What was your “DAMN I’M GETTING STRONG” moment?

[justin_holmes]

They say everyone starts out with an empty bar, I couldn’t even bench the bar when I began lifting four months ago. Even when I started adding weight, I felt extremely silly putting collars on with micro plates.

Now, I’m close to benching my body weight, I can do pull-ups like they’re out of fashion, my biceps are bigger than my brother’s, and my dad will ask ME to open up those damn jars.

I knew I was mentally strong when I got over the fear of letting myself rest and recover instead of working out. It was something I didn’t know how to do, it was something I didn’t want to do, but when I did, I became so much stronger in and out of the gym.

I have a long way to go, put it’s a part of the process. I know I’m stronger now than when I first started, so that’s all I really care about.

I would love to know all of your “I’m strong”
moments when it comes to your fitness! Whether mental or physical, I love hearing how others have personally gained strength when it comes to their fitness

Edit: I’m hoping to respond to all of you because I love reading all of your comments! I don’t think I’ll get there, but all of you have shown me just how beautiful strength is

 

[rdwin]

@justin_holmes Repping 50 on bench yesterday

 

[josephhsiao34]

@justin_holmes Hitting 630 on leg press lol

 

[san2014]

@justin_holmes Picking up water bottle for water cooler

 

[bess78]

@justin_holmes Went scuba diving for the first time about 9 months after starting lifting... Normally really struggle climbing up the ladder in the sea and walking around the deck with all my gear on, but felt SO stable this time.

I was shocked.

 

[daniel3112]

@justin_holmes Pressing 62,5kg on OHP for reps. For my BW(76kg) And it was recent too! I was like, damn i’m getting strong.

 

[dawn16]

@justin_holmes The last time I went to the gym was the first time I truly gave it my all and crushed it after a long hiatus - my entire body has been aching for the past two days haha. I just forgot about everyone else there and didn’t let my anxiety over getting judged or watched get in the way! That made me feel strong, and made me stronger in the gym.

 

[wordpracticer]

@justin_holmes My boyfriend has this ridiculously heavy wooden desk that has crushed both of us and almost killed me. We decided to sell it and had to haul it into someone’s car and when we were carrying it I thought wow I actually don’t need this third person helping us. People assume I can’t lift things as I’m a bit short but I can’t wait to prove them all wrong.

 

[milkjuggles]

@justin_holmes It’s nothing compared to everyone here but I squatted ~90% of my bodyweight today! I would say 90% is my new 5-rep max which is huuuuge because it was only 60% just a couple weeks ago!!

I also got to 50% bodyweight for deadlift, which is also pretty impressive for me because my back is weak. Was ~35% a couple weeks ago!

 

[columns]

@justin_holmes Finally getting a consistent one arm meathook. The struggle just moved on to reverse meathook now, but I felt like a bad bitch when it happened.

 

[rsdar]

@justin_holmes I tried a heavier archery bow, then went back to the lighter one and it was too light. My favorite are those "hey, this got lighter" moments

 

[natalia2019]

@justin_holmes I had a recent moment where I did a bunch of push ups with good form and went down a lot more than I used to and I was so happy!!! It’s only body weight but I have not been able to do push up well at all for a loooong time so I was over the moon!

 

[lisa0617]

@justin_holmes I did a bike ride with some friends last weekend up a pretty big hill in my town, they all had to stop multiple times but I surprised myself by making it all the way up without stopping / walking! I’ve never been able to bike uphill without walking so I was proud of myself. I haven’t been to a gym since COVID (I just don’t see the value anymore since I can do almost everything at home) so biking and lifting at home are my only options, but they seem to be doing the trick.

 

[adajane]

@justin_holmes i live in the top floor of my apartment, and about a month ago we had a cat litter delivery left in our lobby. the package is 20lbs (two, 10lb bags of litter) and i lifted it and turned to my partner and said "oh, this is so light, i think they only shipped one bag." i walked up the five flights of the stairs, annoyed that they only shipped one bag when i need to change two boxes!

i was pleasantly surprised when i opened the box to find two bags. in that moment i realized the roughly three months of lifting was resulting in concrete improvement to my strength!

 

[lingel]

@justin_holmes It’s been a long time goal of mine to deadlift my body weight and I’ve done it! Now to squat my body weight…almost there but still some work to do.

 

[blecap1]

@justin_holmes This is a little more serious than others here, but I was attacked and I, never having even raised my voice at a stranger in all my life, managed to pick this woman up clean off her feet, throw her onto the ground and hold her there while I screamed for help and she continued to try to attack me.

 

[whitm11]

@blecap1 Okay super bad ass but now we need some back story!

 

[sathyaraj]

@justin_holmes I am very petite and ended up separated from my husband during a cross country flight. I made the trip solo with my 4 year old daughter and our 4 bags We landed in O'Hare for our transfer and our departure gate was on the opposite end of the airport. I put my 38lb daughter on my shoulders, a backpack with my husband's work laptop, an iPad, and portable speaker in it on my back, slung our toy and snack bag across my shoulder, stacked my daughter's backpack on the roller bag with our spare clothes, and power walked it through the airport to make our transfer.

I was sweaty but didn't get hurt and made great time. It's why I lift weights and in that moment felt incredibly strong.

 

[anne77]

@justin_holmes My husband and I were moving comic boxes.

I'm 5'3", overweight, but not significantly out of shape, and working on my health. He's 6', obese, diabetic, and straight up out of shape, but we have always had him do the heavy lifting between the two of us.

That day, we realized that I had my "I'm getting strong" moment was when I was far less trouble lifting and moving the boxes than he was.

 

[rdrugan]

@justin_holmes When I walked up to flight of stairs from the subway and it felt like I had taken an easy stroll on the sidewalk. Heart not beating faster and legs not complaining about the effort.
Now that's functional strength, right?