I understand that lifting among TRP community is a sacred cornerstone of what we wish to convey onto newcomers and for good reason. If you want to focus on making yourself stronger and having yourself look and feel good then lifting is the best you can do. All it takes is a gym membership. If you stick to your routine (I recommend Stronglifts) depending on genetics and your diet, people will notice a difference after six months. It boosts your attractiveness and that feeds your confidence further helping your frame.

Although, lifting only goes so far as to give you confidence in your looks and a better physique. What it lacks is giving you a strong and grounded frame that can have you walk into any place and feel relaxed and at peace. Martial Arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Ju-Jitsu and the plain ol’ sweet science will develop a frame that makes the frame that lifting gives you seem superficial. The reasoning behind this is that lifting doesn’t prepare you for fighting. Fighting is an entirely different animal and people react very differently when faced with an altercation. Fighting is also one of the most exhilarating and scariest things you can feel in your life. You will feel nauseous just from the adrenaline dump at times. Combat sports teach you how to stay relaxed and drills muscle memory strikes that can be used in a fight. You think of fighting less as being driven by rage and more as a tactician who is tuned to use his body efficiently to attack and defend.

This may be a shock to some but, training to fight doesn’t require lifting. The only exceptions may be wrestling but, I only have experience in striking sports. Sports such as boxing require you to remain loose and the power from your punches come from whipping your fist out like a ball at the end of a chain and at the last minute you squeeze your fist just before impact. Lifting requires constant tension of the muscles to pick up the weights. If you are constantly tense during a fight you will be exhausted by the end of the first round. Many of the techniques and conditioning learned in combat sports is what translates to your strong internal frame. A sport such as boxing may not be specifically tailored to fighting multiple attackers but, the footwork and slips and punches will keep you confident as you go through your day to day to life and that will reflect on your frame (I’ll drop a link below showing the effectiveness of boxing). Many of life’s problems won’t seem so bad when you are hitting the bag until you’re exhausted, or running until you throw up or getting hit by a classic one-two combination in the jaw. Combat sports is what helps you pass shit tests and cut through people’s bullshit because everything else seems trivial.

If you want to see a boxer knock out two attackers you can skip to the 40 second mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjflWAdbiM

Summary:

Lifting is incredibly useful for creating and maintaining an attractive physique

Lifting does not mean you can fight

Combat sports will increase your confidence more than lifting and it will translate into better frame which can help you better handle shit tests from both sexes