Your first lift....

[delts of fury]

So here we are, a seemingly similar group of guys and maybe some girls. It would appear we all share the same lifestyle and views on the sport we have dedicated ourselves to.

So let's here it, how'd you get here? What strange twist of fate led you to be a part of this hardcore community we have developed? As for me? When I was playing hockey and got knocked around constantly and made fun of for having an "indented chest". I hit the gym at 14 years old and now have a bigger chest than any of them could ever dream of. The weights built my body strong and my mind stronger. The respect that comes with this game is what keeps me coming back year after year.

Could you live any other way?

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit"
* Aristotle

[rcrott1]

sitting on my ass drinking beer in my college dorm, one of my buddies stopped by and had a few with me....while we were drinking he challenged me to go lift with him..

i was like, yeah sure whatever.

the second we started lifting i was fucking hooked. i wanted more. i couldnt read enough information on the lifestyle...i decided that it was what i wanted for the rest of my life and made the choice right then and there to change my ways and start getting my head out of my ass...and i have NEVER looked back or regretted anything in my new lifestyle.

Strength and Honor.

[widdlewade44]

Saw Pumping Iron. Picked up Muscle & Fitness, went into my junior high school stinky weight room and got hooked. The pump was my fix. Feeling better, looking better and getting bigger and stronger. Not much more to ask for.

Kevin
widdlewade44

[J-Dawg]

I was a scrawny ass teen who played just about every sport out there. But being the skinny kid... I was getting tired of being pushed around on the basketball court. So what did I do? I started hitting the weights everyday after school. Shit, I was addicted from day one. Nothing beat that feeling. I was hooked. Only problem was... I didn't know shit about eating or what training program I was doing. I think I trained every bodypart 3 hours a day, 7 days a week for the first year. Then I started reading Flex Magazine and Muscle and Fitness (this was before the internet boom). From these magazines, I learned how to eat properly and lift properly (in college), I quit other sports and stuck with lifting. Never looked back.

[BigRick]

i was the scrawny kid, the short one, the one with bones sticking everything. i hated being so damn small. i look at myself now and i still think im small, but ive come a long ways from the 130 pounds that i entered highschool in at 9th grade.

[BeastofBurden]

I quit other sports and stuck with lifting. Never looked back.

That is one thing about this great sport that I have found myself affectionately addicted to .. It struck me this past year. I was never particularly good at any other sport(maybe thats why i fell into this lifestyle) but i could of been with practice and I did get decent at Wrestling and it satisfied me for a while but this past year I have come to realize its not what is meant for me and lifting is where the glory is at. I got tired of relying on other people to make our team win even when i gave 150%, someone else can fuck shit up for you. This lifestyle, this sport is everything in one it is the ultimate. you have to be your own nutritionist, physical therapist, motivator, and trainer in one. There's no sport to compare, even UFC or MMA there's no one around you to push you ...you and the weight. push the weight back up or die and that's why it is so hardcore to me and why most people never stick with just using their gym membership. They are afraid to fail.. plain and simple.

My fist lift was acctually never a lift.. my lacrosse coach made me do dips, he made me do 20 sets starting at 10 reps, down to 1 rep, and back up to 10 reps. All i remember was trying to do a push-up afterwards and my face smacking the rubber floor.. and to this day it is why my triceps are so much larger than any other kid my size or build. I get comments about how big they are.. i just wish all my shirts wer cut offs so more people could see them.

[chanman83]

Being a "typical" asian 5'5" 150 trying to play high school football my coach said I should hit the weights. A friend at work gave me a muscle media magazine with Shannon Sharpe on the cover. Read it from cover to cover. Changed my life. Went from that my soph year to 5'7" 180 my senior year.

[Henrikson]

first lift, little over a year and a half ago, (15 years old) in my basement on some old weights my dad got for 15 bucks, nice set too. just started doin bicep curls and bench press, moment i felt the pain the next day i was hooked, it was a leaf that needed to be turned over, and i burned the whole fucking tree down.

[alkalineman]

well.. most people are saying they were scrawny. I was the opposite, the fat kid with glasses. It's okay to laugh, I am laughing as I type this. I started losing weight and got lean. Now that I got to where I always wanted to be, there was something missing, the passion. Me and my dad bought a Weider home gym from one of his work buddies and I was hooked from there. From muscle mags and protein shakes I did my research. Slowly built myself and it slowly became my 24/7, the thing I love to do. Everyday that passes that I am so fucking sore I can barely walk after doing deads or squats, or am sick from the tasteless food or the monotany of having every single meal planned out, I can't get enough of it.

