Weightlifting Research Paper

Weightlifting, recently, or working out, has been a big part of my life. For a little over 21 years of my life I was a small framed person. No, I didn’t like it but I dealt with it. I joined the military in September of 2012, weighing a measly 145lb at 6’0”. Over the first couple months in the military, through Basic and AIT, I gained close to 20lb. Some fat, some muscle. I felt better about myself. I didn’t look “small” anymore.
During Basic and AIT, weightlifting also wasn’t very popular for me. To me, I was okay with just passing everything. Not having to put in the extra effort because working out in the morning duty PT hours “worked” for me. That all changed in the “big” regular Army. In the regular Army there was more than competition

with yourself. It was against your peers too. Soldiers had to either put their friendships aside or come together to achieve their common goal. Here’s how I accomplished mine. Weightlifting. Working out.
After a couple months at Fort Bragg I realized the competition to do better and what I had to do to achieve Army objectives to progress in my career path. Shooting weapons well, was one, and being good at PT, was another. When I arrived to my first duty station I was average in both those areas. Sharpshooter on weapon, and 240 out of 300 PT test score. At the time I was all gun-ho and wanted to stay in the military 20 years. I still do. But I had to do better. I turned to lifting weights to accomplish that better goal of mine to get closer to a perfect PT score.
In the gym I teamed up with one of my buddies in my platoon. He was a former Left Tackle in a highly rated High School. Had friends as bodybuilders as well. What we did was different to me only because I really never worked out before. But I realized within two weeks how much of a difference working out more than just in the leisure time from 0630 to 0730 every morning. Chest Monday’s, Back Tuesday’s , Legs Wednesday’s and so on. It was working out for me. Within those two weeks I went from getting tired at 55- 60 pushups in 2 minutes to having no trouble doing more than my max of 75 in less than a minute and a half. My run time improved as well. Lowering from a 14:30 2-mile to a 14:00 2-mile.
Overall, weightlifting has been a great experience for me. I know countless people who have started as well and it is benefiting them in the same and different ways.