Weight lifting improves health, which has all kinds of physical and mental benefits. It makes you look stronger and more attractive, which via halo effect makes you look better at everything (smarter, more competent...). Being stronger is useful instrumentally (sometimes you need to move heavy things) and makes you more intimidating, giving you an advantage at social interactions (people are more polite), and increasing your chance to avoid physical conflicts or win the ones you can’t avoid.
That’s pretty impressive in my opinion for something that requires like 1 hour a day at home to get into the top 5-10% of population.
To me, those points are good ones if you’re arguing that it is worth doing, but to argue that it is in that top tier of things with absurdly high payoffs (or even second, or third tier), the points need to be much stronger.
Why do you see weight lifting as something that has an absurdly high payoff?
Weight lifting improves health, which has all kinds of physical and mental benefits. It makes you look stronger and more attractive, which via halo effect makes you look better at everything (smarter, more competent...). Being stronger is useful instrumentally (sometimes you need to move heavy things) and makes you more intimidating, giving you an advantage at social interactions (people are more polite), and increasing your chance to avoid physical conflicts or win the ones you can’t avoid.
That’s pretty impressive in my opinion for something that requires like 1 hour a day at home to get into the top 5-10% of population.
To me, those points are good ones if you’re arguing that it is worth doing, but to argue that it is in that top tier of things with absurdly high payoffs (or even second, or third tier), the points need to be much stronger.
Research into exercise physiology plus personal experience lifting weights.
I accept that it successfully builds muscle. What I’m asking is why having muscle is something you see as really valuable.
That is a complicated subject which would require a dedicated post to explore in detail.
I’m curious about reading that post ;) It might help with motivation. I would expect that it might convince other people as well.