I asked at what age did your training become serious

[Tiny1102]

Why? I competed for many years, but I didn't take it that serious. So, once you made a change. What made it serious for you?

[zubda345]

Why? I competed for many years, but I didn't take it that serious. So, once you made a change. What made it serious for you?

It became my passion and my passion made me serious. I want to be one of the best one day. I want to be the champion. I want to be the best there is.

[MR.TeachFreak]

For me it was the second semester of my freshman year at college. I took the first one off since I was no longer training for sport which was my primary motivation. Then I got fat and decided that since I didn't have sports I was just going to become one of those freaks of the gym. And drop some weight too.

[Tiny1102]

Now that is the answer I am looking for.



It became my passion and my passion made me serious. I want to be one of the best one day. I want to be the champion. I want to be the best there is.

[BarbellManiac]

It showed me that you can achieve something based solely on your hardwork and consistency. Pushing yourself daily became something important to me. I was taught many different concepts, patience, hardwork, consistency, and sacrifice are just the few. Once I realized that these concepts could be applied to anything in life, I became serious with my training because I knew I would learn many others things along the way. Plus who doesn't want to be big??

[dannynb]

I've always been into training for whatever sport I was involved in. My dream was pro football, but after some college ball and a few years in the semi pro combined with powerlifting in the off season, the wear and tear took a toll on my body. I had a friend ask me about bodybuilding and in my mid twenties I did my first show and have never looked back. Now I train no longer caring about how much I can lift but the rests I see in the mirror and on stage.

[Deathride]

I started casual weights to I didn't get fat. Then i got mugged and ended up with quite bad facial injuries.

I decided nobody would fuck with me again........and then I found Animal and got hooked on the idea of being superhuman, being a freak amongst the normal multitude. Since then, every day has been a pursuit of being the biggest badass I can be. Every session I do makes me a stronger, better person (which given my numerous character flaws is something in itself!)........and how many people can say that about their day?

I also remember reading a comment about women loving big guys and finding it funny. That was in 2009. And now I know, if only for sheer curiosity, that it is true :-D

[BigChrisF]

I had been weight training off and on since the tail end of high school. Throughout college I usually had to give it up because of lack of time. Every extended break (summer/winter) I would start again.

My first competition was in November of 06. A friend of mine talked me into competing, and even with an injury I did alright and liked the competition. The more competitions I did and at higher levels, the more I wanted to keep competing.

So the answer would be 23.5 years old.

[Carl]

Why? I competed for many years, but I didn't take it that serious. So, once you made a change. What made it serious for you?

I always was playing around with weights and going to the gym, but eatting like crap and just going though the motions of training ( yes I was one of those people who talked more than trained at the gym. Honestly, while I had the desire to get in shape and train, I didn't have any discipline to do what it takes. So the "tomorrow I'll start" turned in to days then years and nothing to show for it but one day waking up and being a dollor short from 340lbs.

Then in this past January my mother in law passed a way and it just hit me, she always wanted me to get in shape and eat right. I looked at my son and said what kind of example am I, if I tell him to get in shape and eat right. While I'm like this...this is bullshit. So I joined a gym and started coming here and once I saw results of good honest hard sweat and see some changes. It makes me want more. I do have plans and is my goal to compete in my 1st show before I'm 45.

[Tiny1102]

I wish you the best. Good luck on your first contest. You can do it.



I always was playing around with weights and going to the gym, but eatting like crap and just going though the motions of training ( yes I was one of those people who talked more than trained at the gym. Honestly, while I had the desire to get in shape and train, I didn't have any discipline to do what it takes. So the "tomorrow I'll start" turned in to days then years and nothing to show for it but one day waking up and being a dollor short from 340lbs.

Then in this past January my mother in law passed a way and it just hit me, she always wanted me to get in shape and eat right. I looked at my son and said what kind of example am I, if I tell him to get in shape and eat right. While I'm like this...this is bullshit. So I joined a gym and started coming here and once I saw results of good honest hard sweat and see some changes. It makes me want more. I do have plans and is my goal to compete in my 1st show before I'm 45.

[zubda345]

Now that is the answer I am looking for.

Thatkyou Tiny.

[Carl]

I wish you the best. Good luck on your first contest. You can do it.

Thank you man !

