Your first weightlifting memories......
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Was every ferner a beast from the get go or were you all like me at the start ( weak as shit )<br />
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What are everyones first memories ? In my thread I mentioned barely lifting 60kg ( on a smith machine, probably the equivalant of 40-50kg with free weights ) for one rep whereas some of my classmates moved it with ease. I think I started weights semi regularly in my second year out of school and that combined with copious amounts of boozing had me nudging 90kg in no time ( my weight, not weights I was lifting, are you crazy !?!?!?! ). I think my early workout regime consisted of lots of curls ( overtraining no doubt ) with a couple of 10kg dumbbells which provided good resistance at the time and push ups ( sometimes I'd go hardout and put a 10kg dumbbell in a backpack while doing them, what a BEAST ! ) must have done something in those early days cos more than one girl mentioned she could see that I had "guns" now but ( cliche time ) if I'd known then what I know now I would have done so much better. <br />
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I think due to those early days at school I've had a bit of a phobia of gyms and to this day have only ever gone half a dozen times far preferring to lift weights in the garage or wherever there is space. -
messed about in the gym at secondary school but nothing regular. Got into it at Uni and have continued since although I've had 12-18 month periods go by without going ti the gym.<br />
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Never really had a problem with a gym culture. Me and my mates went to keep fit and be better at our respective sports. It was also pretty cool to learn more about the body etc. Have gone through a range of approaches too. Some programmes have been for power and bulk and others for endurance and tone.<br />
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Never really had enough space at home for a decent home gym - had the old weights bench outside in the past but that's about it. -
I rmember when I first hit 60kg bench presses - was stoked. Started proper training at about 18 or 19. As I could lift more squatting, and had a good trainer in my early days, and good form right from the start - fell in love then and there with squats!!!<br />
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Small town gym meant there were no toss pots - all traing for sport / fitness etc, not ebcause it was fashionable!! -
my 10 or 11th birthday. A set of weights. Green concrete filled plastic dumbells - 1kg and 2.5 kg IIRC and a barbell (that was way too short). 5kg, 2.5 kg and 1.25 plates . Doing exercise in my bedroom with my Arnold Schwarzenegger calender on the wall ( bought it (calendar) from a mail order coupon that was in the TV guide) <br />
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First time to go hard core was at University at the Uni gym. My friend, mentor and training partner who taught me a lot, laughed at my training gloves - called them "tampons" - for absorbing pussy sweat. -
11yo in a weightlifting gym. I saw a guy a few years older than me doing dead lifts and thought I could do it. 2 plates either side(will never know how much exactly ) but lifted it and the guy running the place said I had to come back every week from then on. Piss boor on bench press till I was 18, and I mean piss poor. 40kgs was a struggle!
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I started when I was 17 but the location was all wrong. A "typical" gym full of roid using tossers and other assorted ******s who never realised that you can also train the legs. It was very intimidating and I hated it. I also had no idea what I was doing and would basically just use any equipment at random. I stopped going after about 6 months but started working in a food supply warehouse where I had to lug around 30kg sacks of flour etc. One day I discovered I'd developed shoulders and bigger arms and realised that gains were possible. In the beginning I didnt want to go back to the gym so I filled a gym bag with books and other cråp and used that for rows and curls and also had a chin up bar. I also did push-ups, hundreds of them a week. Eventually I went to the uni gym which was much less roid infested and have been hooked ever since.
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My first memories was when I first joined the academy after high school. Had never touched weights before, and have always been traditionally weak in the gym. I remember going for my first gym session and struggling something cronic with 40kg on the bench press.
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Yeah, my memories are of 40kg being a tough starting point for bench too, while deadlifts were started with just the 20kg bar. Although I tended to do "Russian" deadlifts without knowing it, only learning correct normal deadlift form a few years later. Hit the gym after a couple of years of being one of the tiniest guys running around Welly prem rugby, when I got injured and couldn't play no more!
