Love the article! For me, it was for a number of reasons.. first, when I was a kid (probably starting at 6) I was very much into playing sports with the neighborhood kids.. I was always one of the fastest sprinters. I was always one of the best at basketball, and street hockey (on rollerblades) and I also had a fascination with Dragon Ball LOL (as you can see in my current avatar I still love it and got my kids into watching it) so I would train like the characters on the show did. Meaning I would do hundreds of pushups and sit ups every day.
Fast forward to 6th grade, when I was about 11 or 12, I wanted to play basketball for my middle school team. I was too short, didn't have it. I got frustrated cause I was dedicated and played all night once I got home from school daily. At this point, I was the short skinny kid who nobody thought had a chance at playing sports or being strong.
7th grade, family issues happened and I stopped caring altogether. Although this was a year when my PE coach told the class that pound-for-pound I was the strongest kid in the school. I did the most pull ups, pushups, etc.
Throughout high school I was always super skinny though, never trained and dropped out at 16.
When I turned 18 I started lifting weights due to a buddy from work getting me hooked. He was an ex-football player and huge, so I listened to what he said and started training. We went halves on 700+ lbs of weights, barbells, bench, etc. Also, being 5'8 and shorter than most guys, I felt like being skinny and shorter was not an option for me so I had to do something.
Lifting changed my life! I ALWAYS wanted to be strong. I always wanted to LOOK strong as well. It started to happen. This gave me confidence, helped me overcome my shyness so I didn't come off as a little b*** anymore and I really started to love life for the first time since I was a young kid. Even though I didn't play a sport, I felt good competing with my previous self, and always wanted to be better than I was the day before. I love that sh**!
I DID NOT DO IT FOR THE GIRLS. I DID IT FOR ME. I think this is what separated me from most guys I know who lifted, as they all gave up after a few months (even the guy who trained me at first gave up due to other things in his life - I surpassed him after 2 years), but I stayed with it.. at least until I turned 24. By this time, I went from 140-145lbs to a lean 180lb and looked strong as fuk compared to the average joe.
After that, I had moments where I stopped training for 1-2+ years at a time, but my gains always came back quick and I only quit due to having many other responsibilities and lack of $$ for gym or equipment. Whenever I could, I always trained. The confidence I got from lifting those first few years always stuck with me though and lifting forever changed my life.
https://www.ironmaglabs.com/2021/why-do-you-work-out-everyone-has-a-backstory-worth-sharing/
