Why do you train and what is your motivation? Everyone has their own goals and priorities. For me, strength training is a great stress reliever. It’s also something I have been addicted to since I began at the age of 14. I also enjoy being fit and looking the part of the former athlete. But what about you?
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The fact is we all have different reasons for our athletic pursuits. Some of us are/were competitive athletes and for some of us, strength training or long distance running is merely a hobby. For some it’s a way to relieve the pressure we experience at the office while some of us are just so vain that we want to be as big and lean as possible.
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Then we have the small group of those who wish to compete in bodybuilding or fitness modeling. Some females I know of wish to grace the covers of Oxygen and Muscle and Fitness. Everyone has their reason.
What are The Real Reasons?
But what about the underlying reasons? What goes on in the trainees mind subconsciously? I am not a psychologist and only studied it briefly in school. Heck, at one point in my life I was interested in studying it and making it my profession. I have since lost interest in the field, though.
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However as of late I recently stumbled upon a forum post that highlighted the main reasons men and women are in pursuit of certain aesthetic goals. Most men who are exercising(or doing anything for that matter) mainly want to outdo each other. Women seem to be training as a part of societal pressure and not so much for the competition(although there are exceptions).
Men – Competition with other Bro’s
When I look at my life and the lives of my friends(males), this concept almost seems too simple. I believe that men exercise oftentimes out of fun and good health but I feel it’s mostly for competitive reasons.
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When I was training for athletics, all I cared about was being better than my peers. Then it became an obsession about being better than my opponents. Eventually I became fixed on becoming the most aesthetically pleasing member of my social circle. My pursuits were vain and I believe this to be true for most males. Pure competition.
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We may think or say we are simply lifting to look great for our counterparts but in reality we just want to look better than our buddies, the others at the gym and even better than the guys on the magazine covers.
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In a sense we are only aiming to outdo each other in everything we pursue. If I tell someone my bench is 315×5 reps the next guy will say his is 335×10 reps. If the fish I caught was 2 feet long, his was 3 feet long(whether he went fishing or not).
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To put simply, most guys are looking to be bigger or better than their peers. This is why we have powerlifting meets, competitive sports and eating contests.
Women – Acceptance and Social Pressure
While this will not fit the bill for every single female, I think my assumptions will ring true for most. I don’t believe women are necessarily training or exercising for competitive purposes(of course this is completely different for athletes). I believe many females train first for aesthetics(usually a standard imposed by society) and then health benefits and whatever else poses a close second.
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Here is a brief excerpt from a forum post I found a few days back:
It’s probably worth mentioning that, for women, appearance is a huge part of their inherent self worth, etc. Pure evolutionary reasons, like it or not, looks are the primary selection criteria that men use for picking a mate. Which is why women go a bit nutso with appearance related stuff. Hair, boobs, legs, makeup, it’s all attempts to maximize their female related traits and attract a male. If it’s not promoting overall femininity, it’s aimed at promoting a youthful appearance (younger females being ‘worth more’ to males than older). Most of what women do makeup wise is meant to project a look of youth and good genes.
So when you look at it from this perspective, females motives are not like those of males. In this case the ideals are more so related to aesthetic purposes as opposed to competition with other females.
Funny Stuff
On a final note I thought I might add my two cents on how the media plays into all of this. If you were to crack a bodybuilding magazine for instance, you will see jacked guys on almost every page. There are a few girls in skimpy clothing thrown into some of the sales copy but other than that it’s mostly testosterone infusion. Think about this for a minute. Guys are not really training to look a certain way to attract a female. They look at these models in the magz and say “I gotta improve my chest like (insert name here)” or “ I gotta build some huge arms like so and so.”
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Men and the Media – The truth is all of these play into our own selfish desire to be better than the next guy. I remember reading something about what women are most attracted to on the male physique. I think it was in Built For Show by Nate Green but I cannot find the book for reference. From what I recall women are more so interested in mens backside(glutes, wide back, shoulders, v-taper) as opposed to their chest, arms or abs. So as you might imagine, most guys probably wouldn’t believe this; then again it’s not what the magazines are suggesting either. So if all we have are bodybuilding comics to go by, big guns + a big chest = world domination and many female conquests.
