Why do you go to the gym?

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100% vanity. When I first started it was because I didn't like my body. I also lived on campus for uni and there's nothing shallow party bishes loved more than abs lol.

Now I train because I want to look as best as my body will allow me. But honestly if I didn't care about muscles I'd never go to the gym & only play basketball!
 

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WakeUpPies said:
100% vanity. When I first started it was because I didn't like my body. I also lived on campus for uni and there's nothing shallow party bishes loved more than abs lol.

Now I train because I want to look as best as my body will allow me. But honestly if I didn't care about muscles I'd never go to the gym & only play basketball!
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Same. Don't really think too much about it, but it's why nearly all young people go.

Reckon quite a few of the people on here, who are older do it for health reasons tho.
 
For me it's multiple reasons. Neared 40 and had a younger brother pass away (not health related), that and middle aged brought it into focus it's up to me to give me what I wanted.

The gym and sprinting (my cardio) gives me a body (from the shoulders down) that looks better then most 23 year olds at 43. It puts me on track for a long life and one where I won't be shuffling at 65 from a broken hip. It gets me looks I like from my wife. I like being stronger (after being a skinny s**t through life). I like having the energy to run around with my boys, not be one of those fat/unfit parents watching them from the sidelines.

And there's a sense of satisfaction of having made changes to my body, that come down to my hard work, changes (unless you're stupid enough to do steroids), you can't buy, inherit or luck into, ones you have to put in the hard work. Yes, I admit I'm a fitness snob to some degree. I don't say it out loud, but whenever I hear (inevitably fat) people saying 'I'd do anything to be fit', I do mentally go 'Except pull your arse out of bed 4 times a week at 5am, when it's so ******* warm under the blankets. Or stick to eating right most of the time'.
 
Going to gym is a no-brainer for me, my job requires me to spend a lot of time sitting at a desk and I don't want to develop muscle atrophy later in life. A good workout is good for the mind as well as the body too.
 
I feel fantastic when I work out - it's mostly a mental health thing.
 

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Andre said:
For me it's multiple reasons. Neared 40 and had a younger brother pass away (not health related), that and middle aged brought it into focus it's up to me to give me what I wanted.

The gym and sprinting (my cardio) gives me a body (from the shoulders down) that looks better then most 23 year olds at 43. It puts me on track for a long life and one where I won't be shuffling at 65 from a broken hip. It gets me looks I like from my wife. I like being stronger (after being a skinny s**t through life). I like having the energy to run around with my boys, not be one of those fat/unfit parents watching them from the sidelines.

And there's a sense of satisfaction of having made changes to my body, that come down to my hard work, changes (unless you're stupid enough to do steroids), you can't buy, inherit or luck into, ones you have to put in the hard work. Yes, I admit I'm a fitness snob to some degree. I don't say it out loud, but whenever I hear (inevitably fat) people saying 'I'd do anything to be fit', I do mentally go 'Except pull your arse out of bed 4 times a week at 5am, when it's so ******* warm under the blankets. Or stick to eating right most of the time'.
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Well said.
 
I started after a year of being diagnosed with Crohn's disease. So gym, along with the diet you need to go with it, was basically a cure. Although managing the disease can make way of gainz but my health is what's priority and I'm doing just fine.
 
JG22 said:
Same. Don't really think too much about it, but it's why nearly all young people go.

Reckon quite a few of the people on here, who are older do it for health reasons tho.
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Was a self-esteem thing for me back at the start of year 11 as I was shedding my puppy fat then and was ending my main growth spurt as I grew like 15cm over an 18 month period from about 177cm to 192cm from late year 9 to early year 11, but I also thought it'd help me with my footy, but I didn't really notice this onfield until halfway through year 12 in under 18s that I was able to outmuscle a few guys up forward or in the ruck.

I grew another 2 inches or so over the next two years after I started gym so that completely made the "weights stunts your growth myth" as lolworthy.

Stopped playing footy at 20 but still went and trained with the boys after work and chatted up a few chicks too, just wanted to look like a tank and barely did any cardio then, I probably would've jumped on the bike twice a week before working out something from my upper body, but I did pilates classes twice a week then, so I considered that as cardio at the time :p

Nowadays it's definitely for general health, stopped going at 23-24 due to stuffing up my back, went back occasionally at 25-26 when I could in between Uni/work but was never consistent enough and never benefited from going only 3-4 times a month and the kilos stacked on, tried going back at 27 in August-September 2015, but was only consistent then for about 6-8 weeks (had a few personal issues then that I had to deal with), before not going again until May last year after a good chat with my physio (wrote me up a great maintenance program) and also my brother who is a powerlifter and a stern vegan.

Haven't looked back since however and have lost over 15kgs the last year. I don't go to make friends or look good or try and make a name for myself as what would've been the case 10 years ago within the circle of friends I had at the time. The goal is simply to get fit again, drop all these back injury kilos that have thwarted me since 2012 (shedded nearly a third of them off over the last year) and hopefully be able to play cricket again in my 30s.
 
I started working out because I needed to put on muscle and improve my overall strength and fitness for footy at like 15-16, then I fell in love with it. Going to the gym or for a long run is therapeutic, work is stressful, relationships can be as well, but headphones in lifting or running is freedom, nothing in your head just a focus on nothing or the weight in front of you. Its amazing now, if ive had a bad day my wife knows and will have my headphones and runners waiting for me at home. The aesthetics, confidence and fitness are all added benefits.
 
