A lot of guys spend countless hours in the gym, spend a small fortune on protein shakes and other  nutritional supplements and generally obsess about their physical appearance in order to have a better chance at getting a hot girl. However, I have never seen a woman fall for a guy simply due to the fact that he had a chiseled chest and stomach, so what’s the deal? Do women fall for a hulky guy or would these guys be able to make better use of their time doing something else?

Do find the answers to these questions, I did a little unscientific study of my own. I went to Central Park with my wife and several female friends during a very hot, muggy weekend when I knew the place would be filled with topless buff guys displaying their latest gym results. Then I would point out certain guys and ask the ladies what they thought of him. Sure, maybe the ladies weren’t being completely candid, but the conviction and unity of opinion  with which they responded makes me believe the truthfulness of the opinions they espoused.

So what were the results of this admittedly small sampling size?  First let’s start with a particularly ripped guy who’s stomach was so chiseled it looked like the exterior shell of an insect. I’m sure this guy probably watches what he eats vigilantly and does a thousand crunches a day to reach such cell-like abdominal appearance. So what did the ladies think? Actually they were all disgusted by the guy. Apparently, you are overdoing it if you are so cut that you start resembling an insect and actually start to disgust women with your overdone appearance.

So what about another guy who wasn’t as defined, but still looked ripped and like he spent six hours a day at the gym? The reviews weren’t too favorable either. He had a good body, was well defined and well proportioned, so what was the problem? Apparently, these ladies felt that to cultivate such a body, this guy had to be a pretty vain person who spent too much time in the gym.  So “too good of a body” equals “vain” for these women. One woman said she didn’t want to date a guy who looked better than her. Another said that she wanted the guy to be into her, not into his own body. A third said that the guy looked “too full of himself.”  And a fourth actually said she preferred a guy with a normal body, or even a little bit of a belly since that indicated he was a more normal, “down to earth” guy.

Listening to this, I realize that everything the advertisements and media tell guys is absolutely false.  Women (or at least these women) actually prefer normal looking guys, rather than pumped up, ripped dudes.

Conclusion: It’s a good idea to work out for yourself and to maintain your health, but if you think living at the gym is your ticket to dating a harem of models, think again. You’re better off saving your time, energy and money and using it to improve your personality, rather than your physique.