View Full Version : Why I lift.
I have been seriously bodybuilding/power lifting for 4 years now. For some reason I have been questioning why I lift. When I was in high school I lifted and trained because I wanted to be the strongest and fastest I could be for football. During the summer after high school and before I went to college, I stayed motivated and kept on training. I had no real reason why to train.
The reason I kept on training at school was because we have power lifting competitions at my college. They are just for bragging rights and it is intramural. I made many friendships through the two competitions which I believe is more important then being the best lifter.
This summer after my first year of college, I then questioned why I lifted. I always had basic reasons why I lifted. When I was younger, I wanted to get in shape and not be chubby. Then I lifted because I wanted to be strong for football. The first year of college I trained for power lifting competitions. I then questioned myself for lifting for the sole purpose of power lifting competitions. Why does it matter if I win my competitions at school? Who cares if I can deadlift almost 2.5 times my weight? Why am I tossing around heavy bars and dumbbells for no reason?
I then realized why I really lifted this summer. I thought of all of the times I was frustrated with something then went to the gym, hit the weights, then felt great. It was a way that I got rid of the stress that I had. There is also a deeper reason why I lift though.
Can you remember being a young child and having no cares in the world? Woke up at 5:30am for no apparent reason but to just wake up. Never were stressed out, did not know the concept of being stressed out. Then going into high school one has to get good grades to go to college. After that, one has to do well in college to obtain a good job. Then maintaining a job in order to live independently is extremely stressful.
There is only one place that I forget all of these stress causers. Can you guess? The gym of course. It is the only place where I can forget everything and not have a care in the world but lifting heavy objects. It’s the only thing that brings me back to the carefree attitude that I had as a young child.
This is the reason why I power lift and train so hard.
NumeroUno
01-14-07, 2:25 am
Couldn't be more true. I am, and a lot of us, are what you just described. I'm currently having to move to Boise, ID for a job to work full time just to survive on my own. I have to get loans to pay for college and school... got to work to pay the fuckin' bills. I spend my entire day giving my time away to other people so that I can survive, the gym is the only place where everything I do is STRICTLY for me. Live, breath, and die by the iron.
-Daniel
Wolf Man CHG
01-14-07, 12:04 pm
took the words right out of my mouth boar
Pokoritel
01-18-07, 1:14 am
Right on man, life isnt about being the best its about doing your best. I used to qeustion myself as well to why i lift. But your right man when I am in the gym i forgot all my problems they simply vanish or they get solved.
How much can you bench? Probably the most common question people ask bodybuilders and powerlifters. Outsiders judge our bench press max and correlate this to how good of a powerlifter or bodybuilder we are. In my personal opinion, bench is the most overrated powerlift out there. It should not define how good if a bodybuilder/ powerlifter we are.
As a powerlifter, my max's are how I put together all of my workouts. It is my main priority in this game. But why should I let numbers dictate who I am as a lifter?
There are two main influences that have me writing this post at this moment. The first being my struggle with squats and the second being wraths latest post. Here it is at http://animalpak.com/journey/week.cfm?week=14.
I have been stuck at the weight I am lifting for squats. Part of it is how I have been training for it. Two things that are my source of error. I trained shoulders with legs which took me away from training primarilly legs. Also I neglected training hami's. It still discourages me that I have not increased for a year now.
Wraths post also influenced this post also. He talks about this big red dude that thinks he's hot shit because he thinks he can outbench wrath. He had a taste of his own medicine when he got caught under 5 plates.
My main point from rambling on about how much weight one can lift is this. Why should it matter how much weight we can lift brothers? All that should matter is the passion and the drive inside for this iron life.
One positive for keeping track of how much one can lift is that it can be a measure for tracking success. It should be no more then that brothers. It should help to shoot for goals, but don't let numbers define you as a lifter.
Wrath also wrote about how numbers should not define us. Gotta give props to wrath. Here it is at http://animalpak.com/journey/week.cfm?week=7.
right on bro-like one of the pros posted that in bodybuilding,the judges don't care how much you can bench.That's not the deal. Onstage it's how you look. I think the how much can you bench thing applies more to football..It's just a common denominator for the scouts to evaluate the strength of athletes across the country.complettely different deal imho.
Extension. The way that all presses end. Bench press, push press, push jerk, leg press, incline press, decline press, dumbell press, and many more presses. When you have that weight extended, the feeling is overwhelming. You have just dominated the weight. After a bench press of sticking points, you finally won the battle. The weight when in extension feels like a feather. It's a great feeling brothers!
When I was push pressing the other day, I forgot about all of my problems. All I gave a shit about was getting that bar over my head. It felt like nothing when my elbows were in full extension. I forgot about my acedemics, all of my worries and doubts disappeared.
Take lifes challenges like any type of extension after a press. You fight hard, but your going to press that weight up. When you attain that goal, don't be satisfied. Put more weight on that bar brother!
Today I had my competition. I told my mentor that I was not going to clinical hours because I had my powerlifting competition. She shoots me back a text saying "clinicals come first." This enraged me. This was my last school competition that was for the whole year. I have two superbowls for powerlifting every year monday before thangsgiving break and monday before spring break. These competitions reflect how hard I lift between classes during the semester.
I end up winning the competition but I got more out of the comraderie and having big jim ( the unofficial official) give us tips about lifting. It's a great and humbling experience in many different ways. I form friendships with my competitors. This does not sound like much but it is not that often that one forms friendships with their fellow competitors.
So I then get back to my room and told one of my room mates how I did not go to clinical so I could do the competition. He said " what did you get out of lifting, your mentor was right" I then replied that powerlifting is my life. He then had the audacity to say no school is your life.
I then called my father and told him about the competition and he asked if this would help my GPA. I actually did not get mad by this because I have taken shit from my dad in the past about lifting.
My mom, sister and her boyfriend all congratulated me on my lifting endeavors.
So after all this babbling my point is this brothers. Cherish the ones that support you in the life of the iron and ignore the people that disapprove of the lifestyle.
Ricky P
03-05-07, 11:56 pm
Hey boar, that first entry, about why you lift.... Damn brother you hit it right on the head. I feel the same way, I used to do the same stuff, get up rediculously early for no reason whatsoever, no worries, everything was fun. We need the gym now-a-days, it's a way of life.
Just wanted to bring up another aspect of my life other then lifting.
I wanted to know if anyone else rock climbs.
I find some parellels to lifting and some aspects that are different to lifting. It is definately a full body workout, it takes an extreme amount of coordination, strength, and it also takes creativity and being able to adjust to making certain types of movements.
The major difference between the two sports that I discovered is that rock climbing takes a lot more patience. You can't just get pissed off at it and tear up it. It requires patience and thought process of every movement.
I just wanted to share that aspect of my life with you guys.
only tried the rockface in a dicks sporting goods, 30-50 ft tall, hard as hell to do anything but a straight climb.
Phil800101
03-20-07, 2:04 pm
I went half-ass rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon with my friends when I was in Vegas back in August. By half-ass, I mean that we were climbing with just our hands, no ropes or equipment or anything, using the natural passageways that are climbable without using equipment. Still, we were there for about four hours or so and got about 2/3 of the way up the one peak. I'm not sure if that's what you would consider rock climbing or not, but it's all I have to draw from for experience.
From that one experience, I definitely see what you're saying though, especially about the patience and having to adjust to making certain types of movements. And yeah, it really is a full body workout that requires some strength.
You've got it down man, and most definitley got your priorities down.