[Kain81]

My ex left me the day of my brothers wedding after four years. (she was always great w/ her timing...). I decided I was either going to spend a mass amount of time in the bar or the gym. I chose the latter. I'd always fucked around in the gym since high school. But 6 years ago i made it a 24/7 way of life.

-good thread, i like hearing how/why we all ended up here.

[TigerAce01]

I really got into it when I was younger because I always felt out of place. I was a military kid, so I moved around a lot. I had plenty of "friendly people" surrounding me, but no real friends. Lifting weight became a very big life changing passion for me. It let me feel like I always had a place to be, like there was actually something there that wouldn't ever leave or change.

Like Rollins said, 200lbs will always be 200lbs.

-Ace

[J A Y]

this could seriously become a great thread if people keep adding to it... I too love hearing about how other people found their way into the gym/strength sports

As a youngster I watched alot of films and tv... sly stallone, arnie and the like on the tv along with many years of wrestling, (hulk hogan comes to mind very rapidly) so i guess that was the early influence

then when i started religiously watching worlds strongest man every year whenever it was shown over here in the UK, It created an almost instant attraction, seeing thse mutants of men performing ungodly feats of strength i thought one day i want to be like that... I found my way into the gym because i was playing a good standard of soccer, one below acedemy level and i thought the gym would be the deciding factor as to if i would make it or not,(bigger/stronger/faster/fitter) unfortunately i found myself injured in probably my best season of soccer and fell out of favour on the team, it was from then on i started getting a bit more serious about weights as i needed another release

i frequently spoke to the gym owner after my sessions and we got talking about powerlifting, i started to get a bit stronger and he always encouraged me to look into it or 'have a go' as it were, i always said i would but never really nutted up and pursued it, untill one day he said 'i am planning on going to a local meet in 6 weeks, why dont you come with me?' and i threw myself in at the deep end and said 'yeah, why the hell not'... from then onwards we started training together for the remaining 6 weeks and i went to the meet not knowing what to expect... i loved every second of it and havent looked back since!

now a good 6 meets onwards i strive to be one of the best younger drug free raw lifters in my chosen federation the GBPF/IPF affiliated and feel im well on the way towards my goals!

never give up on something you cant go a single day without thinking about... so the answer : 18 years old

[Tiny1102]

Yes, I am kinda surprised more have not replied. I really want to see what others think is serious. Just because you go to the gym 5 days a week does not make it serious. I used to never miss a work-out, but I was always partying on the weekend. I may have had some World Records at the time, but still I did not consider my training serious. So, really think about the question. And this was directed to everyone who post. It took me a long time to finally get very serious about my training. I think the big change was when I got my gym involved with a church. For years they tried to get me, but I still liked living my lifestyle. Once I made the change. That was when the numbers blew up and the fun really started. I may not have my gym involved with a church anymore, but trust me my training is more serious than ever.



this could seriously become a great thread if people keep adding to it... I too love hearing about how other people found their way into the gym/strength sports

As a youngster I watched alot of films and tv... sly stallone, arnie and the like on the tv along with many years of wrestling, (hulk hogan comes to mind very rapidly) so i guess that was the early influence

then when i started religiously watching worlds strongest man every year whenever it was shown over here in the UK, It created an almost instant attraction, seeing thse mutants of men performing ungodly feats of strength i thought one day i want to be like that... I found my way into the gym because i was playing a good standard of soccer, one below acedemy level and i thought the gym would be the deciding factor as to if i would make it or not,(bigger/stronger/faster/fitter) unfortunately i found myself injured in probably my best season of soccer and fell out of favour on the team, it was from then on i started getting a bit more serious about weights as i needed another release

i frequently spoke to the gym owner after my sessions and we got talking about powerlifting, i started to get a bit stronger and he always encouraged me to look into it or 'have a go' as it were, i always said i would but never really nutted up and pursued it, untill one day he said 'i am planning on going to a local meet in 6 weeks, why dont you come with me?' and i threw myself in at the deep end and said 'yeah, why the hell not'... from then onwards we started training together for the remaining 6 weeks and i went to the meet not knowing what to expect... i loved every second of it and havent looked back since!

now a good 6 meets onwards i strive to be one of the best younger drug free raw lifters in my chosen federation the GBPF/IPF affiliated and feel im well on the way towards my goals!

never give up on something you cant go a single day without thinking about... so the answer : 18 years old

[IRON-L]

After school I joined varsity to study finance. During this time my diet consisted mostly of Beer, fast food and other shit. 2 years in I could see a real difference from my once fighting fit physique...I had spaghetti arms with a fat ass and beer belly. So I saw all these rich, fat, weak businessmen barely fitting in their sportcars which disgusted me. Did not want to be like that. Whats the use of being successful when you look like Donald Trump.

