What got you into bodybuilding? Post your story!

[macDbol]

i think it takes a year to get settled in the gym...i started off with fucking around with machines and doing every body part each time i worked out..then i started doing my own reseach and found shit out for myself

i also saw a guy on one of my friends home video pick up a toyota corola from the back side.....thats my goal

 

[hesselite]

In an effort to lose some fat, I spent the summer of '99 starving myself, benching everyday (which never managed to go up ) and running about 2 miles every night (NOT morning). regardless, i think my bench went up a total of 10 lbs. that summer, and i still had my gut (although it was a little smaller).

This continued throughout the year, and when i look back at photos... i look like a starving Etheopian child. Summer of 2000 I spent getting educated and saw American Beauty. Kevin Spacey made getting big look easy, so I thought I'd give it a try. I got educated, and have been lifting/eating/sleeping properly for almost a year now.

Summer 2000: 180 lbs, 15% bf
Summer 2001: 210 lbs, 13% bf

Looking back, I had the determination... but I was doing it all wrong. Knowledge truly is power. Learn.

--Hess

 

[fiatconspiracy]

hmm inspiration from pain, I like it, when I was a child my grandfather forced me into it but i ended up enjoying it....

 

[Exodus]

when i was 5 i saw a little movie called the Running Man.......... after that....... it was always in the back of my mind to get that big.........after wrestling season my senior year......... thats what i did........ and i keep getting bigger

 

[Super Girl 22]

I was in a serious car accident in 99 that forced me to see a chiropractor 5 days a week. Fortunately, he was a personal trainer instructor and got my ass motivated to get back into the gym (of course, after my lawsuit was settled for the prick that hit me). started out slow doing my own thing and now i live at the gym. 2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week. everyone at the gym knows me as the blonde girl that lives in the gym! i love it and i'm getting into it more and more each day. guess it also involves the people that i hang out with because everyone is involved in working out and my one friend is into fitness competitions and she sometimes keeps me motivated as well

 

[natasan]

Girls straight and simple

It could be that easy, but I've got a great girlfriend now and I still lift.

I think I'm lucky enough to have good genetics. I'm not great, but I can build muscle and loose fat fairly easily. However, I can gain fat really quickly too.

Once I started college I found myself near 300lbs - pretty much all body fat. I worked my way up to size 42 inch pants (shouts to McDonald's!) and pretty much was always at my computer.

Well, a couple years of that should shake anyone up into a better lifestyle. Plus, I was getting shot down a lot by the ladies. Sure, they should see past just looks and for what is inside, but things don't work that way in the real world all that often.

So a couple years ago I busted my ass and lost over 60lbs about five months. Unfortunately, I had no proportion afterwards. Small and weak chest, fairly small arms, thick legs and calves.

Now for the past year I've concentrated on strength training and building muscle mass. All my goals are long term - so I couldn't ask for more than what I've received so far from training. I'm a pretty solid 210lbs, under 9% bf, and size 32 inch waist now.

A lifestyle built upon wellness is more than enough to keep me training.

 

[Garza]

I was 14 years old, freshmen in high school. I switched to a new school the second semester and in my gym class were the greatest athletes i've ever seen. In the weight room they'd kill me. I was SO out of shape. One of those "skinny fat" kids. I had small arms, chest, shoulders, and high bf. They were all using 135 on the squat, at least, for reps and I was using a mere 75. It was pathetic. At that point I decided no matter what, I was going to be better than them.

I remember when I first started out I used the cybex selectorized machines becuase I knew NOTHING bout free weights. Then I slowly ventured into the freeweight room, began reading about exercises and rep schemes.

At that point I started doing EVERY exercise I could think of, and got burnt out quickly. I then turned to powerlifting, that is, only the big 3 and some assistance exercises. At this point I am slowly getting into bodybuilding, but with emphasis on the big 3.

I remember the first time I was able to say to myself "I am getting somewhere!" This sounds stupid but, I saw a baseball player from my school at the gym. He was using plate number 10 on the chest press and repping it. I could barely even move the tenth plate at all let alone do a rep. About 6 months later I went back to that machine to see what I could do, and I got the 10th plate for like 6 reps. Sounds stupid but I'll never forget that.

 

[cAbo]

i want to have the biggest body my genetics alow me to have. i like the sensation of feeling my clothes getting tighter and i love that girls feel my arms.
i had always done fitness excercises but have wasted a year of my life training with a type of training that didnt produced the results i desired, but with mistakes is how we learn.

 

[succession]

well i'm about to get into it - learnin as much as i can right now so that when i do start i am as efficient as possible. I'm 24 years old now and sick and tired of ppl sayin i need to put on weight when i already live a very healthy lifestyle (no drugs, quit smoking a month ago, eat very healthily and i do small excersizes regularly (pushups /curls).
I know its for somewhat vain reasons, but i know it will help in life - coz that's the way life is - nice to enjoy the beach a bit better when u know u look good. plus i'll look on it as an achievement. I quit smoking after 8 years of being a full time smoker - i don't see myself ever touching a cigarrete again in my life- gonna be hard to resist that "oh i'll just have one cig it's new years and i haven't had one for a year" - coz i know that it's a black hole trap. So quitting smoking is one of my greatest achievements so far. I've done well in other parts of my life, and now i wanna do this

btw when i do start i will be postin before pics before i hit the gym - i figure it'll motivate me just that much more - plus i've learnt so much from this board over the last month.

 

[LeviathanX]

I actually started for similar reasons that absolute hardgainer started. I was training for martial arts competition and I had the speed and endurance down, but I needed more strength to put the power behind my strikes that I needed for knock-outs.

After the first year or so, I had made enough gains to satisfy the goals I had made for martial arts (in martial arts you are encouraged not to get TOO big because it will slow you down and reduce your ROM), but I was hooked on weight-lifting.

I'm now in the middle of my second year and I've put on a lot of mass, but keep my BF% down (around 7-10%), while maintaining the flexibility and speed I need for martial arts.

I would say that a big motivator for me right now is women. I've definitely noticed that I have to a do A LOT less work to get women than I did before I started lifting. You see, IMO, if you don't have the looks you are relying 100% on personality, but if you have the looks you already have your foot in the door and you are golden as long as you don't screw it up with your personality.

I haven't posted pictures yet, (I will when I get a camera), but I am and ectomorph with high-definition (similar to SAF and Buld0g, but not quite that big yet) - so I'm not massive by any stretch, but I prefer the definition over the mass. I went from 150lbs. to 175lbs. in 1 year - and now I'm hovering around 180lbs.