We all like to imagine that we’re a special snowflake – unique and perfect as we are, with no one else like us in the whole world. For the most part this is a lie, and a big reason why it is a lie is because we generally define ourselves by our viewpoints and by what we consume. You may be liberal or conservative – but so are millions of other people. You may love reality TV – but so do millions of other people. You may love the idea of travel – but so do millions of other people.
What really sets people apart from each other is what they do, particularly in their free time. What’s more, this action is much more valuable when it occurs in areas where society as a whole is weak. In the U.S., this would be in exercise. I would like to spend some time today to present a variety of reasons why every man would benefit from making weight training a part of their life.
TLDR edition: weight training makes life way better for men.
Increased Sex Appeal
Guy like many different kinds of girls. Some men like large chests, others prefer long legs. Some like thinner girls, others prefer a woman with curves. Some like sporty girls, others prefer woman to be as lady-like as possible.
Women however, only like one body type: the muscular build with broad shoulders and narrow hip, also known as the V-taper. If you don’t believe me, let’s look at some examples.
Notice the pattern here? While some in the media like to portray the Dad-bod as an alternative, it’s pretty clear that isn’t what woman fantasize about sexually.*
Why is this the case? In general, this is because women are more submissive and prefer to be with a stronger man who makes them feel safe and small. Like the tribal hunter from ages past, he’s someone who can protect her, take care of her, and sweep her off her feet. He is a pillar of strength, a bastion of the community that other men want to be like, and basically the complete opposite of a girl. **
Consequently, in a society like ours where the vast majority of men are fat and out of shape the guys who do work out are valued that much more. I can say from personal experience that women responded to me very differently after I went to the gym for a few months. Suddenly you become the prize, you become the person they can’t stop touching. That alone should be enough of a reason for guys to take up weight training.
Increased Confidence
Weight training also gives you more confidence in several different ways – chemically, psychologically, and materially. Chemically speaking, it’s well known that lifting weights – particularly the dead lift – helps boost testosterone production. This hormone results in increased sex drive, aggression, risk acceptance and… you guessed it, self-confidence. Without the proper level of this hormone men will often be more prone to depression and despair, which makes exercise important to male mental health.
Moreover, psychologically-speaking, weight training gives you self-confidence every time you look in the mirror. Before I lifted weights I would look at myself in the bathroom and think “Why in the world would any woman ever be physically attracted to this?” After a few months of lifts, it becomes obvious why they would.
The simple truth is that if you take an average guy and add 20 pounds of muscle and remove 20 pounds of fat, he’ll look like a completely different person. You won’t need the self -help mumbo jumbo to “fake it” that you’re attractive, or “project” that you’re attractive – you are objectively so! Knowing that you are now a pleasant sight in the eyes of woman is an enormous boost to any man’s ego.
Increased Power
The final benefit of lifting weights is being physically strong. This is less a matter of how much you can actually pick up, but the sense of abundance that you feel physically. When you do not lift weights or go running for a long period of time, you become used to your body’s physical capabilities. It does precisely what you ask it to do, and can give a bit more in case of an emergency, but there is no extra capacity you can use.
When you lift weights though you suddenly start to feel this sense of abundance, that you have way more strength than you need in your day-to-day life. It’s this sense that, if you need to scale a cliff, you can muscle your way up to the top. If you’re out chopping wood and forgot your axe, you could tear a log apart with your bare hands. If a gunman were to suddenly pounce into the room and you needed to stop him somehow, you could easily hurl a chair and knock them out.
That sense of power is an amazing experience. You had limits and you pushed beyond them. Every day your peak capacity grows more and more until you reach a level of strength you couldn’t even begin imagine when you started. From being an average guy with an average body and and average strength, you suddenly find you’re one of the rare few who won’t crack under hard work.
I had an experience like this last fall. My brother-in-law’s basement was flooding due to a poorly landscaped back yard and I was helping my Dad and brother-in-law move landscaping rocks around to fix it. We shoveled the rocks into a wheel barrow, pushed it up a steep hill, and then poured and leveled it over parts of the property. This took nearly 8 hours to do and afterwards my dad and brother-in-law’s bodies hurt so badly that they could barely move for 2-3 days. After a good night’s rest I didn’t feel a thing.
This sense of power, this abundance of strength, this ability to persevere in situations that would cripple of others is a fantastic experience and one all men should strive for.
Conclusion
It is clear then that lifting weights means a better life for men in nearly every way. It makes you more attractive to women; it gives you self-confidence to tackle the world; and it gives you the strength and power to succeed when you do so. It takes time, work, and dedication to achieve results, but those results are worth the effort.
*Some women will argue that there is more to a relationship than sex, and in such situations a dad-bod is acceptable – but lets be real. No man would willingly go into a sexless relationship, and if they had to pick between a relationship with sex and a relationship without sex, they would pick the former 99% of the time.
** And guys, if you doubt this, ask one of your lady friends how they felt the last time they dated a guy who was shorter than them, younger than them, or poorer than them. Ask them too about dates with guys who were obese, lived in their parents’ basements, or had no social skills. Then ask themselves whether their responses are truthful, or shaded by the desire to appear nice. Women have big hearts, but they also have big expectations that go with them.