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Working out with my buddy doing bench, curls, rows, you name it at around 14 years old. By high school I was training daily, sometimes twice a day, at a real muscle head gym in town. I won a bodybuilding competition when I was around 21, and have been training pretty much since the age of 14. I'm now 42. Lots of changes following back surgery, but I'm still pushing hard doing lots of bodyweight training, sprinting, and distance running. I haven't really lost much size or strength as a result of changing my workouts, and honestly, after 25+ years of lifting heavy iron, I really don't miss it. I kind of burned out on it, and I prefer the variety of being able to train outside and do a series of different activities to stay fit.
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[quote name='Chubby13']My first memories was when I first joined the academy after high school. Had never touched weights before, and have always been traditionally weak in the gym. I remember going for my first gym session and struggling something cronic with 40kg on the bench press.[/QUOTE]<br />
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Shit glad I wasn't the only one that weak to start with. 40 kg seems about the norm for everyone. As punishment for being a few minutes late in 4th form PE I vividly remember having to do a measly 10 pushups ( no misprint ) my arms trembled like anything as I struggled through them and were like jelly for most of the day. Bloody amusing looking back really, one of the maori boys in class took the piss out of me ( quite deservedly ) but remarked that I'd come a long way when I ran into him in the pub a year or two back ! -
Had a gym at school I went to in Hamilton, 1st XV coach who was big athletics guru wrote me a programme but didnt really explain it properly and never supervised so it was mish mash. Can remember benching a whopping 35 kgs.<br />
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When I went moved back to TA to go to school me and my two fellow bookedns would travel to Morrinsville at 6am to use gym. The gym owner Truby Tarrent was a big judo man and a great guy. He took me aside and really showed me how to imporve my technique and always offered tonnes of encouragement. 20 years later whenever I see him around I will always cross the road just to say gidday.<br />
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I can remember making a barbell when I was about 12 with a broom handle and two concfrete sun umbrella stands! -
I never did any weights until I was 19ish. I would have been early 80s KG and given my height 185cm, I was the skinny white guy. My parents had had a few acres of bush, pine and scrub a few KM from school, so between running home and chopping down pine trees to feed the fire, I was fit enough with a bit of strength. I was finding though that in sports like rugby and then later rowing, I needed a bit more mass and power.<br />
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Got given a bench and some plastic covered weights, so I brought a weight training book written by a bloke called Albert Beckles. It was on sale, I think, so was cheap. He must have been 50 something when he wrote that book a[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]nd had the photos done and he looked pretty good for an old guy.[/SIZE][/FONT]<br />
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]After a year or so I could lift all the weights on bench, and couldn't do a decent squat with the home set-up, so joined Les Mills in Wellington when it was just a hole in the wall up Cuba Street. You could never get the gear you wanted as it was so crowded, but I’d started on protein shakes and had obviously hit an ideal growth period as I was packing on the size, so I was inspired and didn’t care. Hit a 100KG when I was about 24. Some might have done it quicker or got bigger, but thats a good size for me and suited all the sports I played.[/SIZE][/FONT]<br />
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]20 something years on, been going to a gym ever since, sometimes with a buddy but mostly by myself. That way I can go hard or take it easier depending on what cycle I’m in and what the body is telling me. No matter how stressed you are or how cross you feel, do a hard leg workout and you wobble out but mentally on a high.[/SIZE][/FONT] -
@ dingo - yeah bro that is the truth. A good workout, be it weights or a cardio session, does wonders for your state of mind/stress etc. Got me thinking about JK's anti-depression campaign and how it has really started to focus on exercise as an important part of looking after your mental health. With the increasing obesity epidemic it's even more topical. You aren't keeping fit or even mildly in shape just for physical benefits, there are also tangible psychological benefits to being active. In many cases it tends to connect you with people at your gym or in your sports team or family so that is great in a social sense as well.<br />
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Spot on about listening to your body too. Often a tricky thing when you are young and dumb but very important as you get more 'mature' and want to avoid damaging yourself!!
