Why Weightlifting

by Kristy Parrish | April 7, 2016 10:00 pm

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I lift because I love the challenge. I love that feeling when the impossible becomes possible, my maxes become my openers, and I can set my sight on even heavier weights. I do it because I want to find out just how far I can go and what my limit is, both mentally and physically.

Weightlifting forces me to confront my flaws. It makes me to deal with the things I might otherwise let lie because they hold me back, and the desire to see how far I can go outweighs my reluctance to deal with my weaknesses.

I lift because, despite the complexities of the lifts, the sport itself is so straight-forward. Either the bar went up, or it didn’t. I made it or I didn’t. I’m given a “good lift” or “no lift.” There is no “sort-of” in weightlifting, and that is a nice change in a world that is often over-complicated & uncertain.

I compete in weightlifting for the thrill. For the butterflies I get backstage waiting to be called, the adrenaline as I step onto the platform, and the surge of emotions when the bar is locked out overhead. I do it because when I compete, I feel truly alive.

And it isn’t always PRs, “good lifts” and successful competitions. There are “shitty days,” “off weeks,” and disappointing competitions, too. Days when my lifts feel like crap, the bar feels so heavy, and I just want to give up. But that is a part of the process as well, and those are the days that I need to re-read this and remind myself (or be reminded) why I love weightlifting, why I do it in the first place and what I hope to achieve.

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Originally published to GoHardGetStrong[3] on 22 April 2015.

Visit Taryn Haggerstone’s blog Go Hard Get Strong[4] for more of her thoughts on training. Follow her on Twitter at @TarynHaggerston[5] and Instagram at @tarynemilyh[6].

Tags: Taryn Haggerstone[7]

Endnotes:

[Image]: http://www.gohardgetstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Approaching-the-Bar.jpg
[Image]: http://www.gohardgetstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Commitment-Means.jpg
GoHardGetStrong: http://www.gohardgetstrong.com/why-weightlifting-2/
Go Hard Get Strong: http://www.gohardgetstrong.com
@TarynHaggerston: https://twitter.com/TarynHaggerston
@tarynemilyh: http://instagram.com/tarynemilyh
Taryn Haggerstone: http://www.tabatatimes.com/author/tarynhaggerstone/

Source URL: http://www.tabatatimes.com/why-weightlifting/