Giving Up

[Alchemist]

Watching relatives and friends degenerate into piles of immobile goo for no reason before dying in their 50s helps keep me going and was why I started in the first place.

This! I've said for years I train now to be an example to my daughter and to actually be around for her in 40 years. And still stronger than here then

On a more practical day to day note, I don't give up because the alternative is pain. I stop training and shit starts to hurt. I don't like pain that doesn't go away. I as sit here typing this my arms and traps ache from a particularly hard dead lift session yesterday. But my back didn't wake me up over night, my injured hip (from years ago) isn't stiff and painful, and I don't notice my shoulder where I sprained it in the past. When I had to stop trianing a few years ago due to an injury, those all hurt and it sucked. I rehabbed hard, through pain, so I could hurt less later.

I'm never going to do that slow slide into inactivity and weakness.

[Pluripotent]

If you quit because you had a bad workout, one thing is certain: when and if you finally do start back up again, your next workout will suck substantially more, because you will be substantially weaker than when you first quit.

Everyone has essentially two choices: you can experience the aches and pains from training, or you can experience the aches and pains from not training. Most people chose the latter, although it is by far the worse choice. Your body wants to do things that are hard. If you don't, it will punish you severely. If you don't believe me, go ahead and quit. See for yourself. The problem is, by the time most people figure out that they should have remained active throughout their lives, it's already too late. I have a bit of a unique vantage point here because every day I take care of people who pissed away their productive years and are now pissed off that their bodies hurt so much and there is essentially nothing I can do for them except try to help ease them into a more comfortable death. Usually, they are pissed at me, I guess because I'm there and I'm an easy target. So, if you do decide to remain inactive, at least have the good graces to not blame the people who are trying to help you when your inevitably painful end finally comes.

[Dag]

You have to love lifting to do it for years on end. That's the bottom line. Other reasons are valid but they're secondary to lifting because you love lifting. Bad workouts and series of bad workouts are a part of it. Everyone has terrible gym days. Everyone. Fortunately, truly sucky workouts happen only about 10% of the time. Great workouts are also a part of it. We want great sessions every time but we get them maybe 10% of the time as well. Meh workouts make up 80% of them; not great, not terrible, just doing what you're supposed to do. If you love lifting weights, it doesn't take much mental toughness to overcome even a series of bad sessions. Toughness is handling financial problems, marital problems, death of a loved one, sacrificing your own wants and needs to be a good husband/wife/parent. Bad workouts ain't shit.

[Brahms]

Volunteer at an old folks home and see how they live. Listen to their advice. They need the companionship, and you'll find the answer to your dilemma.

[Pluripotent]

You have to love lifting to do it for years on end. That's the bottom line. Other reasons are valid but they're secondary to lifting because you love lifting. Bad workouts and series of bad workouts are a part of it. Everyone has terrible gym days. Everyone. Fortunately, truly sucky workouts happen only about 10% of the time. Great workouts are also a part of it. We want great sessions every time but we get them maybe 10% of the time as well. Meh workouts make up 80% of them; not great, not terrible, just doing what you're supposed to do. If you love lifting weights, it doesn't take much mental toughness to overcome even a series of bad sessions. Toughness is handling financial problems, marital problems, death of a loved one, sacrificing your own wants and needs to be a good husband/wife/parent. Bad workouts ain't shit.

Yeah, OK, but I don't see why you have to love it. Do it because it works. Sometimes you will convince yourself that you love it. Sometimes you will convince yourself that you hate it. Who cares either way? All this follow you passion bullshit is just too much feelz. You just have to do it.

[marcf]

I've had more than a few training sessions that were unpleasant. In my first 3 months of the program, I dealt with strained muscles, low back pain, hip pain that affected my daily life (i.e. it hurt to put socks on or get in and out of my car) and the list goes on and on. Even now I'm still not training 100% pain free. But I was worried that if I quit, I'd look back and think I was being a pussy--as Rip said--and that I was just unable to keep a commitment to myself.

Thankfully, most of those aches and pains are gone. Sometimes I couldn't train because of the pain, and sometimes I'd train through it, whether it was the right thing to do or not.

Others mentioned not wanting to slide into the same vegetative states as their parents or grandparents, and I'm in the same boat. My grandpa spent the last few years of his life in a wheelchair in front of a TV. He had diabetes and heart disease, and resigned himself to thinking that exercising would be dangerous forhim. My grandma would have to wheel him to and from the car to get dialysis treatments, and help him get in and out of the car, too. He barely had the strength to stay upright while holding onto his wheelchair.

Eventually, he cut his leg on his wheelchair getting in or out of it, and bandaged it up. He didn't tell anyone about the injury. Not too long after the cut, he died of gangrene at the age of 74. That's not how I want to spend the last years of my life.

[MattBraunstein]

I dealt with multiple health issue during my LP. I basically would keep regressing everytime I got close to or just past my previous PR. I kept going because I didn't want to be a weak lazy piece of crap. I had confidence that I was on the right track by wanting to get stronger. It was probably one of the most depressing times of my life, but I knew if I quit, I would be even more depressed. I continue to run into these workouts where I feel like I've regressed. But over the long term, I know I will make progress.

[Kitsuma]

I think it's harder to walk away from it if you spent quality time lifting in your youth...with quality music. One of the best gifts you can give your kid is to help him/her be comfortable in the black iron section of the "field house".

Later when lost, bring that music back, and the lifting will commence at any age signalling a return to your foundation.

[crookedfinger]

Yeah, OK, but I don't see why you have to love it. Do it because it works. Sometimes you will convince yourself that you love it. Sometimes you will convince yourself that you hate it. Who cares either way? All this follow you passion bullshit is just too much feelz. You just have to do it.

There is a comment by Jim Wendler on one of the videos here where he says something to the effect of, "ask an older lifter his favorite lift and he doesn't have one; he hates them all." I don't train because I love it. It is a chore, just like doing the dishes or mowing my lawn. It needs to get done. Some days, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds are chirping and mowing the lawn is great. Other days, its humid, hot and it just sucks. Either way, you get it done. Well, unless you pay someone else to do it.

“you owe it to yourself and the millions of lives that generated yours to live as though you appreciated it…there is just something wrong with getting up every day and moving through your existence with the least possible effort. Doing it this way makes you more than merely less than optimum. It makes you afraid of cows, and unable to understand that you should not be.”

-Mark Rippetoe

[ChessGuy]

I'm 65. I don't want to be the average 65 yo I see every day. Besides, chicks dig me. I Don't wish to disappoint them.