[NumeroUno]

I feel ya alkalineman, I was the fat kid too. I got sick of getting teased, but mostly... feeling unsatisfied with myself. I started getting cut by running outside. As soon as I cut down 65 or 70 pounds, I realized under all that fat I was a scrawny bitch. Since I started lifting, I've come a long way... but I still got a long ass way to go...

-Daniel

[alkalineman]

Same to you Numero, it's been a long time, but I haven't personally even reached 10% of my goals yet. A long way to go.

[hscrugger]

i was always pretty athletic, but kinda pudgy. i was that kid w/ natural athleticism and strength, but never really got in shape or worked out. then came college. i decided to try my hand at rugby, thinking it was the coolest thing i'd ever seen. having had my ass handed to me by the big guys on the team in practice, i started lifting w/ a fellow rugger who aspires to compete in his first competition next december, as a matter of fact. in a summer, i went from 200 lbs. @ 25% BF to 215 lbs. @ 13% BF. from then on, i was hooked. and it's been a love affair ever since. i stood my girlfriend up to lift, and since then, she's resented the iron. but she loves me enough to stick with us. she's a good woman for it.

brennan

[Thorgrym]

I got into shit when I was kid and got locked up in juvey for 7 months. When I was there the guy who was in charge of the gym they had kinda took me under his wing cause I had more energy and drive then anybody else.

I hit a growth spurt in those 7 months and with eating and training I gained 60 pounds of muscle going from 135 to 195 at age 16. Ive stopped on and off since then but its always been a part of me and always will. It helps me control the beast inside.

Thor

[determined]

My cousin invited me to go to the gym with him. Like a crackhead to crack that first pump addicted me. 4 gym partners and a year and a half later, here I am.

[Arbalest]

*cliff notes version*

I was the fatkid with the hot girlfriend (i know.. i know). bad breakup led to lifting weights and overtraining... i ate, then trained... felt like i ate too much, went and trained.. no real clue on what i was doing. just knew i wasn't fat anymore.


went from there, started w/ magazines and bb.comforums (i know...) lol.

now i'm here.

[Cheko]

Got a back injury (1986). No surgery for me. Started with Jack LaLanne’s work out for 6 months then Nautilus 6 months ... They had an Olympic flat bench, it kept calling me with a siren’s song. I never turned back…

[RowdyRobby]

I was 255 fat and beer blaoted, one when bending over to tie my shoe I had to come up for air. So I started running (walking at first) After almost a year I was down to 185, but since I didnt know anything about eating I was only eating about 1 or 2 time a day, basicly I was a skinny wimp. So I started lifting for strengh, now Im at about 210 with around 16-20% BF looking to cut to under 10% My first lift was The bench press, but squatting is my Fav.

[Mr.Totality]

Started at 12 lifting, also was into wrestling and mma as I grew up. Too many injuries from the others, so I stuck with lifting. My first lift was bench and my favorite is incline bench

[LuvsThePain]

By my senior year in highschool I was 6' 3" and a skinny 160 lbs. I started at as a swimmer when i was 7 years old and this never allowed me to gain much muscle. My freshman year of college I decided to start weight training seriously 5 days a week.
By my senior year in college I was up to a lean 220 lbs. and I loved it. Since that time I've come across animal pak and changed some stuff up with my training and diet. I'm now up to a lean 235 lbs. and because of animal pak im training harder and smarter than I have ever before. Some people that haven't seen me for a while don't hardly recognize me. My goal now is to reach 250 and go from there.

[Crzylizard]

Started lifting in high school, to fill up an afternoon since I had all the classes I needed to graduate. Its addicting to watch people in awe of the sheer weights you can move with your body.

[dmnspdg]

Scrawny kid in high school, started lifting in the Navy got big, stopped lifting, got fat, got tired of looking at myself, went through a mess of shit in my life (laid off, cheating wife...blah blah blah...)turned a corner last January and haven't looked back. I feel invincible on the inside! Fuck everyone that stands in my way!

[goody19]

had to do strenght training for junior hockey. when the puck career ended the training hit 6th gear and its been on ever since.

[Kenzilla21]

Started at 16 for high school track and have been hooked ever since

[Maximus]

Started in Junior High football...hooked ever since, in 9 years have gained 80lbs...had to be big to keep punks off the girl...;)

[ATLAS64]

I started when I was 14 at 170lbs my freshman year of highschool. At the end of my freshman year I weighed 215lbs and could bench press 295lbs for 1 rep. Now I cant go more than a few days without touching a weight im hooked.