Did not take me long to find the iron.

Today I sport advanced degrees in finance and accounting. But I am more proud of my physique and the fact that I cannot fit in an untailored suit than anything else.

Peace

[Tiny1102]

That was interesting. Good to see you found the iron.




After school I joined varsity to study finance. During this time my diet consisted mostly of Beer, fast food and other shit. 2 years in I could see a real difference from my once fighting fit physique...I had spaghetti arms with a fat ass and beer belly. So I saw all these rich, fat, weak businessmen barely fitting in their sportcars which disgusted me. Did not want to be like that. Whats the use of being successful when you look like Donald Trump.

Did not take me long to find the iron.

Today I sport advanced degrees in finance and accounting. But I am more proud of my physique and the fact that I cannot fit in an untailored suit than anything else.

Peace

[machineman]

I started early on in life as a swimmer. Had the body to match as well. Tall and lean. I graduated high school at 6'3 and about 170 pounds. YIKES! I lifted on and off for years. I would start, but use some excuse to stop. Looking back on it, I don't really know why I would stop. I started training in Japanese JuJitsu in 2005. I really needed to drop some weight. The dojo I was training with at the time was having a grappling tournament in July of 2008. I decided that I was going to grapple at heavyweight which was a max of 220 pounds (I started at 265-270). I started dieting in Sept of 2007 for the tournament. I weighed in at 220 even on July 26th.

I don't recall how I cam by the forum but I remember reading some journeys and reading other articles here. I just felt like I had found a home. I started training seriously in August of 2008 after I found this site. Thanks to a couple of people that really took me in when I first arrived, I have never looked back.

So for me, SERIOUS training started September of 2007 during my cut for the grappling tournament. I didn't feel strong after the cut so I knew I wanted to gain strength. The stronger I get, the stronger I want to be. It may be a little late in life for me, but this is what I want. So this is what I shall have.

[Brick By Brick]

Is it reasonable to have degrees of seriousness? In 2007, when I started my self-education on the Westside method, I was gung-ho as hell, ate everything in sight, got stronger, got fatter. Moved over to strongwoman in 10/07, and refined my diet and training, lost some weight. Was incredibly humbled and daunted by the weights that the top HW women were putting up. Work, work, work, got 3rd in my first strongwoman contest, in 2008, yay! Watch out, world, here I come!
Work, work, work, got all pissed off and discouraged by 'roid rumors, politics, etc. in the sport, circa 2009. Frustrated because I'm a light HW - 215 lbs. - competing with much bigger, stronger women, took a year off to decide what to do with all this, what did I want from this sport? I'm 38, short and not very big compared to the top strongwomen. The strongest thing I was/am willing to ingest is Animal products, I'm not going to the dark side. Was I ever going to be America's Strongest Woman? Would I ever get to compete on a world stage? And what if I didn't? Is that the point?
Roll forward to 2010. I miss lifting. I miss my strongwoman/strongman friends. March 2010, start training again with the focus on being the best I can and doing what I can to help grow the sport. Want to compete at NAS Nats. Very, very serious about training at this point. The events are really heavy. Come in overtrained and get last place, but prove to myself that I can do things I never dreamed I could do, that fast. ANGRY at getting last, but awakened at my potential if I train hard AND smart.
Now - 2011 - quit my career in law enforcement and move to Colorado Springs with husband. Training at altitude, belong to an awesome gym, have tons of training/educational resources at hand here in the Springs. More serious now than ever, I left everything behind to come here and make lifting/training my job. I'm taking the NSCA CPT test in August. I literally made training my life, my life's passion. Hope someone will pay me after I get my certification to train other people, but CSCS is the ultimate goal.

[zubda345]

I really got into it when I was younger because I always felt out of place. I was a military kid, so I moved around a lot. I had plenty of "friendly people" surrounding me, but no real friends. Lifting weight became a very big life changing passion for me. It let me feel like I always had a place to be, like there was actually something there that wouldn't ever leave or change.

Like Rollins said, 200lbs will always be 200lbs.

