Most people, when they consider getting into really good shape, do it for “health concerns.” They do it to lower their cholesterol, they do it to get a better hormonal profile, and they do it to increase their lifespan.
However in my opinion, some of the GREATEST benefits of working out aren’t even physical. Some of them are social, some of them are emotional, and some of them are even financial.
I’ve been actively engaged in the fitness community for the past decade, and I can, without a doubt, say that getting jacked completely transformed my life in unexpected ways. Here’s how.
#1 – You Build Discipline
Before I started working out, I was a scrawny little bitch who made excuses about everything. I had zero will power, I had zero self-esteem, and I had zero motivation. After just a few months of working out, this all started to change.
When you make a commitment to hit the gym on a regular basis, you create the foundations of discipline.
When you tell yourself that you’re going to work out 5 days a week, and then you actually follow through with your promise to yourself, you begin to develop a strong sense of commitment and self-trust. You develop will power from sticking to your regimen.
Think about it: most men lack any sort of discipline. They can’t even make a New Years Resolution to get in good shape, without fizzling out on their promise by February. Most men are little bitches, to put it bluntly.
But for the men who decide to strive for more, and take an active role in shaping their health, discipline will become the new norm. And what’s even better is that discipline isn’t area-specific, you can apply it anywhere in your life.
The same discipline that you build in the gym can be applied towards building a better business. That discipline can be applied towards learning game as a newbie, it can be applied to your relationships, it can be applied to your meditation practice, it can be applied to ANYTHING.
It’s been said before that without discipline, nothing worthwhile was ever accomplished. So why not take your life into your own hands, and start building the discipline that you NEED right now? No excuses.
#2 – You Make Great Friends
Gay jokes aside, there’s something about partaking in physical activity together that strengthens the bonds between men. For millenia, men hunted together in small packs of 5-10 people. This was the way of life, up until the industrial revolution.
Men enjoy pushing themselves physically, and when done with a few other motivated men, it serves to strengthen and build friendships. You build discipline together, you build strength together, and you spend time together.
Some of the best relationships I’ve had were with my gym bros. We’d hit the gym hard, go grab dinner, and then go clubbing for hours.
Guys that are into working out also tend to be into self-development, which is a massive win-win. Not only will you make friends who will push you in the gym, but you’ll also make friends who will push you to be better in LIFE.
They’ll call you out if you’re being a little bitch, they’ll call you out when you flake on your commitments, and they’ll call you out when you take the easy way out. More importantly, however, they’ll respect you for staying true to your word, and they’ll hold you accountable.
This is how men grow. In the words of John Donne: “No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.”
#3 – It Actually Makes You More Motivated
In order to be motivated, you have to buy into the prospect of a better future. If you don’t see progress, and don’t believe that your actions are making a positive difference in your life, it’s extremely difficult to stay motivated.
When you stick to a workout routine, and see your progress increase every week, this will naturally motivate you in all areas of life.
Working out, day after day, and KNOWING that your actions in the gym are directly causing you to get bigger and stronger is a big epiphany for a lot of men. They start to realize that their actions do, in fact, make a difference. They start to wonder where else their decisive actions could make a difference, too.
If putting in work at the gym gives you a bigger and stronger body, what would happen if you started trying harder in your relationships? What would happen if you started putting in more work at your job, or working more on your business?
When you see that your struggle and discipline have a direct impact on your body, you realize that you’re a causal agent.
You realize that you can create change in your life, just through sheer will power and commitment. Many men nowadays have been brainwashed to forget this—they’ve been trained to passively accept their lives, not realizing that they can actually cause things to happen.
This is known as “learned helplessness,” and I’ll be writing a lot about it in the future, but for now, just know that it plagues 90% of men…and working out is a great way to eliminate it from your life.
#4 – Getting Laid is Easier
When you look like James Bond, it’s easy to ACT like James Bond. What does that mean? Well, let me paint you a picture…
Say that you’re a scrawny little beanpole, and you go out to a nightclub. You see a bunch of guys that are in WAY better shape than you, and deep down you know it’s because they’ve put in the work and you haven’t.
How will that make you feel? Pretty fucking terrible. It’ll be really hard to act confident, when you don’t LOOK confident.
But, if you’re JACKED and you look like a superhero, how easy do you think it is to act confident? Pretty easy. When you look like a stud, it’s easy to act like a stud.
When I first started doing my Body of an Alpha routine, it wasn’t long before I saw results. Every week, I saw my arms getting bigger, my shoulders getting wider, and my abs getting more defined. So, when I went out to chat up women, how do you think I felt?
I felt amazing. I felt like a freaking boss, and I looked like one, too. And, as anyone with half a brain knows, women respond well to confidence, so how do you think this affected my game? It was like night and day, to say the least.
When you put in the effort to build an aesthetic, superman-looking physique, you’ll find that not only are women more attracted to you visually, but you’ll have the confidence to back it up. It’s a double dose of seduction.
#5 – It Makes You More Dominant in Life
Studies have actually established a correlation between higher testosterone and higher income…and it’s really not a surprise if you think about it. The men with the most testosterone usually come out on top.
More testosterone means more motivation. It means you’re more aggressive, you’ve got more energy, and you go after whatever it is that you want in life.
If you want to boost your testosterone levels, then sure, you can avoid foods that destroy it. You can also take test-boosters or even get testosterone replacement therapy if you want to…but nothing comes close to simply lifting heavy ass weights.
When you lift hundreds and hundreds of pounds, it’s literally a battle between you and the barbell. You have to FORCE your muscles to work like hell, and exert your will over a stubborn ass weight. You have to assert your dominance over the barbell, so to speak.
So when you train yourself to be an aggressive animal in the gym, where else do you think it translates to? It bleeds into your work life, it bleeds into your personal life, and it bleeds into the bedroom (much to the enjoyment of women).
Over the years, as I’ve put on more and more muscle, I’ve found myself becoming more dominant in all areas of life, but especially in social situations. There’s something unconscious in the human brain that says “I’m stronger than all these guys. I’m the alpha male.”
As cheesy as it sounds, it’s true—you can’t unwire literally millions of years of evolution. Human beings are hardwired to respect men who are physically strong. We’re hardwired to be more confident, dominant, and assertive when we’re strong. So go and get fucking strong.
