Why do people, especially women, enjoy lifting so much?

I really love lifting weights. It makes me feel good. It has helped me lose fat, not just size, and given me a great figure. It feels good to be the only woman in the weight room and have respect for being there. It's going to set me up for healthier bones later in life. It has helped my injury recovery and management. It's good to feel strong, and you just don't ever realise how that affects every day life. I am 45 and I don't intend to give up my weight training any time soon.

It has many positive benefits besides the herniated discs, hernias, crushed sternum, torn rotators cuffs.

why do women lift? penis envy?

I'm 42 and still in the "overweight" category. I've lifted off and on at various times since I was a teenager, but this time around I've been at it for nearly a year.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I love lifting for all sorts of reasons. I love being strong and getting stronger. I love the way it makes my body look. I love what it does for my self esteem and confidence. I love being able to lift, carry, and move stuff without having to ask for help. It's been a healthy and appropriate outlet for expressing frustration and anger. It makes me feel great.

I think it's been so healthy and important for me--I have a hard time articulating all the reasons why, but I know I'm much better off when I'm focused on building strength.

I've never lifted and probably never will, since I'm old and have heart disease and back problems. But I get curious when I see how much people get into lifting. Is it like a runner's high? Can you describe the feelings?

Started lifting seriously at forty-six with back problems; I tore up my back in my early 20's moving loaded fixtures in retail. I'd still in the "untrained" category for most of the weight I lift, but my back problems have largely abated as the weights go up. There ARE weight training programs to spare and strengthen your back.

As for why I lift... there's something about the feeling of raw POWER when you load a bar equal to your bodyweight and then some and get it to move exactly how you want it to. It's an absolute rush to look at a deadlift that months ago I wouldn't have attempted and say with a straight face, "THAT bar is going up six times" - then doing exactly that.

"The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back."

Henry Rollins

I've never lifted and probably never will, since I'm old and have heart disease and back problems. But I get curious when I see how much people get into lifting. Is it like a runner's high? Can you describe the feelings?

I'm on the older side, have heart disease and a history of joint and back problems and I lift. I'm not recommending it as such, but it has seemed to suit me. Part of the problem with heart disease is that I can't do "intense" exercise and I feel that lifting gives me an opportunity to do something more "intense" (It certainly FEELS intense - especially the deadlifts!) in a safe manner. At least, I believe it to be fairly safe. I don't get the same sort of high that I've had from exercise in the past, but sometimes I do get a pleasant feeling afterwards, as if I've had a deep massage. I certainly get a feeling of achievement if I manage to lift more than I've ever done, and that can be a kind of high in itself.

I started lifting when I was severely obese, and again, it felt like an exercise that I could do safely at that size.

I don't know if I'll keep it up for ever (I'm debating whether to cancel gym membership soon), but I hope I will always do some sort of resistance/strength training. When I've been away from the gym for long periods, I've done bodyweight exercises to keep my strength up. To be honest, I think it's one of THE most important things I can do for my health, as a middle-aged woman. My thinking is that older women, as a group, get the most benefit from resistance training, as they have the most risk from bone and muscle wasting.

It as given me confidence and strength! I love feeling strong! Also has so many health benefits, strong bones, metabolism.

Because it makes me happy. It makes me confident. It makes me feel badass. Because the strength I have gained in the last 4 months since starting lifting is astonishing.

Most importantly though, because it makes me like me. I didn't like the fat lazy cow who didn't really do a lot, i'm starting to love the me who kicks *kitten* in the gym. I never thought I would be able to say I really like me and right now, I do.

I liked feeling strong. It was also fun to sit on a machine a guy just exited and increase the weight, while they are watching and they just look at you while you pump and sweat. I also like to think, "that's right, look all you want, I'm taken". Guys like that had their chance and they missed it...i am now with a man who loves me even when I wasn't in my primo shape.

I love lifting because it really shows me what my body is capable of.

The feeling of lifting a weight that 2 weeks ago you could barely move, is like nothing else.

Seeing the body fat go and reveal your stronger muscles is something i never got with cardio.

I love the fact that it makes me better at jumping / running / balancing / throwing

Not immediately related, but I love that now I don't care what I weigh, because the tape measure tells me what i need to know!

I've never lifted and probably never will, since I'm old and have heart disease and back problems. But I get curious when I see how much people get into lifting.

My reasons have already been listed by previous posters. I'm just replying to say that in spite of the way you described yourself (old and infirmed), in spite of how sure you are that lifting is impossible for you, still you are "curious" about it.

That's a spark. That's a part of you that doesn't yet believe you can't have strength and health.

You should trust it.

^^^^^ Yup!

Weight lifting was invented by the Spanish Inquisition! I prefer to do anything else in the gym (I keep away from gyms until the winter, when its too cold and wet to enjoy exercise out of doors)... Its boring and the pain it can induce is horibble...

Lifting weights makes me feel like superwoman. I love it so I do crossfit which combines weights lifting with endurance and high intensity. I love both being and feeling strong and weight lifting takes care of both of these. I'm constatntly improving because there is always more weights/plates out there to lift. I feel empowered when I do it at the gym because not many females are into it, and those that are tend to stick to the low weight / high rep concept. I'm the only 120lb girl at my gym (that I ever see) doing barbell work like cleans, jerks and thrusters and who does full BW pull-ups/chinups. I must admit it does go to my head a little cause I hear the comments, see the looks and even get approached sometimes about my training. I am awesome, lol.

Ok I'm not really that egostical cause i've learned along the way that most people (in the real world) don't care how much you lifted that day or if you set a new PR, but that's what I have MFP for! My friends on here are awesome and don't mind hearing about my running, crossfit, weight lifting, or my eating habits

I run and lift, too. I don't get a high from either, though.

But I spent my first 38 years thinking I had a bad back, bad knees, bad joints, and couldn't run. I'm hypermobile, and body parts would randomly pop out of joint. I was rereading a journal from when I was 37, and I'm amazed at how many times I wrote things like, "Threw out my back at work again. I'm on the couch and muscle relaxants for the next few days." "Re-injured my knee. Glad I still have that brace from last time I hurt it." "Going for xrays on my wrist."

Since lifting, I haven't had ANY of those injuries*. Increasing my muscle strength has made my joints more stable. I'm not going to win any kind of lifting competitions, but I can overhead press 70 pounds, bench press 100, squat and deadlift 160. And I'm damn proud of that, since that time I threw out my back at work, I was lifting a 26 pound cat. (Granted, it's much easier to lift a barbell, since a 26 pound cat is like a fur-covered sack of Jell-O, but still....)

I can bring in all the groceries in one trip. I don't have to take all the drawers out of my dressers if I want to rearrange the bedroom furniture. I'm not worried about spraining my ankle hiking with the dog. When my husband hurt himself after a fall at work (multiple herniated discs), all the household duties fell on me, and I was glad I could do them.

Plus, it's improved my body shape in ways I never thought possible. But honestly, that's pales in comparison to the less visible physical changes.


* I did have a stress fracture from running, and I currently have a nagging case of Achilles bursitis, but two wear-and-tear injuries in almost three years of kicking *kitten* is a lot better than hurting myself about once a month before I exercised regularly.