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Women and the Media – When you take a look at the female focused media outlets, you are flooded with a ton of self-enhancement ploys; workouts to tone this or shape that, quick fat loss methods etc. The magazines portray an anorexic frame as being healthy or even desired by the male population. This makes some women very uncomfortable with their appearance and often leads to a lot of anxiety and body image issues. In short, this stuff really pisses me off.
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Some of the fitness magazines suggest that very low body fat levels on a female are highly attractive. Here is a hint: guys are not so much concerned about this stuff. Some men even find women with abs to be unattractive. Now it’s not to say that these figure models are not sexy and there are many females who are very lean that I would take out in a heartbeat BUT I find my tastes lie more so in the women with an athletic build and abs that are barely visible(or none at all). However that is just me and I am not entirely too picky. 
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So please tell me your thoughts/flames in the comments. Why do you train?
A true bro needs no ‘reason’ to train. His religion of brotology requires regular penance at the altar – the power rack.
I train because I love the gym, I love the feeling of challenging my body and… I love not having a massive gut! At least 90% of the year anyway – Christmas is an exception!
Great blog by the way JC, having great fun tucking into it.
yea. I also love the competition against myself and I like being able to alter my appearance. I also love pigging out at Christmas.
Neat article JC!
I can think of several conscious reasons why I personally train.
1.) Competitiveness- both performance and aesthetically. Back when I played high school basketball, it was easy to work my butt off- basketball was my greatest passion. But now that I’m in college and intramurals have replaced organized ball, it’s a bit harder to motivate myself strictly for this reason. For this reason I am starting to get into biking and running more, and can see myself doing triathlons in the future to fuel my competitive side.
2.) Health- I’m only 20 now, but I already have concerns about my long-term health and longevity. If my competitiveness fades slightly over time, I hope this aspect will keep me motivated. I’m sure it will when I have children someday. I can’t fathom the thought of not being around to see them grow up, especially with heart problems on my father’s side of the family.
3.) Self-confidence/sense of achievement. I find it amazing how these things carry over into other aspects of life. I also love the parallels between pushing yourself physically and in other areas; the “come on, one more rep!” mindset that is built in the weight room definitely helps when it’s time to buckle down and write a term paper!
Thankfully, I don’t have any problems waking up early to train 4x a week. If in the future I do, I’ll remind myself of these answers and that should be the kick in the butt I needed!
Thanks for the though-provoking post!
-Blake
Blake, thanks a lot for all the input.
Self confidence and achievement is such an awesome benefit from regular training. I am really glad you mentioned it. I may even make that into it’s own article.
I wanted to get better at basketball, and then after high school, I wanted to look like an underwear model to get laid. That’s what started this whole sordid affair.
Best,
Skyler
Narcissism FTW!
It only takes you so far, that “get laid” desire. If that was the case, all those guys doing curls in the squat rack would be there year after year.
Haha.. great post!
I train because I love it! Workouts refresh me too! Plus I used to be weakest and smallest between my peers always so changing that is also big part of motivation. Looking good matters too, this might not be politically correct to say but it’s true, looking good is always a part of why people train!
Cheers
I was abysmal at high school sports, so I started lifting weights to improve my body and increase sex appeal.
Then after college I found that Personal Training was my true passion, so I started studying to become a trainer. And although choosing a trainer based on their physique is a horrible way to pick one, I’d rather look like a trainer who “Walked The Walk” then one who was out of shape and dumpy.
So now I take pride in keeping my body fit, at age 40, as those guys who were “competitive high school athletes” are all fat and bald and the only exercise they get now is 18 holes and 16oz curls.
I agree with K.Jones 110%, I have a 94 year old grandmother in a nursing home, and everytime I visit it reminds me that I don’t to end up there. Not just being frail and weak, but the atrocious way we care for the elderly. It’s really revolting.
I’d rather take a pill and end it quickly than waste away in one of those places being “cared for”. (Okay, that was a dark thought, sorry. )
It’s funny you mention it. Most of the guys I played ball with are all just sitting around and drinking six packs. There are only a handful of us that have kept up the athleticism. I suppose this is normal and expected but now that I think about the long term health benefits of staying active I am glad this habit is set in stone.
lol at the dark thoughts comment!
Originally, I went to the gym to lose baby weight and look better. I got really hooked on lifting weights in the process. It’s been a great outlet for my competitive side, although I just compete against myself for that extra rep or small increase on weight. Lifting weights has been great for my confidence too, whether it’s learning a new lift or just having the physical strength for everyday life.
yea, I love to see how much one’s confidence is boosted through their training program. It really is awesome to watch.
