I go to the gym every day, and the majority of the time, I’m going to lift weights. It is one of my favorite things to do, and I have so much passion for it. Some people just don’t understand it though. They ask, “Why do you do that to yourself? Isn’t it hard? Won’t it make you look too big? How do you do it anyway?” It’s simple really. I do it for me. I do it to make myself stronger and to make myself better.

It is an incredible feeling to pick up the weights and push yourself to the limit with them. The amount of strength and power you feel within yourself when lifting heavy weights is no match to the feelings you can get from doing anything else. You’ll do a set, and think, “Wow. I cannot believe I was able to do that. Let’s try even more.” When I’m in the weight room, I am always striving to do the absolute best I can. There is never any slacking, even if the people around me might be. When you hit a personal best on a certain exercise, whether it’s squats, deadlifts, cleans, or whatever else, you get a huge sense of accomplishment, pride, and excitement in yourself. You honestly feel like you’re on top of the world when you lift more than you’ve ever done before. It’s a feeling that you continue to crave and want to feel over and over again. It is the reason I go back to it every day and push myself to keep going.

Lifting has taught me discipline, determination, perseverance, and desire. Discipline, because I have to force myself to stay strong, keep my form no matter how tired I get, and to come back even when it starts to get tough. Determination and perseverance, because no matter how the day or set before went, I know I can do better, I know I can push myself to lift more, and I know I can’t give up on myself. Desire, because no matter how sore it might make me, or how frustrating it can be, I always want to come back to it and prove to myself and others what I’m capable of doing.

I love lifting weights. Every time I head to the gym, I look forward to it and can’t wait to see what I can do on that day. Sometimes you’ll have really good days where you surprise even yourself, and then there will be the really bad days too where you get completely frustrated because you can’t get a weight that was a piece of cake the other day. But no matter how the day ends, there will always be another shot, another day, another weight, and you’ll always get to continue pushing yourself to see what you can do.

So why do I lift? I lift to feel powerful, confident, and proud. I lift to be fit, stronger, and faster. I lift because I’m passionate, determined, and dedicated. I lift for me and no one else.