The Hype Around Strength Training

What’s Behind the Big Craze for “Pumping”?

Lukas Seyrkammer works out five times a week in the weight room.(Bild: zVg)

Health consciousness, aesthetics, or a search for identity: More and more young men find fulfillment by working out hard at the gym. What’s a healthy outlet for some after a stressful day at work can become a problem for others—when it’s all about compensating for negative emotions. 

Rice pudding with fruit, protein shakes, oatmeal, chicken and rice twice a day—and that day in and day out: Lukas Seyrkammer’s (pictured right) diet may seem monotonous. For the 25-year-old, it’s a means to an end—and that end is building muscle. As a teenager, the Upper Austrian began working out at the gym; for the past year and a half, he’s been “pumping iron” five days a week in the weight room.