[joel]

I started lifting in 9th grade in PE.. I worked out on and off until 12th grade. The summer between high school and college I quit exercising completely.

After the end of my freshman year at university, I'd put on at least 15 pounds. I'd spent the entire year eating like shit, drinking too much, and not working out AT ALL. Looking back, I'm kinda grossed out by the obscene amount of fast food and beer I consumed that year.

I lost a decent amount of weight that next summer, and when I went back to school in September '05, I started hitting the gym every once in a while. It was in December '05 that I got serious. I'd been going to lift with a few friends and I was getting frustrated that I wasn't getting much out of it. When I finally started pushing myself, I was amazed at the progress I made. I put on a good 15 pounds of muscle while stripping the fat off of me. I added 50 pounds to my max bench in a matter of weeks.

After going to the local supplement store to buy more whey protein (I'd been eating one of my roomate's stuff because I heard it helped and he didn't want it), I looked around at the other products. Since then I've tried a lot of stuff, but I always keep coming back to just whey protein and the Pak.

During this last summer, I had nothing to do but work out, work part time, and take a few classes. Since I was going to the gym every day, I started working out everything, not just my upper body. I got shredded and even bigger. It was about that time that I both discovered Animal Pak and really got serious about my diet.

So it's been a little over a year since I got serious about lifting, but I've only made it part of my lifestyle for the past six months or so. Everyone comments on how huge I've gotten, but whenever I look in the mirror, it only makes me want to get bigger. I'm still a long way from the body I want, but I know that with enough willpower, food, and pain, I'll get there one day.

[Toni69]

I dated some amateur bodybuilder back in the day...8 years ago...and I was always so girlie girl..never even imagined sweating and making grunty faces in public. He put me on bench press and I loved it. I went every day from that day on. Now, I have competed twice so far and won both lightweight and overall classes. I learn something new everyday about myself when I train.

I have a question...what do you think about bodybuilding in your life...Obsession or lifestyle?
I really get annoyed with people who don't train like we do and then sit there and say we are obsessed...like it's an insult or something. I say it's a lifestyle. And if it is somewhat of an obsession...SO WHAT!

I meet people all the time who insist my "obsession" with bodybuilding is not normal. Now why is that? I think it's freaking ludacris these people would rather sit in a smoky bar all day drinking themselves to shit, while they load up on crap food and look like crap doing it.

What is up with these people?

[Havok]

I was pretty athletic in high school played a bunch of sports and lifted a few days a week but then college rolled around and I got lazy would only go to the gym in spurts. After college I realized I lost a lot of my muscle and promised I would never do to myself again and I have dedicated myself to the iron ever since.

[deeder]

My uncle was in town visiting, he and my grandpa were going to the gym and invited me to come along just to spend some more time with me. I was 13 at the time. I lifted for about 3 weeks with the two of them then continued lifting throughout high school with my grandpa.

I didn't lift much in grade 12 but when I started university I started hitting the weights hard and reading as much as I could about weight training.

I've been lifting for about 7 years, but really only the last year and a half counts for anything.

[GUNS]

Was a long distance state level athlete which only weighed 159 @ 6' the day I entered the navy. Got boared on my 2nd deployment (first one was a party blurr). I trained like no one else I have ever known as far as my seriousness and focus. Probley overtrained the first 4 years took some time off and came back more knowledgable than ever. I have grow really quickly(except my runner calves) at times and people don't get it. Good thing for muscle memory after all my surgery/injuries

[Phil800101]

I've been overweight most of my life, and I finally decided to do something about it. That's what got me to start lifting when I was 17, however, I didn't really know what I was doing and pretty much did everything half-assed. Finally, at the start of my junior year of college, my one roommate showed me how to lift properly, and got me hooked on the iron. I've been addicted ever since.

