Very fair question to ask since one of the biggest self improvement tips is to go to the gym. Men definitely get sold this idea of becoming incredibly attractive if they become muscular. While there's no doubt that being lean with some muscles is attractive, the question is whether it's a game changer.

I think that many guys start working out thinking that it is a game changer and suddenly lots of women will be incredibly interested after not being interested in them at all prior to them working out. On the other hand, quite frankly I don't think most women care much at all. I think it's a nice bonus for many but rarely a requirement unless the woman is a competitive bodybuilder or physique or bikini competitor herself. A very small percentage of women might have a fetish for very muscular men but the number of those women is quite small and it takes many years of training, diet, steroids and optimal genetics to even acquire those physiques.

I think this is just an extension of the fact that self improvement does not work much unless you have very fixable flaws. Looks are largely innate and personality can't be dramatically changed.

Muscles and money are things that men obsess over because they like it a lot. So they project things they like onto women and assume they like same things.

Men would think that an ideal man is very muscular, stoic and very rich with a PhD.

On the contrary, the ideal man in a woman's eyes in 2024 is tall, lean, handsome, couple tattoos, fun to be around and works as a trainer and bartends on the weekends.

Disclaimer: I look fairly muscular myself so this is not me hating on muscular men