Why do you Lift?

The other day I was training at the gym and it was one of those rare sessions when the planets align and I was firing on all cylinders. I was at the globo gym, not the powerlifting club, so I had headphones and was blasting tunes. It was just one of those times when you’re stronger than usual and your lifting is absolutely on-point. Maybe it was a happy convergence of good sleep, good nutrition and biorhythms in synch. Whatever it was, I was lifting like a champ. When you have trained for years, you know that you’ll hit various plateaus that seem to last for an eternity. You will experience crappy training sessions in which you’re frustratingly weak. However, every once and a great while, you experience a flow state. You lift heavy weights, close to your 1RM, with relative ease because your technique is dialed in and your central nervous system is well rested. On this particular day, I was thoroughly enjoying this flow state. This sort of enjoyment cannot be bought, it’s earned through weeks, months and years of hard work. Also, it must be said, on the particular lift I was training that day, I’m above average, even amongst powerlifters. It felt great, so much so that I briefly interrupted my session to write a poem-like note on my phone:

Life isn't fair
But sometimes you're invincible
Find something you're good at
It's the little things.

It made me think that the reason I lift has changed dramatically over the years. In my 20s I did the typical body-building style bro-lifting. I hadn’t even heard of programming, so I just winged it every time I went to the gym. Nonetheless, I got results. It turns out that I can put muscle on fairly easily. Still, my main focus was looking good so I cared very, very little about strength. Going to the gym was just good physical hygiene, like brushing one’s teeth. I ran mostly, so weight-training was supplementary to my overall training regime.

Over the decades, a few things happened. The biggest change was that I comprehensively injured my right knee. After a year of consulting with sports physicians and physical therapists, I realized that while I loved running, and certainly enjoyed the runner’s high, I wasn’t particularly good at it. I was decidedly average. Therefore I wasn’t motivated to get surgery to fix my knee issue. I was therefore counseled to find another sport. In the meantime, I continued to go to the gym. I was in my mid-40s and my approach to training in the gym hadn’t changed. I liked running because I was competing against myself, with set goals and programming. I soon came to feel faintly ridiculous in the gym, it just seemed pointless. I even went to “Body Pump” classes, just to illustrate how lost I was. Not gonna lie, I did get some initial training benefit from those classes, and of course classes are where 80 percent of the attractive ladies are. It wasn’t all bad.

Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this activity wasn’t “me”. This was also during the height of the “functional strength” craze so you saw a lot of dudes wearing those Vibram 5 finger barefoot shoes and balancing on Bosu balls. Oy vey, I thought, this isn’t sustainable. I can’t remember now how I stumbled on the powerlifting training but, when I did, I instantly realized it was something I wanted to do. I was mainly attracted to the programming and the setting of goals. Getting stronger seemed like a worthwhile goal. I really wasn’t interested in getting more muscular. I fell down the rabbit hole with a vengeance. So much so that after a year of training by myself and following Stronglifts 5×5, I realized that I needed to find a real coach. The cheesy trainers at the globo gyms in those days were either roided out aging body builders or various sportsmen and women looking to earn a few extra bucks. Very few of them knew anything about powerlifting.

Powerlifting? This was very out of character for me. If you knew from high school or any time until about 10 years ago I was probably the least likely guy you’d ever suspect would darken the door of a powerlifting gym. And, yet, I did. At first, I really only wanted a coach to show me proper squat and deadlift form – and pointers on bench press. I had begun to lift some beginner-ass weight, but I knew I needed to learn correct form before I progressed further. Competing was not all on the horizon.

Years later, and there I was at the globo gym having that great training session I just described. I’m much heavier than when I first started training, and I don’t mean that in a particularly good sense. I’ve got much more muscle than before, but also some fat ’cause, hey, I’m older. Most of that fat is visceral fat, which is not good for health. Esthetically-speaking, it doesn’t look great. I don’t have a fat face and my chest, back, arms and legs are muscular…but I’ve got this gut which is proving hard to get rid of especially the older I get. It looks weird, and makes buying clothes ever more difficult.

However, as I sat there in globo gym in between sets, I had a quick look in the mirror across the room. Holy shit, I was more muscular that the vast majority of guys in the gym that day, I realized with a wry chuckle. That was never my goal, not in the least. However, I was moving some heavy weight like it was easy that day and that, my friends, was the result of years of training. It felt useful, it felt good. I was lifting weight that most people cannot. Everyone should feel really strong at least once in their lives. It’s an endorphin high, but it’s very different from a runners’ high.

So, my friends, my question to you is: why do you lift? Has your “why” changed over the years? What, in your opinion, are the pluses and minuses of weight-training?