[mgmmaze]

Well first time lifting was high school always wanted to be big. But I though to myself man i cant get huge with out roids. Ya forget about hmm hardwork and a shit load of food. that was high school. here i am now almost 9 years. last year i went to Iraq for the 3rd time. This time i had more time and a awsome parter. So over the past year i have been dedicated and addicated to the gym. in just over a year i have put on over 2 inches on my chest 4inches on my thighs 2 inches on my arms and 1and half on neck people were like wow you got a little bigger. so im in for life

[The Wanderer]

My first lift. I can't honestly say what my first lift was, it was most likely Bench press. I was always the average, I never really did too well in sports. Well I started lifting (I was 11 at the time) and I managed to bench more then my body weight. My form was shabby, I didn't have anyone to coach me and tell me what to do. Eventually I manged to throw out my back. I joined track and became a model athlete, all the fat on me was just grilled off. A year or so later my back was good again and I have been training ever since. Along the way I have done rugby (I currently play for the college team), track and field, and brazillian jui jitsu, but my main thing is and always will be bodybuilding, it gives me a high like nothing else in the world.

[The_Stig]

my first lift was about 3 years ago from this day. i started out being the fat kid and weighed about 185 at 13 years old, from there i started running and got down to 150, my friend then got me into lifting and ive never wanted anything else so bad. i now weigh 250 at 19 years old, with 20" arm but ive now come away from the typical 'pecs and six pack' look, to now wanting to just be damn big and strong, which is why i joined here, to learn from the best around the world, thankyou iron brothers, we're all warriors fighting the same war.

[Karma]

My first lift was at my 5’years old trying to manage my Shinai (Bamboo Sword). Nothing really heavy but I took a hard time to handle it haha!!

With real weights 7 years ago as a complement to Martial arts practice.

[Jurassic Dog]

It was MY DESTINY AND FATE.
From the moment I was born to a poor but pure-hearted young couple; part of a very brave and rugged, free-spirited and mighty Tribe who lived in the desert and mountains of SouthEast Asia thousands of years ago...my Fate was born in the most earth-shattering and fearsome storm the Tribe had ever heard of (let alone seen and survived)...
Drifting from one lifetime to another, learning many things and collecting all the experience and skills that I will ultimately need for the Final Battle, I have entered this Life as a 'Sohei' (Buddhist Samurai Warrior) and the gym is where I will forge and build my battle ready physique...
The more I train in practice,
the less I bleed in Battle!

And I'm GLAD to be HERE....

[DreamZero]

First lift, maybe 5 years ago. I used to do boxing and jiu jitsu 5 times/week, then i had this snowboard accident that kept me down for 6 monthes and my hits never been the same, so I gave up fighting sports instead of becoming half of the guy I used to be. Meanwhile, I buried my father in 2003 and got high/wasted more than I should. On my mid-session college break on last october, some friends invited me to go train with them. Since then, I'm pushing steel 5 or 6 times a week, alone more than anything else. Sucks to be in a poser gym, but I foundt myself. Stronger than ever, with enuff will to piss thru a concrete wall, pushing every single rep like it was the last. This is how my father lived. This game is making me know him better.
6' 185 lbs 7% BF
Peace.

[YeaILift]

When I was 14 and a freshman in high school I signed up for weight training as a class I was 5'8@160 I maxed out at 155 I saw the seniors tearin it up and felt like a puss I trained and ate right I also bought every muscle mag I could by the time I was a junior I was 6'2 270 benching 405 went on to do 455 as a senior I was the king or atleast I felt that way.

[Bulldozin727]

Hey Alkalineman and Numero Uno, I hear ya knockin. I was the fat kid once too. The kids in my elementary school tormented me so much that I went to a boarding highschool for four years away from my family. The first day I stepped on campus my future D-line coach took me under his wing. My first set of Deads had me hooked. I punished myself for those four years and have never stopped through four years of college ball. Even now I see the faces of those motherfuckers that made my life hell for so long. It will forever fuel me.

[Strongarm]

I was one of you not-so-lucky stick figures. Started freshman year in HS at something like 6'1 130. Total nerd back then. Had the usual teasing about the fact that I looked like I was from a third-world country in the midst of a drought. Didn't actually start lifting till end of sophomore year..maybe 5 lbs heavier. Anyway, started lifting, and grew..I was hooked from rep one. Something like 6'3 200 now..all natty. Hard to believe how many college students get into the gear.

[Evaniel]

Hard to believe how many college students get into the gear.

Yup. And the ones I heard it from weren't even considering competing; just wanted to impress people, I guess.

[Beast1]

I got tired of being pushed around and bullied all the time. I remembered my uncle and the guns he had at the time and saying wow I want some arms like that. He gave me his weight set and at about the age of 13 I started lifting at home here and there. Then high school came and it was on, I was still scrawny sitting there in ninth grade at about 120 pounds and I signed up for a Strength and Conditioning elective and I exploded. Monday-Friday 1 and 1/2 hour weight lifting class and after school I ran cross country. Took me about three years of this and when I got out of high school I was a lean 180. Been addicted ever since.

