I have lifted since I was 13. A few times in my life, I will take some time off, and eschew lifting. Sometimes that will go for 2-3 months. I start to notice that my mood and perception changes a bit during that time off. But I think it is no big change.

And then, the day I go back to the gym, and I get about 2/3 of the way through the workout, a stupid grin crawls across my mouth. It is coming back, I realize. Over the next few weeks, as I keep lifting, a fog I didn't realize was there starts to dissipate. Clarity, focus, and intensity return. The world has fresh color to it again. I like everything more.

Trust me, the change is there, but you won't realize it until you maintain the new level, drop to a lower one, and then go back up.

Lifting takes focus. You are not just training your body when you are at the gym; you are also training your mind. It's meditation. You clear your mind from work, pussy, social media. Only the weights and you exist.

When you walk out after a 90 minute workout there is silence inside. Embrace that silence. That's maneregy. Remember that state and try to achieve it when you are talking to women. They eat that state up like you cannot believe.

http://no-maam.blogspot.ca/2004/07/pook-19-what-every-skinny-guy-should.html

In my opinion Henry Rollins essay Iron and the Soul should be sidebar material. http://www.theironandthesoul.net/2012/04/the-iron-and-the-soul/

Prior to TRP I'd done a bit of weightlifting in high school and more recently about a year and a half of CrossFit. The high school weightlifting had a decent effect, but the CrossFit gains weren't anything to write home about, although I'm partially to blame because I simply wasn't eating enough to gain.

After TRP, I got serious about it. I went over to /r/gainit, got on a real program and started tracking my calories like a hawk. The results from this round are impressive. In fact they seem unreal. My body doesn't look massively different at first glance, but I am much stronger than before. I have muscles in places I didn't expect to have muscles and I'm now strangely fascinated by grabbing my traps like handles. The results from a real program with a proper diet will be apparent in short order.

I lift because I want to be strong. I want to be the size of a goddamn horse and I'm not afraid to admit it. It will probably take about 4 years to hit my goal size/weight but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Been lifting for 10 years. I stand out. I am a natural and look like a Spartan warrior without my clothes. Today I got another one of those "I saw you at the beach 2 months ago, but you didn't notice me" from a woman at work.

I started way before TRP, during my beta years. I wanted to get attention from women and well...let's just say that I am also a dragonball fan.

I started for the wrong reasons but that's ok, cause the result is all that matters.

If you are going less than 1 year, you are a total newbie. As Eliot Hulse says "You haven't even began wearing your shoes yet" Most start in the summer, and give up in the winter.

You will find out that the mental challenge is always there.

Going to the gym when nobody else in your family goes.

In the winter when it's raining or snowing.

When you are sick

Or just going so early in morning when no one is there except for the guy who opens the gym and the weights.

That's when you'll build you character.

It will slowly affect your life.

It will affect your habits and thought patterns. You'll build opinions about your way of life and you'll start questioning everyone. You'll think "How can someone live without it?" or "how can someone eat this shit", "have they no respect for themselves?".

I am new to TRP, but it was very easy for me to accept it, cause all those thoughts have gone through my head at some point in my life. Lifting had already helped me without realizing it.

You will treat people differently, and yes that includes women as well.

When I started, I remember constantly comparing myself with others, feeling out of place and small.

At my intermediate level, I gained confidence with my results and I began to stand out. I would feel validated.

Now.... everyone is gone. In my mind I am always alone in the gym. There is silence, there is peace in my mind. Occasionally someone appears out of the blue when he is sitting on the machinery I plan to use.

Curls for the girls.

Taking care of yourself puts you in another category above those who don't. Even if it's just a little definition, women take note.

Start buying some better fitted shirts, and when people start complimenting your muscle your confidence will go through the roof. But to answer your question, the reason we lift is all the above. Most people will start to see good results within a few weeks, and it'll probably be several months or a year when you start getting recognized as a muscular guy.

Health, confidence, other positive mental benefits and increased sex appeal.

Two months at 3 to 4 times a week.

Lifting is a thing in life when progression and success is blindingly obvious. Confidence is born out of successes and the result is knowing inside that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. You will never find a confident person who spends their life in front of their computer doing nothing but playing games all day. This is simply because they have no successes - that people admire - to be proud of.

So for many, training with weights is the first time in their life that they have a genuine success that required hours of time and dedication and they attribute their new found confidence in themselves to what they've done regarding the gym.

For some it's educational successes that make them confident, for others it's becoming a brilliant musician. Sadly not everyone has access to be successful in these areas whereas strength training and bodybuilding is absolutely accessible to 99% of people and they can all make tremendous progress and profit from the pride and confidence it brings.

I train partly because I'm a vain fuck who loves to admire what he's turned his body into, secondly because I love to feel physically strong and powerful and thirdly because lifting has developed me in ways nothing else ever has so effectively or quickly.

Gainz? Are you twelve? It's for the journey. It's a self commitment. Why you do it is your choice, not ours. Make your own decisions. Motivate yourself.

To be healthy. What the hell else do you expect

Because it's fucking healthy for you and trains your willpower.

once you can bench/squat/deadlift 2/3/4 plates for reps you should have a decent amount of muscle. I've forgotten what the people that don't lift consider muscular though because of gym culture & body dysmorphia.