weight training stories
- Thread starter kariev
- Start date
LasVegasFitGirl
Cathlete
My story
I've always been tomboyish since I was little. I remember playing with my brother's barbell in the basement, I joined the Army because my brothers did, then, I've always just ran for exercise until my sister hooked me on to the firm. Then, I discovered FitTV and Cathe and I was hooked. Her body is inspiring and she's a no nonsense, easy to listen to person.
I've always been tomboyish since I was little. I remember playing with my brother's barbell in the basement, I joined the Army because my brothers did, then, I've always just ran for exercise until my sister hooked me on to the firm. Then, I discovered FitTV and Cathe and I was hooked. Her body is inspiring and she's a no nonsense, easy to listen to person.
RapidBreath
Cathlete
Ok, going way back to college. I got into weight training from college. I took a circuit class with a friend and found I was oddly good at it. That turned out to be one of the symptoms of my PCOS. I was able to bench press 250 plus pounds in a very short amount of time without really trying. I bulked up but I was running at the time and also slimmed down adipose/fat. Then over the next ten years I was on a weight roller coaster with my endocrine disorder and extreme work hours (non-union people have no protections.) When I came home and was given a diagnosis of 'insulin resistant' and I was 258 pounds I came to the conclusion that I had to change my job. Sleep is required for a person like me. I was 29. I started losing weight at first with Sandra Ahten's podcast "The Reasonable Diet".
I got into weight training after losing the first 30 pounds. I was stuck in a plateau. A friend suggested step so I started with Gin Miller then I found Cathe on Fit TV. I started the beginner's rotation and that required circuits. I enjoyed the weight training. But, when I started my yoga practice doing both was too much so I just use the yoga as body weight training. I work my core, upper and lower body. The yoga fixed my neck/posture. I had been in a car accident when I was 11 years old and I had a hump in my neck for twenty years and that is just gone. After I started working with Cathe and doing calorie cycling I lost another 30 pounds. I maintained that loss for about a year. Then I got terribly ill and put on about 10 pounds with 3 different rounds of antibiotics and a change in my hormone replacement. I've been fighting the IBS and weight gain. Throughout my resistance training and cardio have helped me deal with the stress of it.
Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it.
I got into weight training after losing the first 30 pounds. I was stuck in a plateau. A friend suggested step so I started with Gin Miller then I found Cathe on Fit TV. I started the beginner's rotation and that required circuits. I enjoyed the weight training. But, when I started my yoga practice doing both was too much so I just use the yoga as body weight training. I work my core, upper and lower body. The yoga fixed my neck/posture. I had been in a car accident when I was 11 years old and I had a hump in my neck for twenty years and that is just gone. After I started working with Cathe and doing calorie cycling I lost another 30 pounds. I maintained that loss for about a year. Then I got terribly ill and put on about 10 pounds with 3 different rounds of antibiotics and a change in my hormone replacement. I've been fighting the IBS and weight gain. Throughout my resistance training and cardio have helped me deal with the stress of it.
Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it.
caseysmomgo
Cathlete
In high school I was drawn to the weight machines that were over in the boys' side of the gym. Occasionally they'd let us girls go check it out, and I was hooked!
Later, I used to watch Cory Everson on ESPN on Body Shaping (I think that was the name of the show), and then I found the Firm in the late 80's or whenever they came out. Their total body cardio/weight training videos got me in the best shape ever, and then I branched out and found Jari Love, then Cathe. After finding Cathe, I stopped looking! She's got the best weight training workouts, hands-down!
Weight training leans me out and makes me strong, mentally and physically. And since lifting also helps with osteoporosis, I'll keep doing it until I die! I belonged to a gym a few years ago, and I was always impressed with the older people still lifting and doing cardio. (At almost 55 I'm fast becoming one of the "older" ones...) One elderly woman was on oxygen, carrying her tank and still working out! Talk about inspiration... working out definitely keeps you young.
Occasionally they'd let us girls go check it out, and I was hooked! Later, I used to watch Cory Everson on ESPN on Body Shaping (I think that was the name of the show), and then I found the Firm in the late 80's or whenever they came out. Their total body cardio/weight training videos got me in the best shape ever, and then I branched out and found Jari Love, then Cathe. After finding Cathe, I stopped looking! She's got the best weight training workouts, hands-down!
Weight training leans me out and makes me strong, mentally and physically. And since lifting also helps with osteoporosis, I'll keep doing it until I die! I belonged to a gym a few years ago, and I was always impressed with the older people still lifting and doing cardio. (At almost 55 I'm fast becoming one of the "older" ones...
) One elderly woman was on oxygen, carrying her tank and still working out! Talk about inspiration... working out definitely keeps you young.
