Why Do You Train?

[Gary Gibson]

Agreed. I honestly don't have a big ego about what I lift, but squatting heavy weights that I've been afraid of all morning has increased my self-confidence. Nothing in life seems as hard as it used to now.

Squats are good for the soul.

Lots of good stuff in this thread.

I'm far from a religious man. The closest I come is how I feel about squats. The old York black iron rack and bench in my bedroom is set up like a shrine.

[Tim Lofton]

I'm very new to SS, today completing my 12th workout - one month in now. I train because I have always been supremely weak, though athletic, my whole life. I enjoyed the standard team sports in H.S., and beyond, to some extent. After leaving the Navy, I took up running, progressing on to ultra distance running. There are many strong folks that do ultras, David Goggins for instance, but they are still few and far between. After a decade or so of doing this, I decided it was time for a change, being 6' tall, 163#, and about 9.5-10% BF.
I've always enjoyed learning about the human body (pursued med school for a while before turning to cancer research) and performance, but had always looked at it from the aerobic side of things, such as running and cycling. Leaving strength out was a huge mistake, as I'm finding out. At 43 y.o., I'm still very much interested in finding out what levels of strength I can achieve. I also hope that I can continue to set an example for my kids and be a better man and person for my wife and family.
I am amazed to read about the strength achievements of many on this forum and in the lifting world in general. I am only now starting to get any kind of understanding of what it takes to gain significant strength. I will miss the really long runs that get you out on the roads or trails for hours on end and provide the escape we all need at times. I am looking forward to continued training and strength gains however, as well as the opportunity to continue learning about the human body and finding new limits. Thanks.

tim

[stronger]

I enjoy accomplishing something on a weekly or daily basis, I like the idea of being strong, and I know what your body and mind feel like when you don't lift. I don't want to regress on any of my three criteria

[JP French]

I was always happiest when I was a kid when I was at the gym. I felt like I was in my element, I was knowledgeable and confident, as opposed to how the rest of the world feels at 12 years old.

I think the mental health aspect is key for me, for the short term, I always feel better if I get to workout. I am generally calmer, less clumsy, less irritable, and more focused.

As for a longer term reason; I never want to fail at something because I am not strong enough. I do not want to be the weak-link on any team I choose to be a part of.

[Phil Stevens]

I train for me to continually prove that i can build a bigger stronger me then yesterday. To continually kick the "you cant lift that" mentality in the ass. If their is anything that fires me up and has since an early ages its the thought or being told "you cant"

I also have a passion and joy for training, the lifestyle teaching and passing on to others and the way training can bleed into the rest of your life.

I am also a dedicated and driven raw powerlifter with goals of my own set that seemingly keep going higher and higher after a reach pinnacles I aimed for and made. I find Joy in seeing just how damn far I can push this

My next major goals are getting an 800lb raw deadlift and a 1900lb + three lift total. If everything stays on track I should be able to get this in a few years time. If my gimp hip and knee holds up LOL

Also I train for those I train. To continually learn and experiment, find what works. Put the rubber to the road. I generally wont have a client do something I havent done first and found to be productive.

[Kate]

I'm 48. When I was seriously ill for a few years in my mid-20s, my weight dropped to 95 pounds (I'm a little under 5'6"). As of a few days ago (at a weight of 120), I can now squat 95 pounds. It's a little hard to describe how that feels.

And now of course I have to keep going, because I'm only 5 pounds away from having a 3-digit squat. And then I'll be "only" 20 pounds away from a body-weight squat, and how cool would it be to be able to do that by the time I hit 49?

I've periodically been a stubborn athlete, but never a very good one or a natural one. Awkward runner, crappy gymnast (talk about lack of vertical jump; geez), slow swimmer; inflexible dancer. But this, I can do. So far. (Along with x-c skiing, which gets me through the winter.)

-Kate

[Sal Webber]

I always told myself that one day I would spend the time to get strong. I found SS in the middle of cycling comeback. I had raced through college and wanted to get back into it and try to acheive as much as I could. I hired a coach and worked out 6 days week for the past year. As a part of that program, my coach got me started on SS. Interesting enough, I found that I like lifting weights more than racing and so I have recently decided to just focus on lifting to see how strong I can get. Maybe I'll go back to cycling, maybe I'll try Highland Games, maybe I'll try some type of barbell comp at some point down the road. At this point, I don't know and I don't care. I'm just enjoying the journey...and getting stronger.

[Doggerel]

Nice thread. I am 56 now. At this point I am training to be as fit as I can be the remainder of my years here on the planet. I would rather wrestle barbells than wrestle with a walker.

I am on the road to recovery at the moment- fractured my spine (T9 compression fracture) in 2008, had to stop exercising while recovering, ate and drank too much, gained 30 pounds and got weaker and slower. I have in the past few months lost 25 of those pounds by eating a lot smarter and moving a lot more often and lifting heavy stuff frequently. I am getting stronger and faster. Doing some crossfit-style metabolic conditioning along with some strength training ala SS.

I started training in the 10th grade because I played football and wanted to get bigger and stronger, which I accomplished. I trained on an old Universal selectorized cable machine thing that had 10(?) stations. A gymnastics coach was a friend of my dad's and he coached me using a 3-day a week program on the Universal- 1 set of 10 of everything on Monday, 2 sets of 8 (heavier) on Wednesday, and 3 sets of 6 on Friday (heaviest day). Made a lot of progress but unfortunately (or not) I did not get big enough or strong enough to play college football on scholarship.

Over the years I have trained somehow off and on- I have been active most of my life with some detours while getting educated or raising the family.

I was heavy into bicycling- I own 6 right now. I got certified as a cycling instructor, took long trips on my bike, etc. Commuted to work via bike for 8 years. Ran some marathons and did some triathlons in the 1980's while on active duty (Army) in Germany. For awhile I did a lot of yoga as a stress management strategy and even taught power yoga for awhile- yoga returned me to normal range of motion after a surgeon had to screw my broken humerus back together. Got involved in martial arts but dropped out after a shoulder separation. Got ordained as a Zen priest (a different kind of strength training!).

Now I am a shrink who does iron and lead- barbells and bullets. I like pistols and rifles and barbells. And that Zen stuff helps a lot with clearing the mind before lifting or shooting.

But I always feel better than anything I have ever done when I am strong and getting stronger. And handling a barbell in an intelligent manner somehow makes me stronger faster than anything else I have tried. So I will keep training.

[coldfire]

That's pathetic. Honest, but pathetic.

This thread was for people who actually train, not for people who get fat and bitch.
THAT is pathetic.

[Smiler Grogan]

I played organized sports from age 6 through college plus a couple of years of "semi-pro" delusions of grandeur. I honestly have never known what to do with myself if I wasn't preparing for something physically. After the sports, I tried martial arts, which got me started lifting weights with a purpose, until I aggravated and finally discovered an asymmetry issue. Then came the not-knowing-any-better bodybuilding days, then the military, and finally after years of searching and trying actually found out how to effectively train. Now I have grandiose dreams of finishing not last in a very low level local powerlifting competition. shrug.

And msingh, shut up if you don't train.