I too am very competitive with myself. I believe this carries over from the mild obsessiveness with competition I gained from athletics.
How long have you been training?
JC, I started 8 years ago at a gym that used super slow on Nautilus machines, yawn. Since then I’ve done the typical bodybuilding splits, lots of trainer led high rep “fat loss” circuits, NROLW and Starting Strength. The more recent training for strength definitely has been very rewarding.
Thanks for a great blog!
wow, it’s awesome to read about a female doing Starting Strength!
My training goals are both strength and physique oriented. Basically, I am looking to increase my relative strength in major lifts (Bench, DL, Front Squat, OHP, Pull-up), while maintaining or slightly decreasing my body fat (running a 10% deficit). Currently,I am using Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program, which is perfectly suited for my goals.
One thing that I am desperately trying to improve is my mobility and flexibility. Being relatively young, I have slacked on these two areas of my training for far too long. I’m really trying be as consistent with this as I have been with my strength training and conditioning work. Time will tell.
the 5-3-1 is awesome. I am using some of the principles in my current training program.
I would highly encourage you to focus on mobility and flexibility. I too am a young guy and have already experienced some major issues due to working a sedentary job. Working the kinks out is not fun but very worth it. Good luck, Andrew.
Hi JC, I like how you really dissected this topic between the two genders. I think that men are just competitive in general. Even my husband competes with me sometimes
While I do agree that most women train to be aesthetically pleasing to the opposite sex (and I started that way as well), my reasons have evolved to something more meaningful. Here are some:
1. I’m training for the RKC so this has more to do with my career growth and learning more stuff about my industry.
2. I train for strength and to gain more muscle because I know that bigger muscles would mean bigger bones which will lower my risk for osteoporosis.
3. I train for overall health. I want to be in my 50s and still be able to squat more than my own bodyweight. To me, that is the picture of optimum health.
Great post! You’ve done it again.
Anna
I think it’s awesome you are looking at the long term health benefits associated with this lifestyle.
Something that is very important, especially for females is to maintain bone density as we all know that it decreases as they age. No better way to do this than a regular exercise program
As a woman in her mid-50s, I would suggest to all you younger people in the crowd that one of the best possible motivators for staying involved in strength training is to spend significant time in a nursing home visiting an aged parent who’s too frail and weak to live on his/her own any longer, or even stand up and walk, due not to illness but to decades of sedentary life. After witnessing that misery, I decided whatever else happens, I am NOT going out that way. The aesthetics are a definite additional benefit, sure–not in the picking-up-guys sense, I just dig looking buff and lean. And it’s a big ego boost to brush aside the pimply youth who’s trying to help me carry a 50-lb bag of cat litter to the car, tuck it casually under one arm, and stroll off.
you make a great point. I think we all forget just how much regular exercise contributes to a better quality of life. I have witnessed the terrible woes of the sedentary lifestyle in my immediate family and it’s no bueno.
I train for two reasons: (1) I have not yet reached the pinnacle of sexiness (almost here, right?) and (2) The “I-birthed-4-spawns” look of my stomach doesn’t match my bathing suit.
haha you make me lol. I bet you have probably reached sexiness, you just don’t believe it.
In High school exercise was simply to perform well in my sport. The side effect of that was that it just seemed natural.
I will mention, the point about lots of competition between me and my mates was so true. It was empowering though, since I always had the motivation to outperform my teammates which ultimately was a victory for the school and thus us (and me being the team captain lol)
But I guess even now in college, once you get that habit its gonna be hard to kick. I feel downright crappy after prolonged period of no exercise and i think that many others share this opinion.
Partly due to the fact that this is a routine (aren’t we all creatures of habit), and partly due to the fact that exercise does have some physiological impacts on the body (like an endorphin spike), exercise is simply addictive.
And finally, I can’t hide my vanity. I must say that I definitely do this for aesthetics as well. Hey, with such an unforgiving and judgmental world, where everybody’s attention span is shortened due to the huge quantity of info that is thrown at them on a daily basis, only the remarkable will stand out. I want to be that kind of guy, with the aesthetics to backup the intellect.
Alright, enough ramblings.
haha good stuff all around!