Why do you lift?

indianarose2

https://player.vimeo.com/video/129573636
A new MFP friend posted this video on her newsfeed. It made me think about why I lift. I started lifting for what it does for my body but this video made me think about what is happening in the interior as well. As a woman, I have always felt and feared being physically vulnerable and I pretty much hate that feeling. Lifting heavy makes me feel stronger physically and more confident. It challenges me to face something hard. It's only between me and the bar and I love it when I conquer the bar. So that's why I love to lift. How about you?

arabianhorselover

I'm afraid I don't love it. I don't think I even like it. I do it for strength, and to preserve my bones, and to hopefully not look so flabby.

DawnEmbers

Great video and interesting question.

I've actually liked lifting for a long time even though I hadn't done it much over the years. We didn't do lifting in sports really but I did get my first taste in beginning of high school while doing track since I was a thrower instead of a runner. I got to bench and do some other lifts, though didn't get to do the fun ones like snatch or power clean as only the ones the coach helped all of the time got to do those. I didn't do squats cause he didn't make me, lol. Then in college I took a lifting class because my first college had a physical education requirement. I like the feeling, the activity and the goals I can work to achieve. Like, I can't wait to get to 225 on deadlift and since I made bodyweight on squats, next up is 1.5x body weight. It's fun and I can zone out with music.

Plus, it's helping my body shape come along quite well (bonus). I may still have flab and bingo wings but there are factors that counter those minor factors. Like with my arms, I had the skin that hangs but I also have my shoulders shaping up nicely and a little bit of bicep that shows.

In addition to this, lifting helps me be capable of doing other things. I can lift things around at work without trouble and help others who can't lift the totes or cases. I hope to get my upper body strength decent so I can try kayaking. Next on my list also is learning some combat and weaponry to improve my writing of action scenes. All kinds of fun stuff are influenced by the quest for strength.

ElizabethKalmbach

I started lifting in high school because that's where my friends and I hung out. (My friends were a bunch of fairly good sized young men on the football team, and I was their game but socially awkward algebra tutor.) Turns out, I'm pretty OK at it. More OK at it than I will ever be at sports-ball.

Now I do it because the smell of the gym gives me a kick of nostalgia. It's STILL something I have in common with those guys - though there are many years and miles between us and those days. My husband is one of those kinds of lifty guys, so it's something I have in common with him too. I like it because it's methodical and it allows me to see a straighter progression of concrete improvements than I can see with... like fencing... I might be getting better at fencing, but it's really hard to tell, because my instructor has been able to "kill" me forever, and probably will be able to do so until the day he dies. I don't need to be super graceful to lift. I don't need to be pretty to lift. I don't even need to be all that healthy to lift. I just have to be game enough to get under the bar.

Sumiblue

I like feeling strong and challenging myself. It definitely gives me confidence. For fitness, with lifting I can feel and see progress so much faster than with cardio alone. Plus, I get a thrill when someone mentions how kickass my arms and shoulders are! Great video, I am going to share it!

mirrim52

I lift to be strong for derby, and for appearance. I do like getting stronger, and I love the results, but I have no idea if I will come to love lifting as it's own sport. Right now, it is cross training for me. I guess I will see once I am no longer losing weight and transition to maintenance. I get the feeling I may grow to like it more once I am fitter.

canadianlbs

i just like it. i mean sure, other reasons as well . . . but when it comes down to it that's really the reason i'm in the gym on a given day. i like doing it.

Sweet_Heresy

I love doing it. Love the challenge and love pushing myself.

I also train BJJ and muay thai...and after all this squatting, I think my closed guard is strong enough to crack a man's ribs. So there's that too.

nassaugyal

I'm loving all the responses! As for me, this article pretty much sums it up perfectly: 9 Reasons why everyone should life heavy things on purpose.
http://www.drunkgenie.com/blog/2015/6/25/8-reasons-why-everyone-should-lift-heavy-things-on-purpose

Llamapants86

First and foremost I enjoy the sport of it. I like to be able to go and lift 5 lbs more or an extra rep than I did the previous time. I can measure that I am ever improving (albeit very very slowly)
Secondly I find that a lot of my other hobbies are easier and more enjoyable when I am strong. I get hurt less dirt biking, I can do more on my bike and feel more confident. Going on wood runs are easier while we are camping, using the chainsaw is easier (and safer as I have better control). All these things have been improved because I am stronger.
Third, I now have some pretty killer definition on my back/shoulders and it looks effing awesome

Jennloella

I like the sound the plates make. You know, the way you like the crunching fresh snow makes under your feet? I enjoy the competition with myself to set new PRs, much like I enjoy getting a new trick when pole dancing. To be honest, I haven't found many forms of exercise I don't like. I love cycling, boxing, running...I even like burpees!!!

katro111

• I like it because it has made my body look waaaaaaay better than hours on end of cardio and it makes me feel like a badass.
• I like setting lifting goals, exceeding them, and setting new ones.
• It's an enjoyable challenge.
• It forces me to get my head straight because lifting is just as much mental as it is physical.
• It's my stress release.
• It's great for my bones.

dcresider

After doing lots of cardio and HIIT classes using light weights, I never saw any changes to my body. If anything I seemed to gain more weight. My thinking at that time was that the more I exercised, the more I could eat. Big mistake.

I knew that at my age, I needed to start incorporating heavy weights to increase metabolism, gain bone strength, lose fat, and increase strength.

