I lift for many of the reasons shared by my fellow AMers. I was a skinny runt of a kid in grade school through high school, constantly picked on. I worked out off and on until I fell down a flight of stairs and destroyed my dominant shoulder and severed my bicep. After a grueling surgery to repair/reattach I slumped into bad habits and gained a ton of weight to where my health suffered.
Along with all of that mental baggage (seriously, right?) my work changed and my stress levels went through the roof, enough to warrant therapy a couple of times a month. The tipping point for me was my daughter, who is now 9. Early last year I made a conscious decision to be around for her until she is an adult and on her own, and not let my health and anxiety issues drag me down. Plus my wife is 12 years younger than me, so I needed to get in better shape to be able to keep up with her and the rest of my family!
So I started exercising in earnest, overcoming my physical limitations (my shoulder will simply never be the same, nor will my L4, L5, S1 bulging, but thankfully not ruptured, spinal discs). A portion of my exercises take their lead from motions I learned during my physical therapy. The surgeon says it is never too late to try to recover at least some of my range of motion, and I have been able to see progress in both strength and ROM.
I am managing my stress much better now, my overall mood is improved, I am able to spend more time with my daughter without tiring out and I feel better about my self in general. I also send my therapist a Christmas card each year, but that is the extent of our interaction since I started lifting.
Bullet point reasons:
1. Skinny/picked on as a child
2. Major injury to recover from
3. Major weight gain to reverse
4. Younger wife to keep up with
5. Young daughter to be around for (and to protect from boys!)
6. Stressful job that I need to blow off steam/stress from
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