DapperJong said:
I started after a year of being diagnosed with Crohn's disease. So gym, along with the diet you need to go with it, was basically a cure. Although managing the disease can make way of gainz but my health is what's priority and I'm doing just fine.
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I'm in a similar situation in that I have ulcerative colitis but haven't found gym or any diet changes to actually make a difference in my case. Would be interested to hear more about what you're doing specifically that is working for you.
 
Dancing Potato said:
I'm in a similar situation in that I have ulcerative colitis but haven't found gym or any diet changes to actually make a difference in my case. Would be interested to hear more about what you're doing specifically that is working for you.
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Well I didn't start going to the gym until I had my crohn's in some sort of control. If you're UC is giving you daily struggles, then you can't start the gym yet. I have a friend with UC who is pretty good now, but I'm not in touch with him anymore so I'm not sure if he tried gym or anything. He's a dance teacher now, so I;d say he'd be capable. BUT - through facebook at whatnot, this didn't happen until he got better to an extent.

I'll tell you my timeline but as you know, even though they are sister diseases, they can differ a bit.

After I was diagnosed, I had two months on prednisilone and I;m still on imuran 9 years later. I was almost vegan for 6 months (i still had dairy, it agrees with me) to go easy on the gut. In the following 2 years I had maybe 4 flare ups where i had to back on steroids for a few weeks.

During this period no real intense exercise was done. I remember a game of futsal 6 months after diagnosis and I couldn't believe how weak i felt. But, I built up my cardio fitness which was good. A year passed and by then I was able to eat pretty much anything i wanted (important) and I could even drink alcohol again. The meds were working.

But I was pretty flat, looked like s**t etc. So I hired a PT for 9 months. He was a bloody good PT who I still buy programs from. In those 9 months I went from 35% BF to 12%. But I wouldn't have been able to do this unless I could eat the amount of meat required for the diet. I was actually doubtful I could do it until it started working. Now I'm just kinda normal. I haven't really worked as hard at the gym/diet as I have for those first 9 months but I'm always lifting more etc.

A gym/diet regime didn't "cure" my crohn's by any means but it helped me learn about reducing inflammation through diet, proper nutrient/supplement intake, all that s**t. The one thing my specialist looked out for when I went in for my tests was inflammation. If my blood was inflammed, I had a problem.

So yeah, the process of a gym routine and the required diet to get stronger and leaner, lends itself to keeping the crohn's at bay and also helps prevent flare ups. The particular diet I was on when I first started took a lot of hormone/insulin reaction into account, because that's what my PT believed in. I was not doing any bulking first then leaning out as that would have been hazardous for my body. It's actually quite stressful for the body, which is has to be to trigger it to adapt. But the approach i took, which I would imagine would be useful for you, would be to always get lean, reduce visceral fat and gain lean muscle. The health benefits of your body simply working better will help with a lot of things I imagine, not just Crohn's/UC.

If you want any more detail about it lemme know.
 
DapperJong said:
Well I didn't start going to the gym until I had my crohn's in some sort of control. If you're UC is giving you daily struggles, then you can't start the gym yet. I have a friend with UC who is pretty good now, but I'm not in touch with him anymore so I'm not sure if he tried gym or anything. He's a dance teacher now, so I;d say he'd be capable. BUT - through facebook at whatnot, this didn't happen until he got better to an extent.

I'll tell you my timeline but as you know, even though they are sister diseases, they can differ a bit.

After I was diagnosed, I had two months on prednisilone and I;m still on imuran 9 years later. I was almost vegan for 6 months (i still had dairy, it agrees with me) to go easy on the gut. In the following 2 years I had maybe 4 flare ups where i had to back on steroids for a few weeks.

During this period no real intense exercise was done. I remember a game of futsal 6 months after diagnosis and I couldn't believe how weak i felt. But, I built up my cardio fitness which was good. A year passed and by then I was able to eat pretty much anything i wanted (important) and I could even drink alcohol again. The meds were working.

But I was pretty flat, looked like s**t etc. So I hired a PT for 9 months. He was a bloody good PT who I still buy programs from. In those 9 months I went from 35% BF to 12%. But I wouldn't have been able to do this unless I could eat the amount of meat required for the diet. I was actually doubtful I could do it until it started working. Now I'm just kinda normal. I haven't really worked as hard at the gym/diet as I have for those first 9 months but I'm always lifting more etc.

A gym/diet regime didn't "cure" my crohn's by any means but it helped me learn about reducing inflammation through diet, proper nutrient/supplement intake, all that s**t. The one thing my specialist looked out for when I went in for my tests was inflammation. If my blood was inflammed, I had a problem.

So yeah, the process of a gym routine and the required diet to get stronger and leaner, lends itself to keeping the crohn's at bay and also helps prevent flare ups. The particular diet I was on when I first started took a lot of hormone/insulin reaction into account, because that's what my PT believed in. I was not doing any bulking first then leaning out as that would have been hazardous for my body. It's actually quite stressful for the body, which is has to be to trigger it to adapt. But the approach i took, which I would imagine would be useful for you, would be to always get lean, reduce visceral fat and gain lean muscle. The health benefits of your body simply working better will help with a lot of things I imagine, not just Crohn's/UC.

If you want any more detail about it lemme know.
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You sound inexperienced and in need of help. I'm here to assist.
 
This is interesting always did weights for footy and stuff -I find at 53 and with all the s**t I have to do in my life I need some Zen time when I think about nothing other than lifting more than I did at the last session. Also need to maintain Silverback status with my two sons - one of whom is a front rower in Rugger - its good to feel strong
 
Gym work is as important as cardio.

Cardio is for the heart, gym for the muscles, sprint work for fast twitch, yoga for flexibility and soccer for the coordination, mental strategy and balance.

Being in my 40s I value these as I see how fast they go if you don't invest in them.
 
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