Why Do We Lift?

It all depends upon what you want. We lift to maintain strength for our sports and generally keep fit, but not wanting too much muscle to restrict movement and flexibility. Military guys need strength and endurance. Then there are the 'beach body" lifters: want to look great either for the girls [maybe for the other boys!] or because they don't want to be embarrassed when their shirts are off. Then there are models who earn their living showing off their bodies for fashion shoots.

Bodybuilders, on the other hand, want either to be as massive as possible or as ripped as possible - in each case keeping everything in an aesthetic proportion. If, on the other hand, your sport is actually weight lifting, you want the maximum strenth in those parts of the body involved in the standard lifts, in order to max your poundage.

This post offers a selection of guys who are all "in it to win it" but for different reasons. In some cases we do know what they are aiming for: in others, we don't. See if you can figure out why these guys spend time in the gym!