I have no desire to be a powerlifter or a body builder.
I started working out regularly to fend off early death. Cardiovascular evils run in my family. After I retired, I gained weight and I was generally getting out of shape. My posture was bad, which gave me some back pain. If I didn’t do something, I was gonna be dead before I reached 60.
I lift weights to force me into good posture. I lift to get larger muscle mass. Bigger muscles use more energy, even at rest, so it helps me to lose weight. I’m down about 15 pounds.
I just built two garden and flowerbed retaining walls. The blocks added up to about 3700 pounds, not counting a few hundred pounds of soil. If I hadn’t been working out before that, I really don’t think I could have done these projects.
It’s laughable to think of me as vain or proud of my body. My self-esteem is abysmal. Instead of being proud of my progress, I carry around shame over missing a workout. I know it doesn’t make sense to feel that way, but I can’t help it.
That reminds me of something I read on another message board. One of the pl’ers said since his spinal chord was so bad, his goal was to build up so much muscle around it he wouldn’t need to use it. Noble goal, in my opinion. 
Ugh, stupid. It was a pl’er board, not a pl’er making the claim.
I started in high school to get in shape for ice hockey. But mostly I like the positive effects:
- Pick up large objects easier
- Don’t scare people (or you scare them in a good way) when your shirt comes off
- I like the “oooo” girls make when the casually touch your arm or chest and are surprised by the rock hardness
- When you say “you want a piece of THIS motherfucker!?!”…people don’t
I started lifting when I was 12. My dad had a weight bench in the garage and got me started on it. I kept with it, but started to get really into it when I started playing high school football. I got to really like the feel of the cold iron in my hands, the energy level in the gym, and especially The Pump.
Now, if I go for a while without lifting (a week or so), I get grumpy and lethargic. It keeps my energy level up during the day and just makes me feel stronger.
Weight lifting has to be the most bang-for-the-buck form of exercise out there. That’s good for lazy people like me. When I finally decided to lose my honeymoon-fat, I started lifting about 20-30 minutes a day, five times a week. In a couple months I lost about 20 lbs. net, and the muscle I added has helped me keep it off for almost three years now. (I changed my diet some, but not much). Although I try to do more, I can maintain where I am in as little as one hour a week.
Plus it gives me an excuse to drink chocolate milk, “Hey, I need the protein!”
It’s also nice that, while I’m not at all big (I’m a guy), I don’t need any help carrying the 60 lb. bag of rice up the stairs anymore.
On the other hand, I never really been able to get into cardio consistently.
Interesting. I think you guys have convinced me to start lifting weights in addition to just doing cardio stuff. I just enjoy doing cardio more. The guys lifting weights intimidate me a bit. I don’t want to have to go and lift my piddly weights while they are next to me lifting their huge weights. I would like to have a stronger upper body though. Perhaps this week I’ll at least try to convince myself to go find out how to do weight lifting exercises properly.
I lift for a lot of reasons. I’ve never been athletic at all in my life (pretty sad for a Sierra club member!) and found it was the easiest way to get going. I do: squats, bench and rows, although I’d like to get a medicine ball and do some abdominal exercises with them.
I do it partly for health reasons - osteoporosis is a big nasty thing in my family, and also to lose weight. The last item is of course a mixture of vanity and health (trying desperately to lose the 20 pounds I gained when I quit smoking [yeah it’s been three years, bite me] and also getting my weight under control helps a hormonal disorder I am 99% sure I have). I also like being able to handle things easier, I’m able to pick up and maneuver my cast iron cooking implements better.
My husband lifts for pretty much the same reasons except I don’t think he’s too worried about the osteoporosis (not that it doesn’t occur in men, too).
It. I totally meant to put “it” right there. You believe me, right?
Please… there is only one reason why anyone lifts weights.
To look better naked. 
Two reasons…
I like hearing my friends say “You have GOT the be the strongest person I know.”
and THIS <pointing at a flexed bicep>
'Nuff said…for me anyway
My muscles feel better when I exercise with weights moderately. Sadly I have a tendency to push myself too hard and I lose interest as a result. I don’t know how to explain it, they just feel better when I get regular (meaning 3 sets of 1 exercise per bodypart once per week) exercise. Muscles are designed to lift heavy things, I guess i’m just doing what they’re designed to do. I really can’t explain ‘why’ they feel better, they just do honestly. They feel harder, more full and present (24/7, not just when I’m in the gym) when I work out, and they feel less floppy and less stringy when I work out regularly than they do when I don’t. I don’t know if its the placebo effect or what.
On a totally philosophical note, one of my favorite characters in fiction, Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke’s novels, lifts weights to manage stress. And stress in his life is usually really intense, involving heavily armed bad guys highly motivated and in hot pursuit.
And sometimes I think of him and realize that lifting weights is a perfectly legitimate activity to do, without it being goal oriented. Just like you might take a walk, or a nap, or a bath, you could just spend some time lifting.
For me lifting weights was always very goal oriented, and that is one thing I like, being able to challenge myself to incremental improvement in terms of increased weights, more reps, new types of exercises etc.
But sometimes I think of Dave and how he “just does it” and I find that kind of comforting and neat.
I lift because I AM one of the skinniest person I know, and I’d like to change that. I’d like to be able to actually hold my own when messing around/wrestling, etc. I’d love to actually be able to lift heavy things. I’d love to actually have some mass on this body.
know what I mean?
I lift weights because my metabolism sucks and having muscles helps burn calories while i sit on my ass all day.
Once I actually lose the fat, who knows - I might lift to become “cut”
I quit a couple months ago for no good reason and I’m hoping to get back to it.
Why did I lift? Because it made me feel better physically and feel better about my body.
You know, don’t worry about it. Most guys are only interested if you are lifting MORE weight than they are. And they recognize that at least you are in there and trying. If you show up regularly you’ll find that you get respect for being there and working out.
Just take the time to learn the etiquitte rules - like putting weights back when you’re done, not hogging weights, etc.
Whistlepig
Weightlifting is cool. Although I’m including weight machines, which many might consider to be blasphemy. I’m a chick in my early 20s who’s fat. I also have a short attention span. I have to exercise, but man, I detest cardio machines. Standing/sitting in the same freaking spot for 20 minutes (minimum) is so incredibly boring and I can’t stand it*. I love badminton and racquetball but it’s hard to play those depending on where I am, if I’m by myself,etc.
Weights and weight machines are exercise but each one is done quickly. That means I’m constantly moving around, I have to count, I do different things. Time goes by a lot quicker with weights. Plus, I love that I can flex my bicep and guys say, “daaaamn!”.
- The only way I can do a decent amount of time on a cardio machine and not detest it is if I catch the beginning of a Law and Order episode. Then I will do an entire hour, so I can watch it.