Who or what was your first inspiration?

[saudades]

Who or what first inspired you to start bodybuilding? For me, my Dad got us a copy of Encyclopedia of a Bodybuilder which was about Arnold when I was about 10 yrs old. I was always so amazed at how he progressed and grew bigger and bigger in each picture. It somehow clicked with me, and I knew that was what I wanted.

 

[MMX2]

I got an old copy of the Keys to Bodybuilding from Bill Pearl.
I still have it.

 

[tritium]

Arnold

 

[n_nighmare]

What first got me into working out period , is that I stumbled upon Jay Cutlers website , and was the first real bodybuilder that caught my eye that I payed attention too , It was a picture of him in jean shorts.

After that I started watching bodybuilding videos , and from then on Dorian Yates , Kevin Levrone , Ronnie in his younger years , Flex Wheeler , Marcus Ruhl. Got me even more interested in making myself bigger and stronger.

I will never forget the way Jay looked on that first picture I saw him on , I say he looked better than he ever has on it , Then Dorian Yates I saw a training video of him and his back massive... Ronnie in his younger years ripped up , and more of a slender built upper body , While Flex from what ive seen of him has also looking amazing. Along with Kevin Levrones biceps

 

[steroidshaman]

Dorian Yates.I saw him on the cover of flex back in the early 90's.Bought it and found out he had been scrawny and then a few years later he was Mr. Olympia.I was all of 110 pounds and thought "what the hell I might as well give it a shot.Who knows I could be Mr. Olympia".rofl.Almost 15 yrs and over 100 lean pounds later it's been well worth the ride.Needless to say my Mr.Olympia dreams have been crushed.ROFL.

 

[mcgaret]

Pumping Iron. Also Sergio Oliva - at the time I think he was too big to win em all.
Guy was fucking huge with the tiny waist.

 

[Presser]

Milo Sarcev

 

[winneevee]

To be honest my highschool sweetheart broke up with me, guess I got tired of being the skinny guy... started gaining weight, and my friends caught on

 

[recon]

I went from grunt to runt

I was always a hard gainer. built like my mom (genetics). I was a fighter and meaner than hell, but didn't look like much! I joined the Marine Corp in 89 and in 3 months at boot camp went from 125lbs to 184lbs fro eating like a horse and working to failure several times a day. I graduated with a meritorious mass for physical achievement. I went in smoking, couldn't run 1/2 mile, no pull ups and like 30 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I got out doing 3 miles in 19:20, 30 pullups and just drop(don't know how many I could have done) and 112 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I realized that anything is possible if you give it everything you've got. I started smoking and drinking again and was back to puny. 6 years ago I was down to 145lbs again, I said enough is enough and I started hitting it. I now weigh 204lbs and look like a different dude all together. I am loud and proud!

In short, I was sick of being built like a crack head!

 

[Spiderman]

Lee Haney in MD when I was around 8...I went straight to my garage and started working out. My dad came running out there later thinking I was hurt because I was screaming so much, I can only imagine what that sounded like with those 5 lb dumbbells!!!

 

[teedubgee]

I started to go to the gym to get into shape before I joined the military. After about the first week of not knowing what the fuck I was doing, I decided to go online for some guidance. I came across ast-ss.com and obtained a good knowledge base for training and nutrition. After I started seeing results I was hooked. Nasser and Ronnie were my first real bodybuilding inspirations.

 

[teedubgee]

Oh, and I just watched Battle for the Olympia III: 1998. That shit got me pumped! Too bad all I had scheduled was slow ass cardio today, haha.

 

[saudades]

I was always a hard gainer. built like my mom (genetics). I was a fighter and meaner than hell, but didn't look like much! I joined the Marine Corp in 89 and in 3 months at boot camp went from 125lbs to 184lbs fro eating like a horse and working to failure several times a day. I graduated with a meritorious mass for physical achievement. I went in smoking, couldn't run 1/2 mile, no pull ups and like 30 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I got out doing 3 miles in 19:20, 30 pullups and just drop(don't know how many I could have done) and 112 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I realized that anything is possible if you give it everything you've got. I started smoking and drinking again and was back to puny. 6 years ago I was down to 145lbs again, I said enough is enough and I started hitting it. I now weigh 204lbs and look like a different dude all together. I am loud and proud!

In short, I was sick of being built like a crack head!

Sounds like quite a transformation. You should post your current pics in the member's forum.

 

[recon]

Well.......

They don't look as good as yours right now bro, but I will post before and after in the next day or two!

 

[hd250]

I would say my Uncle Henry back in like 1974. He had just come back from living in Thailand in the AF for 10 years, and he was deisel, at least to me, lol. He had 19 inch arms, and all i ever wanted was guns of my own. when i turned 14, i got a 110 lb set from montgomery wards, saved 8 bucks and ordered the universal bodybuilding book from dearborn mich, and some ussr dynamic tension manual. they used to advertise in comic books. from my birthday i lifted daily, and started reading muscle development. at 16 i joined a gym. Some pros worked out there, namely Tim Belknap. he was my inspiration from that point on, along with big bertil fox, tom platz, sergio, the mentzer bros, al beckles, and serge nubret.

 

[Moethe1st]

I got one!!! Bruce Lee - Return Of The Dragon, when he was doing stretches by the window. My friend and I saw the detail and thought it looked awesome so we started with push-ups, pull-ups, etc and I got into martial arts of course (we were about 9 -10 yrs old). Took it as far as we could then I figured I wanted more muscle so I added weights and started watching those old school Lee Haney/Cory Everson exersize shows. I remember the two Bodybuilders that impressed me the most at that time were Kevin Levrone and Shawn Ray. I started hating on Shawn Ray cause my girl at the time had a crush on him LOL (insecure kid). Thanks to these influences, Ive always been one to be above average shape-wise but never had any desire to compete. Carried it through my teens, 20's and now 30's. I will always train like a body-builder.

 

[irishpride]

i loved to fight, and loved to fight bigger people after awhile i decided hmmm, if i get bigger i could really do some more damage, and needless to say it worked LOL