(First) inspiration for lifting

[Dr Dutch]

My dear father died this weekend.
Big time funeral and stuff coming this week, but that's not the point here.

But: he was (way back when) the (or at least a very important) first inspiration for me to start lifting.
I wanted to be as strong as he was.
He only weight trained for a short period in his life, but he was 6'4, 240 lbs and naturally strong with huge hands and stuff.

I invite you to put down your first and/or most important reason to take op this (let's face it) weird sport......

says dr Dutch

[robcguns]

Sorry to hear about that dr.Dutch.my first inspiration was my father as well he was around 6’2 240-260 and was a very strong guy.He would routinely bench over 500,he did 250 45 times,had 21” arms and a 56” chest.He was a beast.He benched 405 at 60.He did take some dbol back in the day and said he got great results taking 2-3 dbol a day.now he’s 68 and still works out.

[Obvious Gimmick]

Sorry to hear that Doc.

[Henda]

Sorry about your dad mate

My dad wasn’t my inspiration for lifting as such he was never into lifting himself but had big forearms from years of hard work on the buildings and when beginning training I was desperate to get bigger forearms like his as mine were pathetic shapeless arms that you see on nerds who have never done any physical activity in their whole lives

My dad was my inspiration in everything else in life, taught me how to earn a living for myself and various other things in life, greatest bloke I knew and sorely missed

[dseiler]

Arnold
Lee Haney
Dad
Sly

Not necessarily in that order.

[tres_taco_combo]

always remember the good times - look at old photos and always remember the good times

[SF1900]

My dad used to do Judo and got me into the martial arts, which influence me to start to train with weights. After I got into weight training, my further inspiration was the Rocky movies.

I used to drag the weights up from my basement and workout in my living room while watching the various Rocky movies. My parents hated when I worked out in the living room. Just the other day, my mom screamed at me for lugging the weights up from the basement.

[oldtimer1]

May God hold your father in the palm of his hand till you meet again.

Joe Weider use to have his business in the town I grew up in Union city, NJ. When I was a small kid maybe 8 years old I use to stare in the window of his 32nd st place. My mom would let me go in to look at the equipment in the place for sale. I still remember the smell of the supplements. The guys working there would give me a stack of expired magazines.  I guess they threw them out after the expiration date. I still have one in tatters.  When I was around 25 years old I accumulated a crazy amount of bodybuilding magazines.  I don't know what got into me but I threw them all out. Wish I still had them.

 Those magazines put the crazy notion in my childhood brain that I wanted to be a muscle man. I was always the smallest and skinniest kid in school. My freshman year in high school I weighed 118lbs at 5'8".  The two running backs on my high school team were 205lbs and 210lbs.  My first direct hit running full speed into a linebacker on a 25 dive resulted in me being  flat on my back seeing little birdies.  

Lifting has done a lot for me. It taught me discipline and a work ethic. Something that being on track team taught me too.

[Deadpool]

a poster of Arnold on a friend's wall in 1977

[Mr Anabolic]

For me is was this picture and book...

[Moontrane]

Hang in there, Double D!

[Kwon]

My dear father died this weekend.
Big time funeral and stuff coming this week, but that's not the point here.

But: he was (way back when) the (or at least a very important) first inspiration for me to start lifting.
I wanted to be as strong as he was.
He only weight trained for a short period in his life, but he was 6'4, 240 lbs and naturally strong with huge hands and stuff.

I invite you to put down your first and/or most important reason to take op this (let's face it) weird sport......

says dr Dutch

Sorry to hear this Dr Dutch.

My condolensces, i can feel your pain.


To answer your question, it was
who inspired me to start lifting.

[luckyone]

Sorry for your loss Dr. D.

Prayers for your Dad, you and your family.

 My Father was also my inspiration, he worked out all his life, had "baseball biceps"  and could make his pecs "jump." He and early Hercules films got me hooked on lifting when I was just 10. Been working out over 50 years and am never going to stop. My Dad was still using light dumbells into his 80's.

your brother in Christ,

Lucky

[Virgil]

Frank Frazetta paintings and the Pumping Iron book

[MAXX]

Some online article with pictures on Mike and Ray Mentzer.
Just thought they looked amazing and was intrigued by Mikes more cognitive approach to training and philosophy.

[loco]

My condolences.

As for me, these were my first inspirations:

[Hulkotron]

Wanted to have a shot at stealing Pellius cheeseburger.

[Deadpool]

Frank Frazetta paintings and the Pumping Iron book

yes

[Dr Dutch]

My condolences.

As for me, this were my first inspirations:

This one was a big inspiration for many Americans so ot seems.....when was this ??

[Dr Dutch]

I mean the cartoon......

[loco]

I mean the cartoon......

I first saw one of those in the early 80s.  However:

"The famous Charles Atlas print advertisements became iconic mostly because they were printed in cartoon form from the 1930s on, and in many comic books from the 1940s onwards"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas#The_print_advertisements

[Powerlift66]

My father weight trained, had steel York set and dumbbells, bought me more weights and a bench and helped me build my first basement gym in 1978 (40 years ago).
He got very sick and died 7 years later at age 47 in 1985, but yeah, he was my inspiration.

Dr. Dutch, very sorry for your loss, may he RIP...

[OlympiaGym]

My father was a bodybuilder and football player while my mom was into the martial arts.They, along with some of my siblings were my original inspiration.

[Big Daddy Caine]

Arnold
Lee Haney
Bolo Yeung (Watching him you wanted to start knocking out some pushups)

[JAGO]

My dear father died this weekend.
Big time funeral and stuff coming this week, but that's not the point here.

But: he was (way back when) the (or at least a very important) first inspiration for me to start lifting.
I wanted to be as strong as he was.
He only weight trained for a short period in his life, but he was 6'4, 240 lbs and naturally strong with huge hands and stuff.

I invite you to put down your first and/or most important reason to take op this (let's face it) weird sport......

says dr Dutch

May God bless your Father.

I trust you and your family are doing as well as can be.

Respectfully,
J