What reasons both mentally and/or physically, do you currently work out for. Why did you start?

26 comments

1. I walk a lot. To calm me down. To change the narrative of the issue(s) going on my life.

   plus great exercise.

2. 1. Self image.
   2. It literally feels good, it’s a dopamine hit.

3. I have two daughters.

4. If I don’t, I won’t make it

5. Because I’m not super Mario. I don’t get another go. Anything I want to do I have to do now. There isn’t a version where I get to say, “I’ll try being hot next time, right now I can’t be bothered so I’ll just be sloppy and mediocre”.

   So many people every day act like they can do everything later. You can’t. There’s not enough time. You have to make your choices and if you don’t choose for yourself, you get the default which is the fat guy in Walmart on Sunday afternoon being nagged by his obese wife with her saggy tits spilling out of her top and his kids fighting and throwing stuff on the floor.

   I’m serious my dude. I’m 48 and I’m trying to cram in everything I need to do this time. Don’t settle for getting to the end of the ride and realising you never got what you wanted, that it could have been so much better.

6. Started on my youth, like most young people, to look as good as possible.

   Now, it’s more of me time, away from family duties and work (I’m basically always contactable for work issues). Just 2 hours to myself three times a week. Podcast on, time to test my limits.

7. Addiction.

8. I work in a hospital in the US. I don’t see many healthy, driven guys come in except for freak accidents. I do see lots of guys who are 50-300lbs overweight who clearly have no idea how to take care of their body. For the most part, they are miserable, constantly in pain, and their bodies are just falling apart after about 45-50 years.

   Besides avoiding the hospital, I work out because it clears up my thoughts. If I’m a lazy bum for more than a couple days, I start getting irritable, my diet devolves to trash (which worsens my mood), and I legitimately get stupider. It gets hard to hold more than a couple things in my brain at once, which makes synthesizing information impossible. On the flip side, if I work out just once, my mind clears up, I can mentally juggle more concepts, my mood drastically improves, and I WANT to eat healthy foods. In the phases where I’m driven to work out consistently toward a goal and clean up my diet, I become fun to be around, my relationship with my GF deepens, my mind feels as sharp as it was in college, I have more energy throughout the day, and I sleep like a baby every night.

   Tldr working out improves all aspects of my life.

9. The other day a staff member needed something opening. Nobody else in the office could open it. I could.

   Years of adding 2x sets of forearms to a pull day finally paying off!

10. Getting rid of extra fat and getting stronger. It also feels like I am battling inner demons when I workout no joke, its all good.

11. I started for aesthetic and physical reason, I continued for mental and psychological reason.

12. To be able to punch and kick harder in case I’m getting attacked.

13. I want to have sick abs so I can convince 50 year old fat women on the internet to send me pics of their broken and bruised vaginas.

14. I stopped masturbating today because after years of doing it every day, my dopamine levels need time restore.

15. Mentally just feel more calm and focused when working out regularly. Physically obviously feel more confident and have more energy. I started in my late teens early 20s after a breakup trying to gain confidence for dating and the habit stuck with me

16. Don’t wanna get fat and ugly.

    Didn’t wanna get fat and ugly.

17. Started the gym to put on muscle, to look better and pull more females. Stayed doing it because I got addicted and it felt good. Now I’m less bothered by looking good it’s just good for the mind.

18. To look good, to feel good, to be strong, to feel confident, to be healthy and take care of the one body God gave me

19. To not be fat?

20. In high school my dad made me sign up for activities in the boys and girls club. I picked guitar and boxing. I was an idiot and ruined my hands every day haha. Stayed working out ever since five days a week. I’ve stopped periodically and it’s usually been a break up that starts me again.

21. Moved to a small town for work. Have no friends here. The facility that I work in has a 24 hour gym. Loneliness. Makes sense.

22. I started working out because I liked playing console RPGs and liked level grinding. So I started doing it in real life.

23. I feel better about myself when I put in effort to be stronger and healthier. I also have more fun/get more done.

    I started because I felt bad about not doing anything, and (rightly) figured it was my fault if I wasn’t as strong or attractive as I could be.

24. Because i felt undisciplined and as if i were getting lazy and letting myself go a bit.

    I decided to take it a step up and consult my friend who coaches and does body building to help me build a solid workout and nutrition routine.

    Its served me very well so far. Not only am i consistantly losing excess weight and building up a decent amount of muscle, but ive stopped having chronic heartburn, lower back problems are less frequent, and overall i just feel better.
    It doesnt take a whole hell of a lot of effort or drastically changing your lifestyle, so long as you stay consistent

25. I had always worked out because sports were my life from childhood all the way through college. At the time I worked out to become a better athlete.

    I stopped working out for most of my 20’s. It of course caused me to become physically out of shape but it negatively impacted me mentally in a lot of ways too. Now I am 33 and workout several times per week. My motivation is just how much better I feel and look and how much more productive it makes me. Also, I spend more time now thinking about my age and want to remain healthy while I’m older.

26. I feel like being mentally healthy and physically healthy are just one and the same.

    I work out because I want to feel healthy, and by feeling healthy my mental state is just better.

    Exercise is just really, really good for you I think.

    Unless your shooting for some specific goal, it doesn’t even really matter what kind of exercise you do. Just do whatever you enjoy.