TLDR: Here's the actual question, you can feel free to skip the rest: Why do we lift? Confidence gains? Size? Other? How long did it take you feel more confident? To start seeing gainz in the mirror? To other?
Me: 30m/5'10/180lbs/17%bf
Been lifting for 2.5 months, just switched to a 4day a week split from full body 3 days a week. I found a trainer at a powerlifting gym who has me doing a lot of compound lifts + accessory work. I also have a fucked up back, still squatting and dl'ing, but working up very slowly.
The first 3 weeks I was lifting I got these highs that made me feel amazing through the next day. While I don't have that high anymore, lifting is the high point of my day, it's the only part of my day I don't feel like shit, the only part of the day where I don't hate myself, if gains didn't happen while we rest i'd be lifting 7 days a week. The only thing I'm focused on is pushing out that last rep, adding a few pounds to what I did the session prior and making brogress... My mind is just clear. Lifting started off as a chore, but has become a routine for me now it is something I must do. It's my #1 priority, people get pissed at me when I can't go somewhere or do something because I chose to lift, but fuck them I've always felt like shit because of my 13" biceps and that shit will change. This for me has been the biggest impact in my life through lifting, it's a part of my day I actually look forward to.
I have realized some confidence gains in life, but In a way I feel like I should expect more the way everyone talks about lifting and confidence.
I've gained 10lbs. I haven't really seen any changes in the mirror yet. My arms and chest look slightly bigger, but maybe it's in my head. My gut is definitely bigger... I realize it's only been a couple months, I'd guess it'll take a while before I start to see definite mirror gains. I understand getting swole doesn't happen overnight and takes years of training...
Stayinghereforreal 9y ago
I have lifted since I was 13. A few times in my life, I will take some time off, and eschew lifting. Sometimes that will go for 2-3 months. I start to notice that my mood and perception changes a bit during that time off. But I think it is no big change.
And then, the day I go back to the gym, and I get about 2/3 of the way through the workout, a stupid grin crawls across my mouth. It is coming back, I realize. Over the next few weeks, as I keep lifting, a fog I didn't realize was there starts to dissipate. Clarity, focus, and intensity return. The world has fresh color to it again. I like everything more.
Trust me, the change is there, but you won't realize it until you maintain the new level, drop to a lower one, and then go back up.
lonGterMgoalS 9y ago
You touched on exactly what I was going to say. Once you lose that initial "high" OP mentioned it's because it's become a natural routine and your body adjusts. It's not until you stop that you notice how bad you feel without it.
Schrodingersdawg 9y ago
I had a wrist injury that prevented me from lifting for about 3 months this spring. Depression, lack of overall goals, feelings of stagnation, it really fucks your mind once you lose it.
Soultrane9 9y ago
Lifting takes focus. You are not just training your body when you are at the gym; you are also training your mind. It's meditation. You clear your mind from work, pussy, social media. Only the weights and you exist.
When you walk out after a 90 minute workout there is silence inside. Embrace that silence. That's maneregy. Remember that state and try to achieve it when you are talking to women. They eat that state up like you cannot believe.
wakethfkupneo 9y ago
http://no-maam.blogspot.ca/2004/07/pook-19-what-every-skinny-guy-should.html
Agent1407 9y ago
In my opinion Henry Rollins essay Iron and the Soul should be sidebar material. http://www.theironandthesoul.net/2012/04/the-iron-and-the-soul/
[deleted] 9y ago
Prior to TRP I'd done a bit of weightlifting in high school and more recently about a year and a half of CrossFit. The high school weightlifting had a decent effect, but the CrossFit gains weren't anything to write home about, although I'm partially to blame because I simply wasn't eating enough to gain.
After TRP, I got serious about it. I went over to /r/gainit, got on a real program and started tracking my calories like a hawk. The results from this round are impressive. In fact they seem unreal. My body doesn't look massively different at first glance, but I am much stronger than before. I have muscles in places I didn't expect to have muscles and I'm now strangely fascinated by grabbing my traps like handles. The results from a real program with a proper diet will be apparent in short order.
