I would imagine that if you had the potential to be a world class bodybuilder, it's worth exploring ... For some I'm sure, but not me. At the beginning of this

I would imagine that if you had the potential to be a world class bodybuilder, it's worth exploring ... For some I'm sure, but not me. At the beginning of this year I began regular weight training sessions, three times a week. I have in fact repeatedly said to my friend that got me into it that I never want to look like those world class guys, the ones with the huge super tanned muscles and massive veins popping out all over the place. It's just not aesthetically how I would ever want to look. In a way I see it as being another expression of the "thin" culture that movies and TV tend to promote (mainly to women). These huge pro body builders have taken it to far in my opinion. The human body cannot reach that level of musculature without the aid of synthetic growth hormones. It's just as artificial (if not more) as a person who starves themselves to meet Hollywood's current ideal. Of course, it's their body and they can do what they want with it, but I'm just talking from my POV. I think I would have the possibility to be a pretty successful pro body builder if I wanted to be as I have a naturally large frame. Even before I started going to the gym, people sometimes would think that I did. So even though I think there's a good chance that I would excel in this area, to me it's not worth exploring to the furthest extreme. My point being that I believe there must be many like me who do weight train but do not wish to ever look like Arnold in his hay day. Hence the common disclaimers that you mention. In the 3 months that I have been training I have noticeably gained strength and muscle mass, but will never take steroids and will make sure that I never look unnaturally muscled. I very much like the meditative nature of the training as it relates to concentrated focus on the specific task at hand, as mentioned by another commenter. And there are health benefits that I have already observed. But as for the effect of weight training on confidence in social interactions, I can't say I've noticed any change whatsoever for me. My feeling is that those who do notice a positive change in confidence are possibly the guys who are a little on the small side and after training for a while and gaining some strength and mass, it makes a bigger psychological difference to them than it may have for me (as I mentioned, I have always been relatively big and tall). My second point being that - based on my own anecdotal experience - I would think any change in confidence would be more tied into the psychological than the physical.