MidgetDogg
Cathlete
It was in 1997, I think. I saw those ads for The Firm "get visible results in 10 workouts.... guaranteed"! I thought to myself, "ok... that's just 2 weeks, I can handle that" so I bought whatever the offer was and got myself a set of dumbbells (5, 8 and 10) and did them or 10 workouts. And yeah... I saw visible results in my arms. Took a couple months before I couldn't stand the instructors anymore and the workouts were getting too easy, and I found Cathe on Video Fitness. I ordered Maximum Intensity Cardio and Maximum Intensity Weights, which was a BIG jump from The Firm. I remember thinking there was no way those chicks could be doing the entire cardio workout the whole way through without taking a break, but it didn't take long before I was making it through.
I remember the first time I really felt the effects of lifting weights. I always loved to hike in the woods near my home. There's a lot of hills and climbing over big rocks. This one day I took my dog there and was climbing down a hill, and over rocks to get to the creek, and I could feel the muscles in my legs making it easier than it had ever been. And then I realized.... this is what it felt like to hike when I was a kid (I was 30 at the time). It clicked - weights are the Fountain of Youth!
I've had a few breaks in my working out dedication, but I always come back. Of course, I absolutely love the definition I see in my body. I'm an ectomorph.... I get nice definition, but unless I want to be eating all day long, I won't bulk up like Cathe. As much as I would love to have that physique, my goal for myself is to never be a feeble old woman who needs railings in my bathtub or a walker.
I remember the first time I really felt the effects of lifting weights. I always loved to hike in the woods near my home. There's a lot of hills and climbing over big rocks. This one day I took my dog there and was climbing down a hill, and over rocks to get to the creek, and I could feel the muscles in my legs making it easier than it had ever been. And then I realized.... this is what it felt like to hike when I was a kid (I was 30 at the time). It clicked - weights are the Fountain of Youth!
I've had a few breaks in my working out dedication, but I always come back. Of course, I absolutely love the definition I see in my body. I'm an ectomorph.... I get nice definition, but unless I want to be eating all day long, I won't bulk up like Cathe. As much as I would love to have that physique, my goal for myself is to never be a feeble old woman who needs railings in my bathtub or a walker.
Great stories ladies! I never posted mine. Basically when I was in high school I was 35lbs overweight. I decided to do something about and initially started with cardio (first walking then running). I changed my diet and did my cardio and the weight fell off. Then I came across the body for life program and thats where I started with weights. I didn't find cathe until 4 years later and once I did I was hooked. This thread for me also serves as a remotivator. I haven't lifted a single weight in the past 2 months. I've only been doing cardio and yoga (which I know is lifting my own body weight). I know the benefits of weight training but just haven't been up to it. I'm hoping these stories and cathe's new videos will get me back into it.
kathryn
Cathlete
(the, hopefully, abbreviated version of my weight-training journey: I've written this before on the forums somewhere !)
I was not at ALL athletic/active as a kid. What one would probably describe as 'frail,' weakling, scrawny, and always picked last in gym class... until about 14, when I chubbed out a bit.
When I started working at a food coop in college, I helped unload delivery trucks and stock. One day, I was carrying in two, 25-pound bags on my shoulders, and after I set them down, a couple of people asked if I was okay. I was puzzled, and said "sure. why? " They said I'd just carried two, 50# bags. I didn't believe it, but sure enough , I had. And it hadn't been that hard.
That was my first inkling that I wasn't a wimp/weakling. I impulsively decided to start lifting weights: bought a 120# (?) set of weights from somewhere like K-Mart (and had a heck of a time moving it myself first into and out of my housemate's car, then up the stairs to the room I was renting), and did a bit (luckily not too much, or I'm sure I would have injured something the way I injured my knee when impulsively taking up daily running up and down hills!).
Skip forward to grad school: I decided to take a weight training class. One day, the instructor was gone (he was a coach, and had an out-of -town game) and a woman instructor took his place. She went around quickly to each of us as we made the rounds of the equipment, correcting our bad form ( form that could have gotten us injured).
After that, I decided I couldn't trust the regular teacher (who hadn't given us clear direction nor corrected our form), so I picked up a Rachel McLish book and Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuidling and started reading on my own, and going to the gym at other than class time).
For the next 2 years, I visited the weight room regularly, then got off habit when I started studying for prelims and writing my dissertation. I biked and walked a lot, but didn't do weights.
I didn't get back into weights until 2 years after I started teaching (afterr stepping on a scale one day and realizing I'd gained 10# in those two years: I refused to let things keep going in that direction!).
I got back into weights slowly, starting with some 5# heavy-hands and some Kathy Smith/Jane Fonda workouts (circa 1992), and kept moving up in weights and in difficulty of workouts.
I was not at ALL athletic/active as a kid. What one would probably describe as 'frail,' weakling, scrawny, and always picked last in gym class... until about 14, when I chubbed out a bit.