Initially, I was very intimidated by the weight section where all the lean, buffed and the young were, but I sucked it up. 13 weeks later, I'm still at it. It's a slow process, but I feel much stronger and still not bored yet. I hope that the next 3 months, wills how more changes to my body.

canadianlbs

i'm proud that one of my friends trusted me enough to make me the person she approached a few weeks ago when she first decided that she wants to start thinking about strength as well.

parkerpowerlift

I lift because it scared me. I lift because I didn't think I could do it, I didn't understand it. I lift to continuously prove myself wrong.

I had lost over 40 pounds in a year, and all I accomplished was becoming a smaller, squishier version of the same me. And even after losing the most weight I've ever lost in my life, I wasn't happy. I need to lose body fat, uncover the muscle that was so comfy hiding behind said fat and become the best version of myself.

I lift because nothing is more satisfying and nothing makes me feel more strong than breaking gender roles, lifting more than a 5 pound dumb bell, and completely exhausting yourself.

icemaiden37

Great article - she's pretty awesome, thanks for sharing.

I started weights in March, after reading NROL4W (which really hit home) and deciding that I really wanted muscles and to feel stronger, instead of just being smaller but still wobbly! My age was a factor behind it too - I turned 41, started feeling a bit too mortal and began fearing osteoporosis and the general gradual disintegration of my body so I wanted to try to slow that down. I've done yoga for a long time (but that's not enough on it's own) and did a bit of gym stuff but only weight machines and Barbie dumbbell x million rep ranges which gets really dull, really quickly. Cardio doesn't interest me, even with playing games on the console, I want to hurl myself off the machine after 5minutes.

In my gym, I use a squat rack which is right near the therapy room. So yesterday, I was doing a slow set of squats, focussing on my form and trying to get deeper. I finished and turned round, a woman patient waiting for the physio was standing with her mouth literally hanging open - she actually said to me "How can you lift all that weight?!" *That* felt pretty good! (It was only 10x55kg, but still...)

nassaugyal

So, I've found myself coming back to this thread just for the inspiration. I love all the answers!

canadianlbs

i like how it feels to have muscles. literally feels, i mean - not socially or psychologically or whatever. i'm more physically comfortable. i've noticed everything moves more smoothly and stuff doesn't just hang there and jangle and clank and rattle around inside my skin. muscles are cushioning almost every movement i make nowadays.

i feel like when i oil the chain on my bike. you can ride a bike with a dry chain, but mechanically there's a whole lot more friction involved. it's been the same with the various parts of my body. i was kind of strong in a way before i started lifting, i think - for my size and my build and my sex and all that. and mostly considering how little muscle mass i actually had. but it was a pretty wiry kind of strength, and it wasn't nearly as comfortable as this feels.

scrittrice

Love that link!

I started lifting years ago when there was a snowstorm and my birdlike great aunt was stuck in the house for many days. Afterward, she told me she'd been relieved when it was over because she was running out of food. My mother suggested she buy a dozen cans of tuna fish and keep them in her pantry for those kinds of situations, and she said, I'll never forget it, "I can't carry more than one can of tuna at a time." The next day I bought dumbbells and ankle weights and got started, but I didn't start training progressively with the barbell until January of this year, and it is definitely a game-changer.

So it began out of fear of dwindling strength, but just like the young woman in the video, I like being powerful and taking up more space. I find it a bit of a pain to have to go to the gym (prefer to work out outdoors or at home), but what it has done to my body is nothing short of amazing. I discover new perks constantly. I started in order to be a faster/stronger cyclist, and it has certainly done that. The other day I realized that the low-grade back pain that I've always just assumed is part of life (I sit at a desk all day) seems to have gone away for the most part. And when I went to have a mammogram recently, the technician (who, obviously, was seeing me half-naked) said to me, "I hope this won't embarrass you, but I see a lot of women's bodies, and I just had to double-check your age. What do you do to work out? Obviously, you do something to look like that!" As a former chunky-kid-with-glasses-picked-last-in-gym-class, I almost cried.

Vailara

I was scared of losing strength too. I have heart disease and I've been warned against heavy/ intense exercise. Heavy lifting was a way to push myself and do something intense. When I started I was also struggling with balance, having unexpected falls and worried about losing muscle. I took up ballet and heavy lifting as exercise which I thought might help and which I also enjoyed. I've since given up ballet (I did find it useful and enjoyable, but it really hurt my knees, and it was discouraging that it was SO much harder it was than when I was younger). I've carried on with the heavy lifting on and off. Unlike with ballet, I have never done it before, so any progress at all is a first for me!

awkwardsoul

I find cardio really really boring. I did BJJ for awhile but got tired of being injured and treated poorly in class.

It's one of those "I enjoy it so I'm sticking to it" things, which I need to get some exercise in. I like beating my own lifts and a bit of competition with others, plus I find lifting helps me stick to my calorie intake as I'm fueling myself.

Once my back is 100% and I'm lifting back to normal and I cut down some more fat I'm gonna try Strongwoman. I kinda don't care if I lean out or look better.

canadianlbs

1. i have a somewhat neurotic fear of my mail.
2. i have been letting it pile up for weeks.
3. on the weekend i discovered that one of my bank cards expired.
4. phoned bank and found out they mailed me new cards.
5. start doing the mathy stuff in my head that means i don't have to face the mail yet because cash, and i won't run out for a while.
6. friend emails and announces we Must go and eat at chipotle real soon. i re-do the cash math, go through my mail and locate both the cards.

if i hadn't been deadlifting, the mere notion of food would not have been enough to make a normal grownup of me.