-Ace

I swear to GOD the same story I have and I am goin thru. I am not and army guy but I love army like crazy. I wanna be with those guys. Plenty of Friendly ppl but no one that can be called a friend. Same thinking about the lifting. I just love to see someone who has had the story I am goin thru.

[zubda345]

Yeah I would Also like to see what others have to say here... I am also supprised most ppl don't post in here.

[Machine]

I can't really say that it was just one thing that drew me to the iron...from a young age I became aware of people's physiques and the detail that seperated each person's body. I noticed the professional wrestlers, the Barbarian Brothers, and before long I became more aware of my own body and my own strength which was considerable for a young man.

I trained in earnest for good long time without any advice or assistance and I can remember the progression of my small goals. I thought I would be satisfied at 235 pounds, then I thought 249 pounds would be sufficient, then 257 pounds, then came 273 pounds, then 296, then came 312, and on and on, all the way up to 342 pounds. All the while I was just concerned with getting stronger in my day to day lifting and getting to be a larger mammal. Soon I was dared to diet it off and step on stage and I won the superheavyweight class at my first event...I thought...I can do this and the rest just clicked. But I was not destined to become an IFBB Professional Bodybuilder; though it would have been an honor and a priveledge to have done that...it just wasnt in the cards. Partly because I began to understand that the things people in the sport wanted you to do as an athlete were reprehensible. There was always some consultant, or gym owner, or giant in the industry around whispering in your ear about how much shit you had to take...finally I just said, you fucking take it then.

I was unwilling to damage my body for a plastic trophy; and incidentally was being confronted by serious health issues (as most of us athletes do at one point or another) and my medical situation would not easily lend itself to elite level bodybuilding competition. So I continued on down my own bend in the road and am still trying to see where it will all take me, I havent given up on my small goals and have changed some of the large goals...but in the end...its all the same.

Play small ball and dont do anything you cant be proud of, your the only one you owe anything to.

MACHINE

[Big Wides]

For me my training didn't get serious until after college when I was done competeting. During those years I was in the gym training and get more conditioned to be my best against my competitors, but I always had someone pushing me. Be it the coaches, the pride in showing the underclassmen how to train to take their atheletic ability to the next level....there was always something. Once I graduated and my atheletic career was over, there was only one person who could push me to train to a level that was acceptable by my standards and it was myself, and this happened in 2006.

At that point everything changed, my training philoshpy, got my diet right (which was huge) and mindset back to when I was 190lbs scrapping for each pound. That's when it all changed, since then I have competed in several powerlifting meets and have a whole new perspective on it all.

[BarbellManiac]

I can't really say that it was just one thing that drew me to the iron...from a young age I became aware of people's physiques and the detail that seperated each person's body. I noticed the professional wrestlers, the Barbarian Brothers, and before long I became more aware of my own body and my own strength which was considerable for a young man.

I trained in earnest for good long time without any advice or assistance and I can remember the progression of my small goals. I thought I would be satisfied at 235 pounds, then I thought 249 pounds would be sufficient, then 257 pounds, then came 273 pounds, then 296, then came 312, and on and on, all the way up to 342 pounds. All the while I was just concerned with getting stronger in my day to day lifting and getting to be a larger mammal. Soon I was dared to diet it off and step on stage and I won the superheavyweight class at my first event...I thought...I can do this and the rest just clicked. But I was not destined to become an IFBB Professional Bodybuilder; though it would have been an honor and a priveledge to have done that...it just wasnt in the cards. Partly because I began to understand that the things people in the sport wanted you to do as an athlete were reprehensible. There was always some consultant, or gym owner, or giant in the industry around whispering in your ear about how much shit you had to take...finally I just said, you fucking take it then.

I was unwilling to damage my body for a plastic trophy; and incidentally was being confronted by serious health issues (as most of us athletes do at one point or another) and my medical situation would not easily lend itself to elite level bodybuilding competition. So I continued on down my own bend in the road and am still trying to see where it will all take me, I havent given up on my small goals and have changed some of the large goals...but in the end...its all the same.

Play small ball and dont do anything you cant be proud of, your the only one you owe anything to.

MACHINE

You are no less than a pro in my eyes. You have the same wisdom and drive as any pro, and very deep thinking that separates you from everything else.

[Tiny1102]

Come on. I know there has to be more lifters that are serious about your training. I really want to know what make you believe your training is serious.