How many of you were ugly-ducklings?

[archive_Caligula]

It seems that most serious fitness people I've met used to be some of the most non-fitness profile type of people.

For example...when I graduated highschool I was 5'10" and weighed a whopping 121 lbs. Being the skinniest guy every year up through highschool is what motivated me to start lifting...and eventually led me to anabolics. Now I just weighed this morning at 192 and am still 5'10". Lots of progress...

Now as I said, it seems most "super-fit" people come from this sort of background. Whether it be they were very overweight, or underweight, or just really out of shape.

Most middle of the road people rarely are serious lifters. Probably because they were either satisfied with themselves already, or they started lifting and since they were already in decent shape...never saw that kinds of dramatic gains and changes that us less fortunate individuals got to see. And because of those dramatic changes we got bitten by the bug.

So I ask, how many of you got your start because you fit an ugly-duckling profile?



"That Which Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger"

Curious

[archive_METHYL MIKE]

When I was 14 and started lifting, i weighed 107 at 5ft7, today im 5ft9 and about 227, but at my heaviest i was 253. Lots of progress here too Being skinny and getting picked on def. inspired me.

"Computer games don't affect kids negatively; I mean if Pac-Man affected us
as kids, we'd all be running around darkened rooms, munching magic pills and
listening to repetitive electronic music."
-Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc.
1988

[VOX - DEI]

If I would have seen either of you before you started lifting I would have thought you both had serious eating disorders.

I've been rec. lifting since I was 12 with a personal trainer on and off. I've had a BF % above 30 since I was 10 years of age 80% of the time.

I was 150 lbs, 65" tall at age 10 when I played soccer with a very small gut at about 15-20% BF, they used to call me "The Wall"...hehe


Caligula, I weighed more than you when I was 8 than when you were 18..

I stopped growing when I hit 12 years of age, 5'10" though, talk about depressing, I used to be the biggest kid around and then I got to high school and I was still one of the biggest frosh around, then 10th grade rolled around and all the little people started growing like weeds and I couldn't see over peoples heads any longer, every single guy at my HS was over 6 feet tall, dem bastards.



International Intellectual Masturbation Proponent Society (IIMPS) Member

[archive_Caligula]

I was kinda like you when it came to heighth. I was 5' 9" when I graduated gradeschool. And now I'm 25 and am 5'10". All my short friends are taller than me now.



"That Which Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger"

Curious

[archive_Ulter]

I was 6'0" 125 at 18. I didn't start lifting until I was around 24. A friend who broke the Marine Corp bench press record a couple years earlier, and had stayed with weightlifting, had to come and live with me while he recovered from a broken leg. We set up a little gym in the living room and he showed me how to train and got me started. I laugh looking back at it now because he had to do 50 rep sets because I didn't have enough weights for him to train with. He was very patient with me.
Because I spent (wasted) my entire youth in a street gang I never really needed size because I always had numbers. So I guess you could say I was ugly in a different way.
Looking back I wish I had found all this earlier so I would have accomplished something, anything, with the first 23 years of my life.

[VOX - DEI]

Well Ulter takes the cake. I once had friend who weighed 154 at 67" on an MD scale and he was very skinny, no muscle mass or fat mass. I don't think I've ever see any man weigh 125 lbs at 55" or 72" it must be a sight to see.



International Intellectual Masturbation Proponent Society (IIMPS) Member

[archive_Killer]

I started when I was 14 (8th grade) to gain strength and size for football as I was not blessed with blazing speed and realized I better be able to bring it when I laid a hit on someone. I was around 5'9" and about 125 ish at the time.

[archive_therealj]

skinny yes- ugly no . I was 6'1 165lbs when I graduated. While I was quite skinny it was more of an athletic basketball type build. I've always had the ability to be lean very easy, if you guys knew how bad I eat while still being able to see an outline of abs you wouldn't like me too much. That said I was always obsessed with getting "big" and was never truly happy being skinny. The low point for me came in 98-99 I was suddenly a dad and stopped playing all sports and going to the gym, by feb 99 I was at an all time low. I was 6'1 180lbs and didn't even have an outline of muscularity to me. This was a combination of being depressed in a dead-end relationship, having to grow up overnight at the age of 22 and become a dad, and 1.5 years of sitting on the couch and eating bad food. Shortly after my Broncos won the super bowl in 99 I decided to get my life back on track and regardless of how unhappy I was in certain aspects of my life, I was no longer going to allow my physical appearance to be a cause. In about 1 year I looked very good and about 1 year after that I looked great in my opinion. I went from wanting to be like guys I saw in the gym to actually becoming one of those guys. I'm obsessed with my physical appearance and I'm obsessed with the attention my physique can draw from the opposite sex. Yeah I workout for me, but I'm not going to deny for one second I dislike the attention that comes from being in shape. I've posted these once before but I'll post them again so you guys that may not have seen these can see how far I came in 2 years

1999


2001


230lbs or Bust

[VOX - DEI]

Phenomenal progress




International Intellectual Masturbation Proponent Society (IIMPS) Member

[RefuseToLose]

I was a fat bastard and well, I still am so I guess I don't count for this little study do I? Ugly too....I swear I think God must have punched me in the face before I got put on this Earth. Had braces for 7 years now and my teeth are still crooked as can be. Instead of a receeding hair line I have an advancing one....I have to wax my forehead it's so bad, and I get 5:00 shadow by lunch time. If I ever won the lottery I would definitely spend a couple million on plastic surgery....I'd look like Frank Sepe by the time I got done.

____________________________
I will die before I lose.