What made you start lifting

[TheGame826]

hey my body building bro's,
just curious, what made you pic up you first dumbell and start lifting? what brought you so into the game that you cant go a day without the gym? what is your motivation, what keeps you going? if you have cycled then what made you cycle? lets hear your story...

heres my story.
i was always the skinny kid, skin and bones my whole life, i remember when i was in 4th grade i could suck in my stomach and see all of my ribs, my grandma used to tell me i looked like i was from bosnia. 8th grade my brother got some free weights for christmas, he had gotten some dumbells, a bar bell, and a curl bar. those were the weights i ever used, i still use them when i cant sleep or im bored.
well anyways by the end of 8th grade my arms started to look alittle shredded, and i started workin my stomach alot so i had a 6 pac with no problem. my freshman year of highschool i used to hope we would be goin to the weight room for gym everyday. other than that i still lifted with my freeweights at home. finally i convinced my mom to let me get a membership to a gym not to far from my house. i was 13 at the time, i lied to the guys at the gym told them i was 16, im sure they knew i was lying but i dont think they cared.
my brother taught me alot about how to lift and how important form is. his friend john played the biggest role im my weight lifting life however. john weighed about 180 and was benchin close to 400 (used supplements but no cycles). to this day john is the most cut guy i have ever seen and he had so much mass at the same time. he showed me what i needed to do to get big, what i needed to think to get big as well. by sophimore year i was repping 155 on bench weighing in at 120 pounds.
my junior year i took weight training class during school and still went to the gym after school, weighed in at 130 about and was maxed at 225. my senior year i weigh 140 and im can bench 280. i am currently a senior, and by far im strongest in my school, especially pound for pound, my coach wants me to do some contest for him, and i always have kids i have never seen in my before asking me for tips, what to take, what to do. nothing makes me feel better though like when a classmate i dont even know comes up to me and tells me im the biggest kid in the school, or im the strongest hes ever seen. i usually try to ignore him so it doesnt goto my head, because the last thing i need right now is to lose my train of thought.

[bigkev]

i always wanted to be big. and to protect myself.

now i cant imagine not training. it keeps me grounded.

[Mallet]

I was a skinny kid, my older brother's friends nicknamed me stick man I used to smoke and drink and do all kinds of drugs, then when I turned 18, I packed it all in! started training and eating like a horse, then I saw my first Arnie movie, I mean im saw it in a new light, and thought i've got to look like that?

Now 13 years later, bin clean from alcohol and drugs and tobacy
and still motivated by the Austrian Oak!

BTW I was 6'1" at 138lbs when I was 18, now I'm 6'1" at 255lbs
but for some strange reason I still feel small?

[bex]

I tried to join the R.A.F and i failed the med because my chest was to small I.E 34 inches that was 15 years ago and now it is 50 inches.But i still never joined in the end

[MR PHATT ASS]

#1 FEW FEW GUYS FROM MY NEIGBORHOOD ALWAYS HAD BIG ARMS......SO ALL I DID WAS CURL...#2 A WRESTLER NAMED 'JIMMY SUPERFLY SNUKA'.....I ACTUALLY FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS A BODYBUILDER IN THE EARLY 70s......

[Shredz]

add me to that skinny list. Was only 105lbs in grade 9..used to get picked on...have an uncle who is a big guy 6'3" 255 and trains his ass off. Found out that I was having problems with people picking on me and introduce me to my first dumbell. There has been no turning back. Every year i get bigger and bigger..but i also look at the mirror and say..i am still small. I don't mind that at all. As a bodybuilder for life i except that i will never be big enough. So i just keep growing.

The funny thing is all those people that made fun of me..come up to me..that guy who was skinny back in grade 9 and they used to make fun of me..and guess what??? I am the man they come and ask advice from. hahahahaha..

Who has the last laugh now.

