I've exercised all my life (4th grade to my senior year of high school playing team sports year round, fall, winter and spring season) and lifted on and off throughout my college years. Due to said athletic background, I always assumed I was in better shape than I really was at the time, but ever since my newfound consistency and correct programming in terms of lifting weights, my results have blown my mind regarding my image and how society treats people regarding their appearance. The reason why I mentioned my past athletic career in terms of my formative years, is to demonstrate that when I started lifting I definitely already had a base of fitness under my belt, however, after actually getting serious/consistent in the gym, I now realize how average I really was physically speaking.

When I first started lifting seriously, I began training with the SL 5x5 strength program. My squat was sub 135 and my bench was at 135 for 5 sets of 5 reps. Since then, I can now squat 295 for 5 sets of 5 and bench press 245 for 5 sets of 5. (Once I felt I reached intermediate status I switched to an intermediate program). On top of this, I would walk/still walk 1-2 hours a day and also do HIIT style training 1-3 times a week depending on the week.

I always thought I was in pretty good shape, but after months of consistent exercise (never taking huge gaps off in my training at a time, pretty much always working out when I was scheduled to workout) my mind has been pretty blown regarding how people treat me now compared to pre consistent weight lifting.

When I deal with random men out in public, they literally talk to me as if I'm an old friend, like they think I'm really cool and want to get to know me. Women commonly follow me at grocery stores and if I open them or talk to them, they instantly assume I'm chad and are very receptive for conversation, not to mention the status I have with women at my gym, (one time late at night one of the female front desk employees who always sees me work out was in the mens bathroom cleaning it, she was basically cumming herself when I made small talk with her as I washed my hands lol).

Prior to this consistent exercise, the general public was pretty neutral towards me, I'm only average height, 5'9.5, so looking back I was probably just "there" in their minds, I was never disrespected by men or women, but I was never treated the way I am now by the general public.

Some observations of what happened to my body and mind after this exercise are, my posture greatly increased to the point I stand at least 1 inch taller now, probably closer to 2 inches now, I have near perfect posture. My face looks more masculine and my jaw is more defined. My muscles have a much tighter shape and appearance and obviously they've grown considerably. When I get a nice haircut, my face looks 3x better than it would have with same haircut prior to this consistent exercise. Mentally speaking, in terms of confidence, the results have been quite pleasing as well. There's nothing more exciting and life affirming than beasting out weights on the bench press for reps, that a week or so ago you had to back down 5-10 pounds because they were too heavy.

The lesson I would like to lend to my red pill brothers are the following, 1, make sure you're following an actual weight lifting and/or exercise program. Not one you invented yourself, not one your in shape older brother uses that he made up and swears by, use a time tested program and stick to it consistently. I lifted prior to using SL5x5 and my results were essentially 0, I'd lift the same weight and I'd look the same despite how "hard" I trained.

2, Consistency is everything, although overall I've been consistent for months in the gym, there was one month where I basically didn't go, and I lost A LOT in terms of appearance. I would wear the same shirt that I used to wear when I was consistently lifting and it didn't fit the same, it didn't have the same pop to it. The most important thing about lifting is you basically never miss exercise sessions and go consistently, once you take extended periods of times off you lose your aura of fitness and your physique doesn't "pop" any more.

3, the results you will get from consistent exercise, (at least a couple months of never missing the gym focusing on progressive overload, that is, measurably getting stronger) will be staggering. It is worth the effort and discipline of selecting a program, learning the movements, tracking progress, going almost every day etc.

Bonus thought / observation below

Lastly, from a philosophical viewpoint, while obviously I know the general public doesn't see me in real time go on 2 hours walks or religiously hit the gym. I feel like human beings can sense your dedication to fitness and treat you accordingly. For instance, if there's a weekend where I binge drink and miss a session or two, and go out in public with my inflamed face, I objectively don't get treated as well. It's almost as if people can sense i've been lazy with my diet and fitness and think less of me for it. Likewise, when I never miss the gym, consistently go on 2 hour walks and curtail excessive alcohol use, people are super friendly, it's almost as if unconsciously they're able to see me resist the booze, and have seen me walk for hours on end in the cold and sometimes boring scenery. I wonder how much humans unconsciously sense another persons fitness level.