LogFAQs > #882046665

- Being buff won't help when the "bully" is a group of "bullies" plural. Bullies are inherently cowards, in my experience most of them were in some sort of clique together, and even against someone clearly physically weaker, they'll always try to maintain strength in numbers. Because they're cowards.

- It takes years to really get strong from lifting and it's a lot of dedication and work. Arguably, changing your behavior and diverting your free time so much just to deal with the bully is "letting the terrorists win."

- Being strong is completely separate from knowing how to fight. Even if you are noticeably stronger than a bully enough to overpower him, if he's been in fights and you haven't, you're at a disadvantage.

- The best edge a bullying victim has is surprise. You look weak and easy pickings, the bully doesn't expect you to be able to lay him out cold. Learning how to throw a good punch and maintaining a thin frame probably gives you a better edge than bulking up ever would.

When I was fed up w/ being bullied, I worked out to gain enough muscle for a strike to hurt, but did not want to gain visually obvious muscle mass to maintain the edge of surprise. And also because my image of myself was never to be muscle-y, and I wasn't going to let a bunch of assholes redefine who I am.
When a bully did pick a fight with me after this, he didn't even react to me swinging at him, it happened so fast and was so unexpected. It throttled him back, then I grabbed him and threw him into a locker and was about to beat the shit out of him but a teacher broke it up. Afterwards, he seemed to be quite afraid of me. :)
I'll take surprise over showing off any day.