's part of my daily routine and not just a hobby
 
When the wife yells down stairs "its sexy time" and i yell back "ive got 2 more sets, get warmed up without me"
 
I started lifting when I was 13 years old in 8th grade for football (that was the only year of football I ever played). That wasn't much of anything, though. But next year, freshman year of high school, our baseball team was very dedicated and so I started training with them (they allowed us to tag along on all the varsity workouts, basically, if we wanted to as they were voluntary). So I started lifting weights regularly, then. It was all functional strength stuff, and of course we just wanted to bench and curl lol. I'd always had a big frame and it was very easy for me (compared to some of the other guys, at least) to add strength and start making some progress. So that sucked me in. And for 4 years, I stuck with our training regimen specifically for baseball. Sure, I'd go to the Y and lift on my own occasionally and try to pump up my arms, or do a ton of core work at my house on my own to get abs, but I basically stuck to that training program with no breaks longer than the 2-3 months during peak summer ball when I'd rarely lift because it messed up my swing.

Once I got to college, I no longer had baseball (could have played, but knew it wasn't a career thing so I hung it up). So I just kept lifting. For those 4 years, I tried a handful of programs from the major magazines, but for the most part I would do a variety of a 3-4 day split very regularly with no huge absences other than a missed day here or there because of being busy or sick.

In my second year of grad school, that's when I really started to focus on bodybuilding and read more MD and stuff vs. just Men's Health (still wasn't on forums back then, so I was behind the curve, IMO). That really changed things for me. At that point, I created my own split and I've been following a variation of it ever since (~8 years now). And man, that's when I fell in love with bodybuilding.

But I've been hooked on the gym ever since I was 14.

It's crazy to think I've been training for more of my life now than the opposite. It's weird to say I've been training for 17 years, going on 18.
 
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