I lift because I want to be strong. I want to be the size of a goddamn horse and I'm not afraid to admit it. It will probably take about 4 years to hit my goal size/weight but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Goldfulgore 9y ago
Been lifting for 10 years. I stand out. I am a natural and look like a Spartan warrior without my clothes. Today I got another one of those "I saw you at the beach 2 months ago, but you didn't notice me" from a woman at work.
I started way before TRP, during my beta years. I wanted to get attention from women and well...let's just say that I am also a dragonball fan.
I started for the wrong reasons but that's ok, cause the result is all that matters.
If you are going less than 1 year, you are a total newbie. As Eliot Hulse says "You haven't even began wearing your shoes yet" Most start in the summer, and give up in the winter.
You will find out that the mental challenge is always there.
Going to the gym when nobody else in your family goes.
In the winter when it's raining or snowing.
When you are sick
Or just going so early in morning when no one is there except for the guy who opens the gym and the weights.
That's when you'll build you character.
It will slowly affect your life.
It will affect your habits and thought patterns. You'll build opinions about your way of life and you'll start questioning everyone. You'll think "How can someone live without it?" or "how can someone eat this shit", "have they no respect for themselves?".
I am new to TRP, but it was very easy for me to accept it, cause all those thoughts have gone through my head at some point in my life. Lifting had already helped me without realizing it.
You will treat people differently, and yes that includes women as well.
When I started, I remember constantly comparing myself with others, feeling out of place and small.
At my intermediate level, I gained confidence with my results and I began to stand out. I would feel validated.
Now.... everyone is gone. In my mind I am always alone in the gym. There is silence, there is peace in my mind. Occasionally someone appears out of the blue when he is sitting on the machinery I plan to use.
TRPeyesopened 9y ago
Curls for the girls.
MVelcro 9y ago
No pecs No sex
BitingInsects 9y ago
Taking care of yourself puts you in another category above those who don't. Even if it's just a little definition, women take note.
Thizzlebot 9y ago
It shows you respect yourself. Your body is your temple and you don't want a temple with graffiti and shit lying all over the place you want that bitch clean and nice to look at.
jdoe5 9y ago
Start buying some better fitted shirts, and when people start complimenting your muscle your confidence will go through the roof. But to answer your question, the reason we lift is all the above. Most people will start to see good results within a few weeks, and it'll probably be several months or a year when you start getting recognized as a muscular guy.
GeminiVI 9y ago
Health, confidence, other positive mental benefits and increased sex appeal.
Two months at 3 to 4 times a week.
Hyooge 9y ago
Lifting is a thing in life when progression and success is blindingly obvious. Confidence is born out of successes and the result is knowing inside that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. You will never find a confident person who spends their life in front of their computer doing nothing but playing games all day. This is simply because they have no successes - that people admire - to be proud of.
So for many, training with weights is the first time in their life that they have a genuine success that required hours of time and dedication and they attribute their new found confidence in themselves to what they've done regarding the gym.
For some it's educational successes that make them confident, for others it's becoming a brilliant musician. Sadly not everyone has access to be successful in these areas whereas strength training and bodybuilding is absolutely accessible to 99% of people and they can all make tremendous progress and profit from the pride and confidence it brings.
I train partly because I'm a vain fuck who loves to admire what he's turned his body into, secondly because I love to feel physically strong and powerful and thirdly because lifting has developed me in ways nothing else ever has so effectively or quickly.
NotReallyEthicalLOL 9y ago
Gainz? Are you twelve? It's for the journey. It's a self commitment. Why you do it is your choice, not ours. Make your own decisions. Motivate yourself.
jerrytheman1998 9y ago
To be healthy. What the hell else do you expect
[deleted] 9y ago
Because it's fucking healthy for you and trains your willpower.
[deleted] 9y ago
once you can bench/squat/deadlift 2/3/4 plates for reps you should have a decent amount of muscle. I've forgotten what the people that don't lift consider muscular though because of gym culture & body dysmorphia.
stillnoturday 9y ago
You need to eat, lift heavy, and sleep. Repeat until desired result achieved. As to the why I do it for me I like the attention I get sure but I like my routine of working/school/eating/lifting/sleeping.