[Big Mic]

Skinny kid. Started doing 100 push ups/100 sit ups/100 calf raises when I was 13. Thats about when my mom met my step-Father. He was larger than life at the time. He was all mass. I was impressed. He couldn't fit down our hallway he was so wide and his forearms were like the size of my head. When I was 14 or 15 he got me a DP work out machine and we had some dumbells. Plus I played alot of basketball/soccer/football. I would use it in the winter time but always screwed off in the summer time. I was always getting into trouble and fighting too. I didn't let poeple push me around because I was skinny. It wasn't until my first deployment to Kuwait when I really started lifting with free weights. I loved it. I loved the pump and the transformation. When I joined the military I was 6'1-6'2 and 150 lbs. I am 6'3 and float between 210-220 lbs. Once I had a Physical fitness test and made a marginal score (don't run alot and PT test is mostly based on the run). At the time I was 222 lbs and the strongest I had ever been. I felt invincible. But the Air Force made me go to some Health class thing. The nurse went around the room and asked everyone "How much weight have you gained since you joined the military. Most poeple said 20-40 lbs. They were all fat or out of shape too. I was lean and mean. When she got to me I proudly said "70 lbs!" She did a double take. I thought it was funny. I had alot of on and off times in the gym but I am back and I am loving it I don;t know how I lived without it before. I can go to the gym and two hours later I want to go back in. I still have alot of work to do to get to my goals. I still feel skinny and I can't stand it. I can only imagine once I have reached them it will not be enough. Its never enough!!

[cjjanik]

I hear ya Toni69. I think it's like this, I said in another post that for us, guilt can be a motivation. For everyone that criticizes your "obsession", there is a part of them, maybe driven by guilt, that wishes they could be as motivated as you and the rest of us. Sometimes it can be human nature to condemn or be overly critical of a lifestyle that you don't understand. Ask ten people what they think about skydivers, big wave surfers, or mountain climbers. You will get answers like crazy, insane, stupid. They don't understand the rush of freefalling, or the connection with nature that surfing provides, or the tremendous accomplishment of summiting a mountain.

One thing about us is that when you see someone in the gym who is in great shape, or know someone who is on a "Journey", we know the dedication and drive that person has. With us it's all about respect. You can't get to that palce without blood, sweat, and sometimes tears.

So let someone tell us we are "obsessed" with our lifestyle. Consider it a compliment not an insult. Our drive, commitment and dedication will get us to places we want to be. Places the critical or judgemental will never see.

CJ

[rockyIV]

I was always the skinny kid in school and never worked out, I thought that running was all I ever had to do. Eventually the running stopped and after college I realized I had gone from my skinny kid 135 lbs to 185 lbs by age 28. From there I started Body For Life and it got me eating 6 meals a day and lifting on a regular basis. My former love for running was replaced with lifting. Now I love it, I couldn't imagine going back to that skinny or fat guy that I was.

[Hardcore4Life]

bad break up with a girl early on in high school, went to the gym that day and lifted all my frustration away.. never looked back

[KEEPtheZEN]

For freshman football scoring I couldn't bench 95lbs. Skinny as a rail and fucked with a lot. Looking to get 3 plates per side on bench by Feb, also looking for 430 on squat and pull 4 wheel on deads. It is amazing what you can do when you eat enough and train correctly.

[Genetic Freak]

It all started my Freshman year in High School..I was lifting with my team and i realized i was the strongest in the fucking gym..ever since then i loved it and its been my life..Its like a damn drug..once you do it, you get addicted to it and if you skip a day you feel like shit until you do it..I am currently 17 and im competiting in powerlifting. i weigh 187, 5'7 and bench 345, squat 545, and dead lift around 430 ish...not bad for 17

[KENKONG]

whats up. me, 25 years of martial arts and always wanting to be a muscle bound freak that would scare women and children.... So, now at 42, I've decided it's Animal time! I've just ordered a nice cage/smith system that will hold over 1000 lbs. I figure that should keep my happy and growin for quite some time.

[John R. Nocero]

At 13 years old, I was outside my church when a girl I liked named Missy said "why don't you lift and get some muscle tone." My dad got me my first set of weights that Christmas. I still hear her voice in my head some days, motivating me to do better. for me, it was initially about impressing this chick, now, it is so much more.

-J