| Scientific squabbles aside, "getting jacked" is one of the most important things a man can do to increase his attractiveness to females. But if you decide to go down that path, don't make it unnecessarily difficult. Your number 1 priority should be sustainability. This is the mistake I see my friends make over and over. They will start highly motivated, do too much, then quit after a month or two. My top sustainability rule is "I must feel better after my workout than before my workout." This ensures I don't kill my motivation for the future days. You want to create an upward spiral of small successes. Also, you don't need to join a gym or other special program. While they can be helpful in some circumstances, they can also create a lot of friction in your life. You want the bar to be as low as possible for working out. I started with resistance bands at home and found that amazingly sustainable. While others were struggling to get dressed and travel to the gym, I was happily lifting heavy bands 5 minutes after getting out of bed, then continuing with my day in under 30 minutes. Start with first principles: 1) push/pull movements with sufficient resistance, and 2) eat sufficient protein, but don't eat excessive calories, and 3) get sufficient sleep (bad sleep will make progress nearly impossible)
[bonus: walking is the best 'cardio' to use when trying to gain muscle] If you want to dive deeper into the science of optimizing your gains, I'd recommend Dr Mike Israetel, who has the least fluff and most scientific (and entertaining) content I've found: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenaissancePeriodization/playlists I started lifting about 6 years ago after being newly single, and my own anecdata was that as I lost fat and put on significant muscle, the dating experience changed dramatically for me. Dating just seemed 5X to 10X easier. Not to mention the many other obvious life improvements that come with being fit (confidence, health, energy, performance, etc). I've seen many friends in the last few years start and fail, but by keeping the friction low and the process enjoyable, I've made it a habit that I've kept unbroken the last 6 years. Focus on keeping the bar low and the enjoyment high - there are no bonus points for suffering. |
After all - I’m at the gym, solo grinding for XP, and surrounded by guys with 8-packs who are 5 years ahead of me. Even if I get to where they are, no guarantee that it’ll have been “worth it”. Being in the gym literally feels like I’m in the tv show “severance”. (Admittedly I haven’t seen the show - I just know the premise) It’s completely lost time and at no point enjoyable. It’s what I imagine people with two hour commutes feel like but now add in physical pain and discomfort.