Should lifting be fun?

[David Lee]

It feels like putting the jolly green giant in a headlock and fucking his wife, while she makes you a sandwich. Real nice.

This sounds like a Star Trek episode.

[The_GOAT]

Powercleans are fun.

What I was gonna say.

[Claymore]

Walking out of the gym with a feeling of accomplishment is infinitely better than than walking out feeling "that was fun."

Accomplish your goals for that day. It will make you want to go back and accomplish new goals. If you fuck up and miss hitting a goal, it makes you want to go back even more and try to hit it again. When you hit a goal you missed, you feel even more accomplished. Then you want to go back for more.

Now go accomplish something.

[Kyle Schuant]

The IWF put out a documentary/advertisement where Klokov was interviewed. Basically, he said, he was drafted into lifting by his father at 11-12 years old. "At first it was like hard labour camp," he said, "but after just four or five years, it started to become fun."

I guess it's fun when you're good at it. For the rest of us, it's not much fun, but it is fulfilling.

[Giri Kotte]

Hello Mark,

Throughout the past few years I have tried various barbell programs. I don't really find it fun. Any tips to make the workouts more enjoyable?

I do feel that barbell work yields the best results and I'd like to stick with that, however I'm open to other ideas to build muscle (body weight, yoga, etc.)

Thank you and your book is very helpful!

- Jake

For most things that are fun to do, the fun part ends with the activity.
Lifting OTOH, is a few hours of misery resulting in fun rest of the week...month...year...

[gadders]

lifting is satisfying, but not fun. Fun is a moment of enjoyment in time - it happens without much effort and while nice, is not fulfilling. Satisfaction is the result of an accumulation of good outcomes, viewed as a whole.

I'd agree with this. The fun comes when someone says "That item is a two man lift" or "I can't get this item up the stairs" or whatever and you do it for them.

[Chebass88]

Lifting is an absolute blast for me. Life is way too short to spend time doing something that isn't enjoyable.

My father and brother enjoy golf. I can think of nothing more miserable than wearing funny-looking clothes, walking around a well-manicured lawn, trying to whack a tiny ball around, all while making small talk. Woof. For some ridiculous reason, I'd rather go in my garage, put some heavy weight on my shoulders and go up and down. One man's fun is another man's hell.

[mgrover]

To me locking out your last rep of your 5 fifth set with that feeling of "fuck you squats, I beat you today". Thats my fun. I used to have a training partner, we both valued strength and were making similar progress on the TM. But now we live too far apart, heartbreaking I know.

[Dr. Manhattan]

My theory is as we age/gain experience thru years of lifting/etc., our idea of "fun" changes. Also, learning the specifics required to make squats, pulls, etc., enjoyable (less "painful") helps tremendously (See Starting Strength). I can understand why most people HATE squats since they don't know what they are doing - I learned this myself.

Coach Rip's article about mental discipline is also very timely!

Once folks grow tired of depending on others at work for help getting things done, service people, noisy neighbors, and the like, they find the solace in lifting heavy. To pull a bar with 300+ lbs. (for us weaker folks), I depend on nobody else's timeliness, assistance, or even presence. Added benefit: Since almost nobody else squats or pulls, I also don't have to worry about feeling "rushed" to finish.

And after heavy squats, pulls, or presses, I have negative demand to do any other wasted movements that I found so "necessary" many moons ago.

Summary: Be ready for the time you find all the "noise" of basic life to be annoying and tedious. At that point, I suspect heavy squats, etc., will become "fun."

[Goatamon]

I'll be honest, one of the main reasons why I switched to Olympic Lifting from a Powerlifting focus is because it's just more fun for me. Obviously I still squat, deadlift and press, and the squat is still just as not-fun as ever, but with the majority of my time in training being spent on the quick lifts, I'm having a hell of a lot more fun.

Regardless, PR's are always fun, no matter what the lift is. Training the slow grindy lifts can be enjoyable, but really often isn't, at least for me.