When I started working at a food coop in college, I helped unload delivery trucks and stock. One day, I was carrying in two, 25-pound bags on my shoulders, and after I set them down, a couple of people asked if I was okay. I was puzzled, and said "sure. why? " They said I'd just carried two, 50# bags. I didn't believe it, but sure enough , I had. And it hadn't been that hard.
That was my first inkling that I wasn't a wimp/weakling. I impulsively decided to start lifting weights: bought a 120# (?) set of weights from somewhere like K-Mart (and had a heck of a time moving it myself first into and out of my housemate's car, then up the stairs to the room I was renting), and did a bit (luckily not too much, or I'm sure I would have injured something the way I injured my knee when impulsively taking up daily running up and down hills!).
Skip forward to grad school: I decided to take a weight training class. One day, the instructor was gone (he was a coach, and had an out-of -town game) and a woman instructor took his place. She went around quickly to each of us as we made the rounds of the equipment, correcting our bad form ( form that could have gotten us injured).
After that, I decided I couldn't trust the regular teacher (who hadn't given us clear direction nor corrected our form), so I picked up a Rachel McLish book and Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuidling and started reading on my own, and going to the gym at other than class time).
For the next 2 years, I visited the weight room regularly, then got off habit when I started studying for prelims and writing my dissertation. I biked and walked a lot, but didn't do weights.
I didn't get back into weights until 2 years after I started teaching (afterr stepping on a scale one day and realizing I'd gained 10# in those two years: I refused to let things keep going in that direction!).
I got back into weights slowly, starting with some 5# heavy-hands and some Kathy Smith/Jane Fonda workouts (circa 1992), and kept moving up in weights and in difficulty of workouts.
pjlippert
Cathlete
What inspiring stories!! I'm sooo proud of everybody and enjoy all your stories!
Mine is not super elaborate by any stretch. I was a major cardio junkie- ONLY aerobics during the 80's & 90's (geeze- was that REALLY 20 years ago?!?!). I was weight-training averse because I wanted skin and bones and was afraid of "bulking up" - which we all know is pretty difficult to do.
A couple of years ago is when I found Cathe and she fueled my passion for lifting. I started with very light hand-weights then graduated last year to barbells & much heavier weights. I plan on buying the STS series once I have the funds to feed that "habit"!
Like many of you, I will lift until I can't lift anymore! It is sooo empowering to be "the strong one" in the group, isn't it?? Being able to hoist big/heavy bags and being able to politely decline assistance by a man who thinks you can't lift something is just toooo cool!
My latest funny lifting story was yesterday, my son is off of the antihystamines in preparation for the extensive testing at NJ Children's Hospital this week and the poor little guy is just miserably uncomfortable inside and out! We had to pick up yet some more lotion at the store and he wanted to just sit in the cart - (the grocery part of the cart). I'm 5'0, he's up to my chin and weighs a good 55lbs. I was able to pick him up and over into the cart with no problem and a couple of people just shook their heads and smiled. Same when I heaved him up and out of the cart.
We are women, hear us roar!!!! Wooohooo!
Pam
Mine is not super elaborate by any stretch. I was a major cardio junkie- ONLY aerobics during the 80's & 90's (geeze- was that REALLY 20 years ago?!?!). I was weight-training averse because I wanted skin and bones and was afraid of "bulking up" - which we all know is pretty difficult to do.
A couple of years ago is when I found Cathe and she fueled my passion for lifting. I started with very light hand-weights then graduated last year to barbells & much heavier weights. I plan on buying the STS series once I have the funds to feed that "habit"!
Like many of you, I will lift until I can't lift anymore! It is sooo empowering to be "the strong one" in the group, isn't it?? Being able to hoist big/heavy bags and being able to politely decline assistance by a man who thinks you can't lift something is just toooo cool!
My latest funny lifting story was yesterday, my son is off of the antihystamines in preparation for the extensive testing at NJ Children's Hospital this week and the poor little guy is just miserably uncomfortable inside and out!
We had to pick up yet some more lotion at the store and he wanted to just sit in the cart - (the grocery part of the cart). I'm 5'0, he's up to my chin and weighs a good 55lbs. I was able to pick him up and over into the cart with no problem and a couple of people just shook their heads and smiled. Same when I heaved him up and out of the cart. We are women, hear us roar!!!! Wooohooo!
Pam
ebonynicole
Cathlete
For me it started in college, going to the gym there and lifting light weights. I think at that point I was more so doing the treadmill. Then as I started moving into different apartments, I would weight lift in those gyms. Then I joined a gym and started taking classes which got me more into lifting weights.
Finally, I found Fit TV and saw Cathe and now I really enjoy lifting weights and starting to see muscle tone.
Finally, I found Fit TV and saw Cathe and now I really enjoy lifting weights and starting to see muscle tone.