[sp33dg33k]

vanity i guess

gotta look good

[dane26]

i was always skinny also, but from as far back as i can remember, i always loved to lift. i didn't get serious until i went to college and had to train for baseball. after i blew my arm out, i wasn't a very ball player anymore, but if i stayed on the team i could keep my scholarship and use the varisty weightroom, which to this day is the best weightroom i've ever seen. i got into olympic lifting and the rest is history

[Pete235]

I started lifting to augment athletics when I was 17-18 but by the time I went to University I wanted to look good...it's been a struggle. I've always been a hardgainer. Now it's part of my lifestyle...I love the feeling after a great workout.

[Cali]

Originally posted by Diesel
Am I the only one that wasn't skinny as a kid?

Nope...I got into weight training because I was a fat kid. Started lifting early in high school after I had already lost some weight due to family problems and ended up with a weight set at home. When I was home alone I would blare the radio and lift for a couple hours at a time. When I graduated I moved away and got distracted by parties and quit lifting. Long story short I found my way back to the gym a couple years later, got out of it when my son was born, and just made it back about 6 months ago because I missed it and had started to gain weight again. I think I have the lowest metabolism possible....

Anyway, glad I'm lifting again and I'm not stopping this time!

[Ironweb]

Great thread.. I started lifting for athletics. I was hooked early but lost touch to bodybuilding when I got married at 20. Had a little one on the way and was just trying to survive by working a lot of hours. So I pushed my way through college with two kids and working 60 plus hours a week while taking 12 to 15 units. Lifted off and on but not like I wanted. After I graduated I found my way back and its been balls to the wall ever since. There are several reason why I bodybuild. To stay strong. Makes me feel good and helps me in athletics, I still love to play.

I read a quote one time that sticks with me today that said “why be Clark Kent when you can be Superman”. But if I had to sum it up into one phase it would be simple.

I bodybuild to build a truly impressive physique.

[THE BIG RED MACHINE]

Posted this in an earlier threat but,

I guess it all started out sometime around my last couple of years of High School in mid 92’. My best friend at the time had really gotten into it heavily and I wasn’t very athletically motivated (or talented LOL) to do anything else, so I thought WTF, I’ll try it. Of course all of my w/o’s consisted of chest and bi’s at the time, but I didn’t care. I started to notice a difference in my appearance and so did others. This of course boosted my self-confidence as well, because previously to this I was quite an average looking, tall, skinny teen (like 6’1” 170lbs). I don’t think it hurt either that my girlfriend at the time dumped me for a bigger, better-looking guy. OK, so maybe my reasons for starting to work out weren’t quite as noble as some of you other guys! Anyway, I guess sometime in early 96’ I decided to quit screwing around with the half-assed, on again, off again workouts and committed myself to getting serious. Also sometime between now and then, I decided that I wanted to make my way towards a career as a police officer and I figured my height, and a few extra pounds of solid muscle could definitely help things out. So I got out of my dead end job and hauled my ass back into school. I can definitely say the working out has changed my life for the better, but my #1 focus that I have kept in my mind since I started putting on any kind of noticeable size, is to shy away from that “Big Bodybuilder is an ego driven dickhead” attitude that many people have associated with us. Once I start my career as a Police Officer, I plan to adopt that same theory.

Now, if only I could motivate myself into bringing up my cardio!

Stay in school kids!

[Canes4Ever]

3 years ago I was caught trying to buy several pairs of dress pants for work and needed for the 1st time in my life to buy pants whose waist size was larger thank the pant inseam.....I was emabarassed.

Now I am hooked lifter, 4 times a week, without fail type lifter.

[peaker]

i had to start training to make my body match the size of my head

peaker

[Full Intensity]

I needed to be bigger stronger and faster. I wanted to be huge, and still want to be huge. Looking at Arnold is what drives me to get bigger and bigger every day.

[Sicilian30]

All I have to say is one word """"""" WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN""""""" OH THAT IS MORE THAN ONE WORD. Well you get my point.