What made you fall in love with lifting?

Seeing muscle definition made me like lifting.
Staying the same weight or gaining weight but fitting into smaller clothes made me like lifting.
Everyday tasks becoming easier because I lift weights.
Improved my running.
Less jiggle.
Feeling like a bada$$

This!

Having no issue lifting the 5 gallon water jug up onto the cooler, after carrying it TO the water cooler.
How awesome it feels when you do your first pull-up!
Getting random compliments, like about my bubble butt! (which used to be more, well, flat, LOL), or what do I do to get these shoulders
My clothes getting looser
Less lower back pain, as long as I keep my back strong

I really like being strong just like everyone said and I love the way my body is compact and much smaller when I'm lifting regularly. If you plan on having kids (or have kids or even dogs!) it is so nice to be able to play at the playground with them without getting tired. I can lift up my 30 lb 2.5 year old as many times as he wants me to to hang on the bars. I also can haul his huge La-Z Boy looking carseat on the airplane with him in it. I am 36 and I basically feel unstoppable and want to feel like this way for many, many more years!

Results. Seeing my body change and improve. Having a firm back, arms and less flab.

Wearing a skirt today and asking myself..."Are those MY legs"??

Seeing my bar at the gym with the same weight on it as the guy next to me and moving the weight up after other's have been using something (Lat pulldown, leg extension)!

I'm in year 2 of lifting and I don't love it while I'm doing it. It's hard work, tiring, it hurts (not like bad-hurt but I-can't-barely-get-this-last-rep-in hurt), and I look like a crazy woman doing it. It's a chore to get to the gym, and a chore to get through the workout.

I do love how I look and feel every other waking moment due to lifting. And since I spend roughly 47 times more of my life not lifting than lifting, I suck it up and do it.

This is me.

Except I'm a man.

I like that it's a much shorter little chunk of time. A set is a very short time to focus on. The focus is intense, but it's short.

LOL- my lifting sessions are way longer than my running sessions- I wish I could go back to that. le-sigh

No, I meant just a set. You only have to hold the focus for 5 or 8 reps.

What it's done to my body.

It's the best antidepressant on the planet.

Because I love to emasculate the douche-bros at the gym.

Consistently being able to overcome something that you couldn't (last week, last month, last year) is so addictive.

Because it makes me feel like a f*cking unstoppable force.

I love upper body days cause of the way I look while lifting....LIKE A BEAST!! (ok maybe not)

I love leg day because....ok no one loves leg day.....but I like it because it's such a good burn. it feels like cardio and lifting at the same time. it gets my heart rate up AND makes my legs feel like jello.

I love leg day- so much so I have 3 of them.

I hate bench- benching sucks. I have evidence of me deadlifting on bench day.

seriously- scouts honor.

I love leg day until it's time to actually do leg day...then I hate life. lol. I just like upper body cause i can wear cut-off t-shirts and actually see my muscles. my legs are always covered by pants so it's not as fun to watch myself on leg day.

I have been going to the gym 5 or 6 mornings a week for about 8 months and have lifted weights intermittently and not enough to really see any results that I can firmly thank lifting for.

OP, remember that you can't fall in love with something or someone if it isn't working.

If you've been lifting for 8 months and had no results, then you are doing something wrong, and that's why you haven't fallen in love with it. Just like a relationship fails when 1 side is the problem or when both sides are the problem.

Either:
You aren't following a program
The program you are following sucks
and/or
Your diet is messed up.

Fix it and then you might fall in love.

I am the opposite. I only do cardio because i should. However, when i first walked into the gym and saw how beautiful those bodies looked with muscle definition i wanted in. I fell in love with seeing how hard i can push my body out of its comfort zone.

It has changed me so much inside and out and it is like a therapy to me. If im having a bad day i can go workout and not think about it....you cant do both....

I am in this camp, too. I know I should do more cardio than I do, but I really enjoy lifting.

I think what I like most is seeing the amounts of weight I can lift go up.

<<<ETA, obviously, I'm not upping any 1RM's right now, but I can't wait to get back to it in another several months.

In to read the responses later. I, too, have tried unsuccessfully to enjoy lifting. The results are nice, but they've not been enough to keep me doing it consistently.

Realizing that I didn't HAVE to be the scrawny girl who could barely pick up a backpack. Feeling strong as a girl who had dealt with anorexia for years was a feeling I can't really put words to. Not needing to wait for someone else to help me lift things, get things, open a jar, etc... Realizing I could depend on MYSELF to do things that required strength, both small and great, was life-changing. It's shifted my goals from wanting to be the 95 lb weak girl to being able to be the amateur person at Highland Games (not that I've done that, but I WANT to be able to do that).

Falling out of clothing I fit in 20 lbs lighter also helps.

And like others have said... sometimes I don't love lifting. Sometimes I get a bit of malaise, and drop it down a bit, before going back, or just dread doing it... but generally, the fact that it's helped me conquer so many fears about calories I had with my ED (wait, you mean I can eat MORE doing this? And not get "fat"?!), I always make sure to be patient when my passion ebbs. Because it comes right back.

I you Shelbs

Feeling like a boss when I get done with a session.

Doing things that I never thought I could do (or even thought I shouldn't do).

Achieving, after only 2 months of lifting, the changes in my body that I really wanted and didn't get with years of cardio.

Catching people scoping out my guns or being told that my legs are amazing, and knowing that it's all from lifting.

Knowing that I can take care of myself in this big bad world.

Looks like the most important points have already been covered. Weight training should always be a little bit of a struggle. If you do a lift at one weight and can handle it without any discomfort, you need to go heavier. 8-)

What hooked me first was vascularity. When I saw my first bicep vein, it was a big deal. Then you start seeing some definition. And if somebody (cute) thinks your chiseled calves/thighs/shoulders/abs/whatever looks sexy, well. You'll never go back.

- the awesomeness of adding more weight to each lift. It comes much slower for me now, but I'm still able to increase the weight by a good 5 lbs for chest and shoulders and 10 lbs for lower body (squats and deads) pretty much every 4 weeks or so. It's a huge sense of accomplishment.

- having a little bow in your barbell is pretty awesome

- Getting tight...when all I did was cardio and diet I was losing a lot of weight but was pretty flabby. I actually weight about 5 Lbs more now then when I hit my goal but I'm leaner and tighter.

I'd personally recommend doing an actual program that is progressive and structured. If you're just sorta willy nilly going in and doing some machines or whatever here and there, you're never going to get the results you're after. When you do an actual intelligent program, it will dictate what you're doing on any given day and whether you should be trying to do more than last time or de-load or whatever...it's all laid out for you and you get the results.



^^190 Lbs in January 2013...cardio and diet only



^^^ 183 Lbs...just a few Lbs shy of my goal. This is after about 3-4 months of lifting and following a progressive programming routine.



^^^@ 185/186 in November 2013...5-6 Lbs heavier than my initial goal but leaner and tighter. Roughly 10.5 months of following a progressive programming routine.

The barbell is mighty indeed...